SOUTH EVERETT — Hundreds of kids in South Everett may have to find a new dentist depending on the final track alignment of the Sound Transit light rail extension between Lynwood and Everett.
One of the two proposed light rail alignments would go directly through the current location of Children’s Dental Center on the northside of 128th Street SW.
The possibility of losing or relocating his pediatric dental practice really sunk in for Daniel Seetin, D.D.S., when Sound Transit asked if they could drill a 100-foot hole in his office parking lot to test soil composition for the potential location of and elevated light rail track.
Dental patients are usually the ones fearful of drilling, but for pediatric dentist, Seetin, a request to drill a 100-foot hole in his practice’s parking lot, transformed into the stark reality that the proposed light rail line could force him to close down the practice he’s built for the last 10 years.
“The time that it became real to me was,” Seetin tells the EverettPost.com, September 2025, when Sound Transit, “sent me an email requesting that as they were doing their environmental impact study, that they requested to drill a hundred-foot hole down in my front driveway in my parking lot. Check soil quality and everything. And honestly, they said it was completely voluntary. And I did email them. I’m like, ‘Do I have to do this?’ And I ended up saying, ‘no’. I did not want them to drill a hole in my entire parking lot for those purposes, but that was when it really kind of started becoming real to me in September 2025.”
Faced with the possibility that his dental practice could be collateral damage in locating the light rail line, Seetin, voiced his opposition in the public comment process of the Everett Link Extension Draft Environmental Impact Statement, telling Sound Transit officials, “My office location has been serving the community for over 20 years, and I’ve been the owner serving the community and thousands of kids for the last ten.”
During his public comment, Seetin, said the track option on the northside of 128th St. SW, “would wipe out my office completely. With limited to no comparable space available, I would likely be displaced miles away or completely out of the city. My office serves families with Medicaid insurance, which is unfortunately rare among pediatric dentists in this area. And I also serve hundreds of children with special health care needs that may otherwise be forced to travel to Seattle Children’s Hospital. Not only would the displacement be devastating to me financially and for my long-term career, but it would likely create a service desert for the large population of children, my office currently serves, and I hope to continue to serve for the next 20 years.”
Seetin delivered that message during one of the three open houses Sound Transit has conducted where public comment, both written and verbal, was collected to help notify the 18-member Sound Transit Board how the final light rail track alignment should take shape when they vote in February 2027. That public comment period remains open until Nov. 2, at which time it closes and public comment will be compiled for the Sound Transit Board to make its final decision on the location of the 16-mile light rail extension between Lynnwood and downtown Everett in February.
Seetin tells the EverettPost.com, he provides, “Care for patients with special health care needs. Most pediatric dentists care for patients with special health care needs because we have specialized training. Many other dentists may not have the capacity or ability and knowledge to comfortably treat those kids. I try and see as many kids and families as possible. It’s really a valuable resource, I think, to those families, especially when they have multiple children for their child that has special needs to also be able to come to the same office with the rest of their family.”
Relocating his dental practice wouldn’t be a slam dunk if Sound Transit chooses the light rail alignment on the north side of 128th Street, steamrolling Children’s Family Dental. He says there’s no clear indication he’ll be fully compensated to relocate.
“Moving a dental office is not easy,” Seetin says. “All the building cabinetry and everything else that is made specifically for a dental office. It’s custom for that building, and I can’t really move it.”
If his dental practice is acquired by eminent domain, Seetin says his options aren’t appealing. “It can take a year minimum to build a new dental office into a new space. It’s very unlikely that we’d find just some existing perfect dental office that somebody’s retiring, and I buy the space over, “ he offers. “It’s much more likely that I would build out an entire new space, whether that’s leased or purchased.”
So along with his public comment to Sound Transit, he’s been engaging with Sound Transit planners to prepare for a worst-case scenario. “And so they told me that they did have funds, not only for the eminent domain of buying the property, but also funds to help support the transition and move, or, buying of new equipment. They said it was, I think up to $200,000, which sounds like a lot of money, but it does have me worried because building dental offices is not cheap,” Seetin reports.
One possible scenario, he fears, is having to start from scratch, saying, “And, if I’m doing new equipment and everything, at least to my knowledge, the average build cost (for) most areas of the country, people are expecting $600,000+ in cost. I’m hoping I don’t have to make up that difference and that there will be some negotiations and things. But at least they gave me as much concrete information as they could. Which was reassuring.”
Now, Seetin must bide the next four months leading up to Sound Transit’s expected board vote in February for where the final light rail track alignment goes. He is advocating for MAR 1B, which will run on the south side of 128th Street SW, sparing his pediatric dental practice. MAR 2B would go straight through his office.
“We’ve been at that location for 20 years. I took over the legacy of the former owner, Olga Ortuzar, who built the building in the early 2000s. “When she retired, I took on that responsibility of taking on her legacy.”
He describes the pediatric dental office’s interior décor which was created for kids. “She built it like a jungle theme, and so there’s a very unique mangrove tree that kids are always hiding under and climbing around in the reception area that she had built that really centers the entryway. Gives kids that sense of feeling that’s not just a sterile medical building. And it’s meant to be inviting. because. All throughout, there’s lizards and other animals climbing the walls and little hidden details that kids spot all the time,” Seetin shares. The zoolike interior is designed to reduce a child’s “anxiety about being at a dentist.”
Financial pressures for family medical needs know no demographic limitation but Seetin is acutely aware of the burden it places on his patients and their parents. “We are one of the only providers in the area that accept Medicaid insurance. And so that’s a lifeline to a lot of families that otherwise have to search and drive longer distances, potentially to access care.” He hopes that service to the South Everett community will weigh in his favor when the final light rail path is selected in February.
“Again to carry on Olga’s legacy as pediatric dentists, there’s not very many of us throughout the state, and so that’s a pretty rare opportunity in general. She reached out to me,” Seetin says his purchase of the dental practice, “because she heard that I was looking (to buy). And when when we met, our belief in service to the community is what really hit it off with me. And so I wanted to carry that on,” which he has for the last 10 years. But the next 20 years of pediatric dental care will rest with the decision of the Sound Transit Board.