The plan calls for at least seven “nodes” around the Swift stops that will have higher intensity commercial and residential development than other areas of Evergreen Way.
With light rail and other Sound Transit projects in Everett decades away or on the back burner, Everett planning director Allan Giffen tells My Everett News they’re putting the development focus on the Swift Bus Rapid Transit stops. “We’re making Evergreen Way into a growth corridor”, said Giffen. The plan’s vision is for a “linear community” where residents could travel north or south using transit and easily connect to major employment and commercial centers while also enjoying easy pedestrian and bicycle access.
The plan involves a full-scale zoning change creating new zoning classifications of E-1 and MUO (mixed use overlay), replacing the current zoning of B-2 or C-1. The city would also extend the Multiple Family Property Tax Exemption Program into the mixed use overlays to encourage development of affordable housing in those areas. Mini-casinos, nightclubs and methadone treatment clinics would not be allowed in the mixed use overlays near the Swift stations but would be allowed in the E-1 areas. Existing businesses would be grandfathered in.
It will take about two months for the city’s planning department to write-up the ordinances and submit them to the Everett City Council for approval of the plan.
You can click here to see the final 49 page report that will be sent to the city council. It provides a lor more detail then I could ever try to bring into context here.
February 25, 2012
Everett, Everett Government