Everett To Require Off-Street Parking For New County Courthouse Downtown

The City of Everett wants to make sure the new Snohomish County courthouse building in downtown Everett comes with adequate parking. At tomorrow’s city council meeting there will be a public hearing on an interim regulation that any government building within the city’s B-3 zone larger than 25,000 square feet be required to provide a minimum of one off-street parking space for every 800 square feet. For the new county courthouse at the corner of Wall and Oakes that would mean about 300 spaces. The city administration had been in talks with Snohomish County about the need for parking for the new courthouse but progress has stalled so now the city wants to make sure rules are in place to protect parking for downtown businesses. With so much construction going on in downtown Everett parking has been at a premium. There has been talk in previous city council meetings that as downtown continues to be re-developed, you may see the return of parking meters in the downtown core in a year or two and a new downtown parking manager appointed sometime in 2015. One reminder, tomorrow’s Everett City Council meeting is at 12:30pm in the council chambers at 3002 Wetmore. It can also be seen online and on TV.