City planners want the growth in downtown Everett to go “up”
The vote will also guide parking and other zoning rules across all of Everett into the future.
This quote was in a city notice today about the plan.
“This is an exciting time for Everett and I’m very optimistic about where the Metro Everett plan will take us,” said Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin. “This plan looks at the big picture of growth, allowing us to be strategic to grow in the right way.”
The city notice also included this.
The Metro Everett plan targets development in the urban core, where Everett residents have said they want to see growth occur. In downtown, that means vertical growth. Studies show that as a city’s density increases, its per capita demands on resources and infrastructure shrink. This led to the thinking that for a downtown to function properly, it would need a relatively small footprint and an allowance for vertical growth. Without appropriate downtown height zoning, growth would be throttled and limit the city’s function, pushing demand to sprawl.
Parking has also been a topic brought forward by the proposed Metro Everett plan. Parking is an expensive part of any retail, residential, or commercial project with structured parking pushing each stall to cost over $20,000. The new code specifies a formula that achieves results that are closer to market demand, and therefore every building in the city will be that much more cost-effective, giving investors one more reason to build in Everett.
Parts of the plan have not been without their detractors.
Neighbors in the Norton-Grand Historic Neighborhood developed a website and public campaign to oppose some of the provisions in Metro Everett that allowed building heights they say are too tall next to their neighborhood.
Downtown Everett property owners have opposed the Planning Commission’s acceptance of allowing new clinics and social services within the downtown core saying social services are working against efforts to revitalize downtown.
The plan to loosen parking requirements for multi-family buildings has drawn fire. Relaxing parking requirements is seen as a way to attract more developers to Everett by reducing costs of new construction.
The city council meeting and public hearing happen at 6:30 PM (Wednesday August 29th) in the Everett City Council chambers at 3002 Wetmore in downtown Everett, Washington.
Here’s the link to the city’s website with the latest information on the Metro Everett plan.
August 28, 2018
Everett Government