New Start Center At Former Days Inn On Everett Mall Way Won’t Open Until 2024

April 30, 2023

Everett

Days Inn

A fence surrounds the property and bids are out for a contractor to clean meth contamination before renovations can begin.

In August of 2022 Snohomish County announced it was increasing the capacity of Snohomish County to serve those needing bridge housing and behavioral health services by twenty-six percent with three programs. Here’s an excerpt from a press release issued August 17th, 2022. (you can see the full press release here)

Over the last two weeks, Executive Somers has proposed three distinct investments to significantly boost bridge housing and behavioral health services across the county:
1. Shelter & Behavioral Health Partnership Program – 36 new units
2. Days Inn hotel purchase – 74 new units
3. America’s Best hotel purchase – 55 new units
In total, these three projects will create 165 spaces in 2022 alone, representing a 26 percent increase in Snohomish County’s system capacity.

While approval of the three projects referenced above happened in August 2022 by the Snohomish County Council, actual use of the facilities is still a long way off.

With regards to the former Days Inn on Everett Mall Way, Snohomish County is still looking for a contractor to take care of remediation for methamphetamine contamination found during the purchase process. Once a contract has been approved for that, the Snohomish County Executive’s office says they then have to find a contractor for renovations to the property. Here’s an update from the Executive’s Office sent to MyEverettNews.com in an email last Thursday (4/27).

Our current estimates put the opening of the New Start Center in approximately one year but that timeline could shift. The only issue with timing is finding contractors who can do the work and are available. We have bids on the street for remediation, and that work will be complete within 30 days of the start of work. Then we can get the contractors into the facility for renovation. Until we get the renovation contractors into the facility, we won’t have a more certain estimate of potential opening dates. And, of course, this is all still much faster and less expensive than building a new facility. This is the quickest way to build capacity for moving people from the streets into something more stable, improving the lives of vulnerable people and public safety.

With regard to any new emergency shelter locations within the city limits of Everett, Washington the City of Everett says they are not vetting any new locations and are working on using ARPA funds to expand pallet shelter communities, add support for mental health programs and work on multiple avenues to address street-level issues. Here’s an email received from Simone Tarver with the City administration on Friday (4/28) with an explanation.

“At this time, the City is not vetting any new emergency shelter locations, as we just received the memo from the County who had previously been vetting locations. The City has been focused on utilizing our ARPA funds to expand pallet shelter communities, increase mental health supports and developing other services.

To stay informed we encourage residents to follow the City of Everett on social media and sign up for ‘City of Everett News’ and neighborhood-specific news flashes for updates. We look forward to sharing more soon.”
 
That statement comes as the City learned it would be receiving four million dollars from Snohomish County to find a replacement location for the emergency shelter for 40 people currently sheltered at the United Church of Christ at 2624 Rockefeller Avenue in downtown Everett, Washington. The lease with Snohomish County and Everett Gospel Mission for that housing program is set to expire in June and the County was looking at the Hope Church as a replacement property but that now appears to be off the table. The County said they would be extending the lease for another six months to give City of Everett officials more time to find a replacement location.

On April 12th, during the Everett City Council meeting Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin said the following when talking about siting shelter locations.
“And I truly believe that with the processes in place within our planning department, new ordinances under consideration that ensure appropriate accountability measures, and all the diligent, hard work of our Snohomish County partners and City staff, we will be able to establish an additional successful shelter location SOMEWHERE within our city. But, siting shelter locations is HARD.”

City Council

The Everett City Council meets at 6:30PM Wednesday night.

This Wednesday the Everett City Council will take public comment and vote on two proposed ordinances related to street-level issues in Everett.

The first ordinance, CB 2304-29, creates a new gross misdemeanor offense if someone knowingly uses a controlled substance, including heroin, methamphetamine or fentanyl, in a public place within the City of Everett. Here’s the information on that ordinance.
EMC 10.35.120 Controlled Substances in public places

The second, CB 2304-30, allows the mayor to designate two-block-radius Service Facility Buffer Zones around either (1) a social service provider (such as substance abuse treatment provider, behavioral health provider, shelter/temporary housing provider, etc.) or (2) an area highly impacted by streel-level issues. Here’s the information on that ordinance.
Chapter 9.54 Everett Municipal Code – Buffer Zones for Service Providers and High Impact areas in Everett, Washington
 
The Everett City Council meeting will happen Wednesday May 3rd at 6:30 PM in the City Council Chambers at 3002 Wetmore in downtown Everett. You can click here to see how to participate or watch.



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My Everett News is a hyperlocal news website featuring news and events in Everett, Washington. We also cover City of Everett information and items of interest to those who live and work in Everett.

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