Your chance to weigh in on 7 Everett projects

Published 10:59 pm Tuesday, April 8, 2008

EVERETT — People have another week to comment on the impacts of seven proposed projects that require changes to the city’s land-use rules.

New developments could bring hundreds of new residents and cars near downtown, rooftop exhaust stacks 65 feet high near a north Everett neighborhood and taller buildings at Everett Community College.

The city released a nearly-500-page draft environmental report on March 17 that attempts to spell out how the proposals would affect surrounding neighborhoods and the environment.

The document is part of an annual roundup of zoning and land-use changes to the city’s 10-year Comprehensive Plan.

Two notable projects dropped off the list. Those are a proposal to change zoning of a 100-acre quarry in south Everett to allow the development of more than 2,000 homes and a proposal to rezone 11.5 acres on Larimer Road to allow the construction of a 64-unit assisted living facility.

The Planning Commission took testimony on the draft environmental report Monday.

The public has until April 16 to comment on the draft environmental report.

Below is a sampling of the report’s findings.

Everett Community College

During the next 18 years, the community college plans to add up to 627,000 square feet of class and support space to its campus while it increases its enrollment.

Much of the north Everett campus’ growth is anticipated on what is now a strip mall east of Broadway.

The college is asking for the city’s permission to change the area into what it calls an institutional overlay. Long-range plans call for replacing the retail shops there into seven new buildings and a parking garage. Zoning rules allow buildings on both sides of N. Broadway near the college to reach up to 80 feet.

The college is also asking the city to increase height limits on the campus from 50 feet to 65 feet.

City planners say the expansion of the college is being done in a way that continues to develop a coherent and connected campus. They note having Broadway cut through the campus requires careful planning to protect pedestrians while keeping traffic flowing.

Providence Everett Medical Center

The Catholic hospital is proposing to build a central utility plant on the northern edge of the previous Everett College athletic field.

It also is asking the city to rezone some of the land north of 13th Street to allow medical buildings up to 175 feet tall and parking garages up to 45 feet tall.

The city has already approved a 175-foot-tall tower south of 13th Street and a 1,000-stall parking garage at 1800 13th St. that are under construction.

The utility plant would be a 39,000-square-foot, two-story building about 50 feet high and include exhaust stacks that would reach 65 feet high.

It would contain an emergency diesel generator, a 5,100-ton chiller plant, a boiler and a medical-gas generator plant. The generator would operate only when regular power is knocked out, hospital and city officials say.

The project would likely affect light levels at houses as far away as 10th Street during the shortest winter days.

Noise from the cooling fans would run at all hours. The generators would produce noise while on.

For neighborhood aesthetics, the hospital proposed building a berm around the utility building.

Several residents expressed concerns that the building would block views.

City planners say the hospital should make every effort to work with neighbors.

Thorsen multifamily rezone

The Thorson rezone on the 1300 block of 32nd Street is requesting a height and density increase for a multifamily building.

The landowners are asking the city to allow them to increase building height on the property to 45 feet, an increase of 10 feet over current rules.

A density increase that would allow 84 units, up from the 21 that are now allowed, is also being requested.

Brust multifamily rezone

No projects are planned for the 1.2-acre commercial property south of 41st Avenue between Colby and Hoyt avenues. However, the property owners want their land zoned for higher density residential.

That zoning would match the Boutsinis multifamily proposal on the southern half of the same block.

Boutsinis multifamily rezone

The owner of the one-acre property north of 42nd Street between Colby and Hoyt avenues wants a higher density designation in order to build a 160-unit multifamily housing complex with up to 4,000 square feet of clinic space.

A proposal calls for creating a development agreement in which the owner would construct a 65-foot-tall building. Current rules allow a building up to 85 feet tall.

Proposed changes would increase the total residential units on the site from about 28 to 160, adding 132 units.

It would also increase traffic to about 464 car trips per day, more than four times the traffic that could be generated under current zoning.

Miller retail rezone

The owner of residential land in the 9700 block of Fourth Avenue W. near Highway 99 is asking to rezone the land from multifamily to mixed-use commercial. She wants to build a small commercial center to connect with an adjacent property to the north that was rezoned for commercial use a few years ago.

City planners say once this rezone site is tied into the existing strip mall to the north, redevelopment and improvement of the site will occur.

Dujardin comprehensive plan change

The owners of Silver Lake Plaza, a 3.8-acre commercial property in the 11400 block of 19th Avenue, just east of Silver Lake, want to change the zoning of their properties to allow taller buildings and different uses. The immediate change would allow restaurants to serve hard alcohol. Additional site changes could occur over time.

Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.