Everett’s new walkable waterfront
Published 5:39 pm Friday, February 26, 2010
Larry Crawford’s office has one of the most panoramic views in Everett.
His desk is located in what used to be the kitchen of the former Everett Yacht Club, near a window that’s just a few steps from Port Gardner.
Glance out the window and there are boats galore, a lot of water and the Olympic Mountains in the background.
Crawford, who works for the Port of Everett, also sees people stroll past that window every once in a while. But it doesn’t happen very often.
He says the fact that much of the Everett waterfront is now available to the public is not well known.
“There is access to the entire waterfront now,” he said. “There is shoreline access to the entire route.”
The port and its development partner, Maritime Trust of Chicago, had planned a $400 million redevelopment on the waterfront that would have included condominiums, offices, restaurants and commercial buildings. Also planned was a promenade with a lot of public spaces.
The development is on hold as the port waits for Maritime to emerge from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. But many of the permanent walkways are already in place and have been linked together by the port with temporary paths to provide public access to a large part of the waterfront.
Starting at the port’s waterfront park on 10th Street, people can stroll south for several miles, either along the water itself or along W. Marine View Drive past the port’s marine terminals to a walking trail that ends at a viewpoint and beach at Pigeon Creek
The city, using federal funds secured by the port, recently widened the pedestrian-bicycle path along W. Marine View Drive between 10th Street and Scuttlebutt’s brew pub. Crawford said the city plans to extend that walkway north to the Alverson Bridge.
In a separate project, the port is adding about 1,100 feet of trail along the Snohomish River in its Riverside Business Park. It expects to finish landscaping in April and complete that part of the trail in May.
