By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal
Much of Snohomish County’s urban growth has come from individuals or corporations who owned huge parcels of land. Today, there’s a new game in town.
Snohomish County government, the county’s Economic Development Council and private developers are interested in working together to create the urban centers of the future.
Speakers at an EDC-sponsored urban partnerships workshop at the Embassy Suites in Lynnwood Wednesday said the most successful urban center developments are those assembled by developers and multiple landowners with advice from area residents and coordination by local government.
Already, the county council has unanimously adopted an Urban Centers Demonstration Program to guide future development at key sites in unincorporated areas of the county adjacent to Everett, Lynnwood, Mill Creek and Bothell.
"There are more than 20 cities in the county, each with different visions (for growth and development)," said the county council’s chairman, Dave Somers. "Usually, we think of urban centers as a city problem. It is now a county problem. To manage these developments, we need to strengthen ties between citizens, the county and developers."
Linked to its quarterly update meeting, the EDC provided a workshop on urban center development sponsored by the Puget Sound Regional Council, Washington Association of Realtors, Pilchuck Audubon Society, Opus Northwest, Kirtley Cole Associates, EverTrust Bank, the Snohomish County PUD and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle.
Keynoting the session was Michael Freedman, founding partner of Freedman Tung &Bottomley, a San Francisco urban design firm involved in more than a dozen urban center projects.
"Elements of success in developing urban centers include strong political and community support for a community vision," he said. "Never begin with a budget. Talking about money first can kill a project. Find out what the community really wants. That’s what develops the excitement and momentum that’s necessary to loosen up dollars and staffing to make it happen."
William Trimm, Mill Creek’s planning director, detailed that city’s urban center development.
"We formed a steering committee, talked to citizens, hired an urban designer and met with property owners, the county, city officials and others to create it," he said.
Today the city’s Town Center plan is well under way. It aims to transform what was primarily a residential development around a golf course into a community with an attractive civic, retail and residential hub.
The city’s new urban center comprehensive plan calls for higher density and mixed-use development; pedestrian and transit friendly environments; a strong identity and focal point; a design that meets the needs of a diverse, multigeneration population; integration with existing commercial development; and a blending with the surrounding natural environment.
The county council’s new program will encourage urban centers by allowing larger buildings in areas that have been limited to strip malls and low-rise office buildings. The higher-density buildings will follow new guidelines that include a variety of residential, commercial and office uses.
Sue Adams, director of the Pilchuck Audubon Society’s Smart Growth Campaign, said in one of the program’s handouts that although her group and the EDC have often been on opposite sides of growth issues, she believed "we have to work together to promote development in the right places … higher density, mixed use developments help us protect environmentally sensitive areas and reduce our reliance on automobiles."
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