EVERETT – The map of south Everett looks like a puzzle that’s missing a piece.
An irregularly shaped 25-acre parcel of land on the east side of Airport Road between Paine Field and Evergreen Way is unincorporated, but this morning, the City Council may take the first step toward making it part of the city.
The Airport Road land is mostly vacant, except for a four-unit apartment building and a few single-family and mobile homes, said John Kenny, who has spearheaded the annexation drive.
Kenny represents Edmonds-based Lanswel Development Corp., which wants to develop six acres of land on the site for either multifamily housing or light industrial use, he said.
Lanswel wants Everett to take over the land in part because development projects generally move through city government quicker than they move through the county bureaucracy, he said.
The city in 1994 included the 25 acres in its growth plan. It plans to zone it for medium manufacturing, which would include everything from a contractor’s office to warehouses to a woodworking shop, said Dave Koenig, the city’s manager of long-range planning and community development. Additional residential housing would only be allowed if the council approves a zoning change, he said.
The annexation would not cost the city much money, because it wouldn’t require major new infrastructure, such as new sewers, he said. And a widening of 112th Street SW, at the northern edge of the property, is already in the works.
Kenny said he has collected the signatures of people who own more than 10 percent of the assessed valuation of properties in the area. That’s the first step toward annexation. The council will vote today whether to accept those signatures.
Kenny said he will go back to the council within the next few weeks with signatures of owners of more than 75 percent of the assessed valuation – that’s the next step before a state-appointed Boundary Review Board votes on the matter.
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.
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