EVERETT – After an arduous process that began earlier this year, the City Council gave its final approval Wednesday night to two expanding Everett institutions.
Though Providence Everett Medical Center and Everett Community College both have major plans for growth, the community’s response to each has been vastly different.
While EvCC’s plan to expand east toward Broadway passed unanimously and without discussion, the hospital’s growth plan was debated for two hours.
Both decisions were part of a larger docket of changes the council deliberated as part of its 10-year comprehensive plan update, which will chart the city’s growth for the next decade.
The council voted 5-1 in favor of allowing the hospital project to move ahead. Councilman Ron Gipson voted no. Councilman Drew Nielsen abstained.
At the meeting, hospital officials, doctors, board members and consultants urged the council to allow Providence to proceed despite some details that still need to be worked out.
“We have come up with a vision that we think matches the vision of Everett,” said Gail Larson, the hospital’s chief executive. “We will continue to work in concert with our neighbors and the city to move forward.”
The hospital asked, and was granted, an additional 13 inches over its 45-foot height limit on a cancer center parking garage.
Providence was originally set to improve streets, landscaping and sidewalks on 13th and 14th streets between the hospital and Broadway. But easement issues on the improved streetscapes are still vague, hospital planning consultant Reid Shockey said.
A handful of neighbors protested, saying at only six months into the process, the hospital already was backing away from its promises.
“It makes me wonder what other last-minute changes the hospital will spring on us,” said neighbor Angela Krisinger, who said the cancer center parking garage will block sunlight from coming into her bedroom windows.
“I’m scared,” she said. “I’m scared about the whole thing.”
The hospital has already started phase one of its controversial 10-year, $400 million expansion for the Colby campus, which includes clearing a block of historic homes and expanding into a residential neighborhood.
The project will double the hospital’s current work force, eventually adding 2,200 jobs; increase Providence’s number of available beds to 500 from 363; and more than double the number of parking spots to 1,800 from 809.
The expansion will eventually include construction of a new cancer center, two new towers for hospital rooms and three new above-ground parking garages.
The council’s much quieter decision to allow the community college to grow was met with enthusiasm by EvCC President Charlie Earl.
“We’re very anxious and ready to go to work to put ourselves in a position to serve more students,” Earl said. “The city has been straightforward and informative in this process, and we’re pleased with the results.”
The college will expand on 14 acres of land east of the 23-acre campus to keep up with expanding enrollment, which is expected to grow from about 10,000 students to 16,000 by 2027.
EvCC will add new buildings and parking to its north Everett campus and allow space for a new city transit center.
Currently on the land are the Royal Motor Inn, Tyee Lanes bowling alley, a counseling and education center for pregnant women, a 20-unit apartment building, a gas station, a used car lot and six single-family homes.
Late Wednesday, the council had not yet decided on the rest of the items of its 10-year comprehensive plan update.
Included in those is a proposal that city leaders hope will turn Everett Station area into a vibrant neighborhood similar to the Pearl District in Portland, Ore. The plan calls for making the area around Everett Station mixed use, allowing for people to both live and work there.
The area is bordered on the west by McDougal Avenue, on the east by I-5, on the north by Hewitt Avenue and on the south by 36th Street.
The city’s economic development staff asked for a plan for the largely industrial Everett Station area to allow housing.
Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@ heraldnet.com.
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