EVERETT – A plan that could push downtown Everett’s skyline upward cleared a significant hurdle Tuesday night.
The planning commission unanimously voted to approve the Everett Downtown Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for future development of the city’s core.
“It gives developers good opportunities, but at the same time it is sensitive to neighborhood needs and views,” commissioner Michelle Trautman said.
The plan encourages high- rises and designates the Colby Avenue ridge for the tallest buildings.
New structures on a stretch of Colby and Wetmore avenues could climb above 300 feet – double the height of downtown’s tallest buildings.
The towers atop the Everett Events Center reach to about 190 feet.
If they meet certain design standards, buildings along the Colby Avenue ridge could grow to an unlimited height, said Dave Koenig, Everett’s manager of long-range planning.
Reflecting revitalization efforts across the nation, the plan aspires to be a big carrot that attracts private investment to the city center.
The proposal calls for rezoning industrial and manufacturing land into residential, retail and office space.
It also calls for a series of new design standards, such as requiring ground-floor commercial space and special facades on retail streets.
New high-rises that follow environmentally friendly building standards set by the Green Building Council could qualify for height bonuses under the plan.
“A lot of people have been talking about that as an important and progressive step for the city,” said Sean Edwards, chairman of the Port Gardner Neighborhood Association.
He said bicycle storage lockers called for in the plan are another green component that he agrees with.
For its part, the city would improve landscaping and designate bike routes and pedestrian paths to nearby residential areas and the waterfront.
It also would install parking meters and plan for future light-rail transit along Broadway.
City planners envision these factors coalescing to form a more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly downtown.
The $100,000 downtown study has been in the works for the past year.
The City Council will review the plan at a public workshop July 5. Council members are scheduled to cast their final votes on the plan July 19.
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