EVERETT – The City Council Wednesday adopted a list of projects that gives residents an idea of where the city might add residents and jobs over the next 21 years.
The council asked the planning department to study a long list of possible changes to the city’s long-term growth plan, including annexation proposals, population targets and zoning changes.
The council has already approved some of the ideas.
Wednesday’s action was another step in developing a new comprehensive growth plan, which is required by state law every 10 years. The council hopes to adopt a final growth plan in mid-2005.
Getting on the list doesn’t mean the city has given its blessing to a project. But the city and state want residents to have a chance to comment on them, City Councilwoman Brenda Stonecipher said.
“We want to alert our citizens that we are considering these changes,” she said.
For example, Everett Community College is asking the city for zoning changes so it can start building an arts and sciences building next summer, said Michael Kerns, vice president for administration at the college. It also wants to begin work on an undergraduate center in 2007 that would include classrooms for social science courses and space for Western Washington University classes.
Also on the “comprehensive plan audit” approved Wednesday are Providence Everett Medical Center’s expansion proposals for the next 15 years.
Putting those proposals on the audit allows the city to review possible zoning changes, “and it lets everyone in the neighborhood know what we’re planning,” said Patty DeGroodt, chief strategic officer for the hospital.
Among the proposals the council approved last year is a target to add 27,000 residents by 2025.
In addition, the council last year took out several big chunks of unincorporated land from its 1994 comprehensive growth plan, including county-owned Paine Field, which the county wants to keep in its jurisdiction.
It also removed the area around Lake Stickney, which lacks a storm water drainage system and has few curbs, gutters or sidewalks. Bringing the area up to city standards would be too expensive, said Dave Koenig, manager of long-range planning and community development.
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.
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