EVERETT – After a four-hour hearing, the Everett Historical Commission late Wednesday did not take action on a recommendation to remove a block of homes from the Donovan District to make way for a $400 million hospital expansion.
However, the commission did recommend that at least 75 percent of the 21 houses – about 16 homes – be removed or retained. The recommendation to move the homes goes directly to Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson for consideration.
The commission also recommended to the Everett City Council that it try to preserve all of the homes on the west side of Oakes Avenue.
Also, the commission gave approval to demolish whatever homes are not removed or retained.
Commissioners said they were disappointed that Providence Everett Medical Center’s growth plan had come to a point of possibly losing 21 historic homes.
“I’m honestly not convinced based on what I’ve seen tonight that there aren’t alternatives,” Commissioner Sue Walsh said.
Providence made its case Wednesday saying the expansion is vital to its future in meeting the needs of a growing Snohomish County.
But neighbors are concerned about not only the loss of historic homes but the character of the Donovan District neighborhood in north Everett.
“I understand how important history is to keep you connected to the past but also to give you a foundation to connect to the future,” said Garrick Hudson-Falcon, who has lived in the Donovan District for two years and hopes to raise a family here.
Commissioners asked hospital staff several questions about whether the homes could be moved, including the cost and possible locations.
About moving the homes, Providence’s chief strategic officer, Patty DeGroodt, said Wednesday that she would “just love to be able to stand here today and say that we have it sorted out, but we don’t.”
But she said the hospital is looking into options with two interested developers, one who has plans to move 15 of the homes by year’s end, but that is “not firmed up yet.”
Commissioner Vicki Rosenau, asked: “There’s no guarantee? Having a firm commitment from the hospital that they will be moved would make a big difference here.”
The historical commission, which meets monthly and has nine members and two alternates, has five new faces because of two resignations and two term expirations.
Last month, the city council appointed Dave Ramstad, Jim Staniford, Sue Walsh, Sandra Alder and Chandra Sadro to the commission.
Commissioners Ramstad and Jack O’Donnell recused themselves Wednesday because of potential conflicts of interest.
Wednesday’s historical commission meeting was the last step before the matter goes before the Everett City Council for a decision on March 16.
At a March 1 meeting, the Planning Commission unanimously approved Providence’s plans for growth, with a few conditions.
The commission asked for a permanent greenbelt between the hospital’s east side and the neighborhood.
The commission also asked the hospital to improve parts of 13th Street.
The hospital proposed a 15- to 20-year Colby campus expansion that would double its work force, adding 2,200 jobs, and allow it to keep up with population growth in Snohomish County. The project includes a new cancer center, two new towers for hospital rooms and three new parking garages.
Regarding the conditions for the hospital plan, one suggestion from the planning department is to include a requirement that the hospital cannot expand east of Oakes Avenue, and that future growth should be to the north, northeast or on existing hospital property.
Another is that the proposed 50- to 100-foot, landscaped buffer between the hospital’s east side and the neighborhood should be built as soon as the project gets under way and should remain there.
The controversy revolves not around the hospital’s need to grow, but the part of the plan that involves demolishing or moving 21 homes on the block to its east. The hospital owns all but one of the homes and has been buying them since 1981.
However, in 1998, those homes and about 60 others in the neighborhood were added to the Everett Historic Register.
Providence’s officials say 10 years of study has led to one conclusion – eastward growth is its one viable option.
Though many support the hospital’s need to grow, neighbors say losing the cottage homes would change the historic neighborhood.
At the Feb. 15 commission meeting, neighbors thought they’d found hope for compromise. Everett Community College Board of Trustees Chairman Sanford Kinzer suggested that Providence revive a four-year-old land deal with the college.
The deal would involve the hospital buying a college-owned, nine-acre athletic field across the street from the Colby campus. In return, the college would buy the Rite Aid shopping center on north Broadway for possible use as a recreational complex.
Larson said last month that the hospital is interested in buying the property. However, it would be for future growth and not the current expansion project, she said.
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