MARYSVILLE — Traffic on busy Highway 9 north of Lake Stevens could get juicier.
Chick-fil-A applied with the city of Marysville last week to join a new development west of the highway on Soper Hill Road at 87th Avenue NE.
Documents show a proposed groundbreaking in February 2024 with an opening six months later in August. The city has 120 days from the application date to decide on the fast-food restaurant. Comments will be accepted until Oct. 13.
Lake Stevens residents will just have to cross the road to get chicken on warm toasted buns and waffle fries. That stretch of Soper Hill Road divides the two sprawling cities.
Construction continues on the Soper Hill Center on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
The Everett Clinic at Soper Hill stands alone, for now, in the back of the large construction area with tall chain-link fencing around heavy equipment and building materials. The clinic will have lots of company. The new development also includes the city’s second location of Coconut Kenny’s, a tropical-themed restaurant, as well as a gas station, car wash and other eateries. Plans call for a spa, dental offices, child care center and retail in the Soper Hill complex, as well.
Those businesses will draw traffic, but likely not to the extent Chick-fil-A has garnered at openings elsewhere, despite the Georgia chain’s fundamental conservative politics that still keep some people away.
In 2020, Marysville got its first taste of Chick-fil-A frenzy. Cars lined up overnight for the May opening of the restaurant near I-5 and 88th Street NE. Law enforcement continued to direct traffic for several weeks.
A person works on the roof of one the newly constructed buildings at the Soper Hill Center on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Documents filed with the city are for a 5,773-square-foot restaurant on just over 2 acres. It will have two drive-thru lanes, 130 indoor seats and a 28-seat patio.
The plan says: “No driveway cuts exist or are proposed for CFA’s sole purpose. Access shall be limited to the approved shared access drive aisles within the overall development.”
A roundabout will feed the traffic at Soper Hill Road and 87th Avenue NE.
The first Chick-fil-A in Snohomish County opened in Lynnwood in 2015. The latest was in March 2023, at the corner of Highway 99 and 196th Street SW in Lynnwood. The company’s website says Everett’s first store, near Everett Mall, is “coming soon.”
There are over 2,600 Chick-fil-A restaurants in the United States and Canada. The restaurants are closed on Sundays for religious reasons.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.
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