EVERETT — An Everett hospital’s plan to build a 50-foot-tall utility plant is facing vehement neighborhood opposition.
The city shouldn’t let Providence Everett Medical Center expand at the expense of nearby residents, opponents of the project said at a public hearing attended by about 100 people on Monday.
“We are the community,” Everett resident Garrik Hudson-Falcon told the city’s planning commission. “These people live in the community. Stop listening to what the corporation wants. Listen to what people in the community want.”
The hospital wants to build the $40 million utility plant as part of its ongoing expansion to keep up with increasing demands for health-care services in Snohomish County. Before it can build the plant, the hospital needs the city to change its comprehensive plan, which sets rules for the city’s zoning and land use.
The planning commission on Monday decided to extend the public hearing to its next meeting on June 17 before making a recommendation on the issue. The City Council is expected to make a final decision this summer.
The hospital is also seeking permission to build buildings higher than it’s currently allowed, to prepare for future expansions.
The hospital with 3,500 employees is an important part of the community, said David Brooks, the hospital’s chief executive.
“The county is growing,” Brooks said. “The county is aging. All of us are aging. We need to prepare for that.”
Neighbors believe that the utility plant would ruin their views, lower their property values and cause noise and air pollution.
The hospital’s growth already has caused them pains, they said. A couple years ago nearly two dozen historic houses were taken away to make way for a parking garage and hospital tower.
The utility plant is a recent addition to the hospital’s growth plans. The hospital already began renovating its Colby campus, which is set to include a 12-story building. The plant is part of the $600 million expansion.
The city already had done enough to accommodate the hospital’s need, ignoring pleas from neighbors, Hudson-Falcon said.
“I have to say this is like deja vu all over again,” he said to the planning commission.
The utility plant was originally scheduled to go up near Colby Avenue and 13th Street. But the hospital changed its location to a site just west of Lombard Avenue, working out a land swap deal with Everett Community College.
In exchange for giving the hospital its athletic field and gym, the college would acquire the shopping center that the hospital owns across N. Broadway from the college campus.
Reporter David Chircop contributed to this report.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
Hearing continues
The Everett planning commission continues a public hearing on the proposed expansion of Providence Everett Medical Center at 6:30 p.m. on June 17.
The hearing is scheduled to be held at Everett Station’s fourth floor Weyerhaeuser Room, 3201 Smith Ave.
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