EVERETT – More than a year after residents shot down a county proposal for a high-density “urban village” at I-5 and 128th Street SW, officials are inviting them to draw from scratch their own ideas for the area.
The county had proposed to develop 73 mostly vacant acres southeast of the freeway interchange into a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with up to 1,675 apartments, condominiums and townhouses, along with offices, stores, parks and bus stops.
County officials dropped the idea after two contentious meetings at which residents expressed fears that the plan would lead to traffic nightmares and drastically change the character of their neighborhood.
At an open house Aug. 25, county planning officials plan to make some of the same arguments they made last year. They say that residents of an urban village would be able to walk to bus stops, stores and, in some cases, to work. And they say that building housing close to I-5 would avoid clogging other county roads with more cars.
But this time, the county will not come with a specific plan, said Mary Lynne Evans, the county’s planning manager.
Evans still believes an urban village makes sense – at least on paper – for the 128th Street SW interchange. The county’s 1995 long-term growth plan recommended more high-density housing in the area. But the county is open to considering anything that residents come up with, Evans said.
Officials will ask participants at the meeting to break out into small groups to brainstorm ideas for the entire area around the interchange – not just the southeast part that was to house the urban village.
“We want to wipe the slate clean from last year,” said David Killingstad, a senior planner with the county.
Snohomish County has no choice but to accept more growth. The state’s Growth Management Act requires the county to accommodate as many as 300,000 more residents in the next 20 years and concentrate growth in certain areas.
But urban villages are not the only way to do that, Evans said. Smaller lot sizes for single-family homes are another way, she said.
Area resident Corky Lyman remains convinced that increased density would only make already heavy traffic worse. And she’s skeptical of claims that residents of an urban village would walk to stores.
“People get in a car to go two blocks to a grocery store,” she said.
Not everyone opposes an urban village. Peter Vanderlugt, who owns a home in the neighborhood, said high-density housing near the interchange would contain sprawl and stop traffic problems from spreading.
“I can’t see any sense in building further and further out,” he said.
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com.
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