MUKILTEO — Snohomish County has started a new marketing push, backed with planning assistance, to attract businesses to Paine Field and another industrial area around the Arlington Municipal Airport.
The effort targets the west side of Paine Field, including an area where the Boeing Co. recently signed an option-to-lease agreement. It’s the last major chunk of undeveloped land at the Snohomish County Airport.
The other area where officials are looking to lure companies is the manufacturing industrial center east of I-5 between Arlington and Marysville.
“When Boeing, Amazon, Microsoft, or other major employers in our local community or outside our region go looking for a place to expand, we want them looking here,” County Executive Dave Somers said in a release. “We think Snohomish County will provide everything they need.”
Somers has declared the two areas “projects of countywide significance.” Professional planners will be tasked with expediting work on any permits for those areas.
In a press release, all five county council members talked up the move as a way to attract jobs.
The targeted area at Paine Field includes 140 acres along the Mukilteo Speedway, between the Dreamlifter Operations Center and the Historic Flight Foundation. Boeing entered a lease option for 58 acres of that land last month. The company has up to two years to study potential uses, but has been reluctant to tip its hand as to what it has in mind.
Airplane storage is one possibility. Another could have something to do with facilities for a new mid-market aircraft the aerospace manufacturer has been contemplating and could announce this year.
The Arlington-Marysville Manufacturing Industrial Center comprises more than 4,000 acres east of I-5. It’s split between the two cities and takes in the Arlington Municipal Airport.
Businesses that develop land in the designated manufacturing and industrial area can apply for property-tax breaks.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter:@NWhaglund.
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