Editorial: End challenge against Everett’s third Pallet village

By The Herald Editorial Board

Work to establish a third Everett location of Pallet shelters — small 100-square-foot shelters used as temporary transitional housing and built by an Everett company — now appears to have been delayed, if not scuttled, by a group’s challenge of a hearing examiner’s decision to approve the city’s plans.

The lawsuit delays housing for some 20 women, pregnant or with children, who would have been provided placement for up to a year in the shelters, which have been used successfully elsewhere in the city: a group of 40 such shelters managed by the Everett Gospel Mission on Smith Avenue and 32 more shelters managed by Faith Lutheran Church on Cady Road as Faith Family Village.

The third site was planned at 200 Sievers Duecy Boulevard on city-owned land in southwest Everett, adjacent to the Phil Johnson Ballfields. It was to be managed and staffed by Volunteers of America, Western Washington and was initially scheduled to open last February.

Of the city’s 67 acres of property at the location, 13 acres are occupied by the ballfields and its facilities. The Pallet village would use about two acres of currently undeveloped land.

A group calling itself Friends of Phil Johnson Ballpark Phase II initially challenged the city planning director’s approval of the shelter project to a hearing examiner, The Herald’s Aina de Lapparent Alvarez reported Monday. When the hearing examiner rejected that appeal, the group appealed the matter to Snohomish County Superior Court, arguing that the city’s comprehensive plan and a development agreement for the property prevents the city from using the larger property for anything other than recreation, ballfields and complementary development.

The city has argued that its park director has the discretion to determine which uses are compatible under the development agreement.

The city-owned ballfield complex has been renovated in recent years, receiving some $4.65 million in improvements. But the city has not announced a timeline for future development of recreational facilities at the park, providing an opportunity to temporarily place a Pallet village for women adjacent to the developed ballfields and other recreational facilities.

The permit for the shelters was approved for a year, with potential yearly extensions at the city planning director’s discretion.

Everett and Snohomish County still face challenges in providing housing and shelter to those who are unhoused or face instability in housing, particularly among those adults with children under 18, and children themselves.

Among the findings in the county’s most recent point-in-time count, conducted in January and released in May, between February 2023 and February 2024, the report found a 5 percent increase in total “households” — more than one individual — and a 7 percent increase in households with adults and children. Additionally, the number of child-only households increased to 19 youths, up from 12 the year prior.

Yet, numbers appear to be improving following the covid pandemic. The count of unsheltered individuals had dropped 9.6 percent from the previous year to 625 people, closer to pre-pandemic numbers. That improvement, the report said, “reflects increased resources, including federal funds like the American Rescue Plan Act, HOME American Rescue Plan, and Chemical Dependency and Mental Health Sales Tax funds. In addition, partnerships with law enforcement, social service agencies, and community partners played a critical role in reaching and assisting households that may have otherwise been undercounted.”

In other words, efforts such as the Pallet shelters are working to reduce homelessness and housing insecurity; most certainly for those individuals and families who are receiving or have received that transitional shelter as they work toward stability. And the success of that shelter and security justifies their continued availability and the expansion of access to such programs.

Parks and ballfields are vital to a city’s quality of life and the health and well-being of its residents. As such, those facilities — and the land set aside for their future development — do deserve protection and careful consideration in their planning.

The city, with the aid of state grants and private donations, has made significant investment in its parks, including, as noted, the Phil Johnson Ballfields. And those investments are continuing; Wednesday a new playground at the park was dedicated.

But, with the city in position to plan for the pace and provisions for future development of its parks and open space, the city is also able to set aside two of the property’s 67 acres for a temporary use that can meet needs elsewhere, specifically to address a housing crisis that threatens the health and well-being of individuals, families and children in Everett.

With due appreciation for its concern for the city’s parks, Friends of Phil Johnson Ballpark should drop its appeal and allow the city to move ahead with its plans for the Pallet village.