Everett’s public presentations on the riverfront draft master pPlan and on development guidelines were cordially and professionally displayed (Everett Station, Oct. 21 and Dec. 2). As expected, the site plans were not river-integrated. But I was pleasantly surprised to learn that some contributors were aware of this, together with the eventual consequences of river exclusion in floodplain planning.

More gratifying still was a staff statement that Everett “… is not planning for the 1,000-year flood.” I have been pointing this out for years, but in a “heads-up” context; that is, that 1,000-year flooding events are at hand.

What riverfront planners have never grasped is that the official “1,000-year” designation assumes a forested Snohomish River Basin, unravaged by development. But logging, diking, construction, asphalt and concrete have altered decisively the river’s ability to manage excessive runoff.

The numbers do not lie. A few decades hence will bring flooding events that dwarf the “century” floods of recent times. More severely than at any past time, they will impact a floodway no longer forested and naturally buffered against extreme floodwater flows. Everett’s draft plans do not perceive this (even though some of the planners do).

For years I believed that Everett was taking needless risks owing to lack of savvy on river issues. However, since about 2006, at latest, I see Everett risking its soul as well. Surely there exists a special place in hell for a community that knowingly hazards its posterity in exchange for near-term tax dollars.

The planning contributors were doing and saying what they are paid to do and say. But for everyone’s sake, Everett’s elected leaders at the highest levels must soon find compromise between greed and betrayal there.

ALEX G. ALEXANDER

Everett