LYNNWOOD — A new downtown is on the way, with the potential for buildings up to 36 stories tall, brand new streets, a town square and three other city parks.
Before a shovel hits the ground, however, the city has some work to do as it lays the groundwork for City Center, its plan to create an identifiable downtown with a mix of shopping, residences and offices.
The City Council approved the City Center plan two years ago and signed off on new zoning for the area last summer. Planning for the new downtown, about 350 acres located east of 48th Avenue West and south of 194th Street Southwest, has been driven by anticipated growth.
City officials expect 5,400 new residents to arrive in Lynnwood and 13,800 new jobs by 2020.
Those new residents have to go somewhere, and state law and Snohomish County planning rules say the bulk of that growth should be confined to urban centers.
So far, the city’s completed planning for those new parks and has carefully studied traffic models that take into account the anticipated growth.
And the City Council earlier this year approved funding for a set of capital improvements that will, among other things, move City Center forward. And the city’s completing a market absorption analysis that describes the economic details.
“We’re analyzing the traffic and determining exactly what improvements we’ll need,” said economic development director David Kleitsch. “From knowing those improvements and their estimated costs, we’ll get a financial plan together, probably this summer or fall.”
Once that financial plan is complete, the city will conduct environmental reviews and coordinate how and when development can occur, Kleitsch added.
Thursday, April 19, the city hosted an open house at the Lynnwood Convention Center, where staff explained a variety of projects, including City Center. It was the second public meeting detailing City Center since October 2006.
As envisioned, City Center will create a new series of streets, many with wide sidewalks, within a section of Lynnwood where city blocks will be smaller than they are today. A 3-acre central plaza, known as Town Center Park, will be the downtown’s main gathering spot.
Landscape architect Guy Michaelson of Seattle’s The Berger Partnership, a city consultant, called the central park “Lynnwood’s living room.”
The planned park features an egg-shaped commons, fountain and amphitheater surrounded by retail shops, seasonal gardens and tree groves. Parking would be underground. The park, said Parks and Recreation director Lynn Sordel, “opens the door for all kinds of possible activities.”
Michaelson said retail is “often a dirty word” connected to parks, but it doesn’t have to be.
“I think the plan that Lynnwood’s doing is really visionary, because it’s about public spaces,” he said.
Other new parks in or near City Center include:
• Civic Park, just south of 194th Street Southwest at 44th Avenue West. It’s billed as an “urban extension of the forested civic campus,” according to city literature;
• The Village Green, further east, would provide open space and offer a playground for adjacent, high-density residences; and
• Icon, east of the Lynnwood Convention Center, would cater to the lunchtime crowd and might include a climbing wall and play area.
Jeff Elekes, the city’s deputy public works director, said engineers and consultants have analyzed car and non-automobile transportation options and plugged that analysis into computerized traffic models.
The result, demonstrated via computer screen at the public meeting, shows how traffic would flow in 15-20 years.
“A lot of the traffic along 196th Street is regional traffic,” said Victor Salemann, a traffic consultant. “That growth in traffic is substantial without a town center, so we’ll probably have to focus a little more on transit in the future.”
Next up: final cost analysis for right-of-way and construction of new streets and sidewalks.
“Once we have determined what the mode is going to be, what the cost is going to be, we can look into how that plays into the market feasibility,” Elekes said.
Lynnwood’s not the only city planning a new downtown.
The city of Mountlake Terrace is in the midst of planning Town Center, a redevelopment that will bring new residences, offices and retail shops to town.
And the King County cities of Sammamish and Mercer Island as well as Bothell, Kenmore and Shoreline have downtown plans in the works.
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