Published February 2002

East-county cities band together to get results

The towns of Snohomish County east of Everett may be small, but they increasingly are facing big-city problems.

As an escape from the urbanization of the I-5 corridor, their populations are steadily climbing with the addition of new housing and subdivisions. But new homes and residents don’t provide the financial foundation to allow these cities to adequately expand their infrastructures to support the additional population.

Expanded roads, upgraded sewer and water capacity, lighting and community centers are improvements that can attract new business and jobs that in turn increase tax revenues that allow their city governments to grow as well.

But such initiatives are costly, far beyond budgets of these smaller communities. Their size also makes it difficult to compete with larger jurisdictions for the dwindling amounts of federal and state funds to make such improvements.

Indeed, our smaller communities face the proverbial chicken/egg dilemma.

The newly formed Evergreen Crescent Initiative may well solve the riddle. The ECI is a partnership between six small and growing cities in eastern Snohomish County, the County Planning Department, the Central Puget Sound Economic Development District and the Snohomish County Economic Development Council.

The group derives its “crescent” name by plotting the location of the six participating communities — Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Snohomish, Monroe, Sultan and Gold Bar — along the state routes of 92, 9 and 2.

The ECI is a mechanism that allows these communities to band their resources and leverage them with the strengths of county planners, the CPSEDD and our own EDC staff.

“It gives them a little more political clout and the expertise to compete with larger cities for development funds they may not have a chance to get alone,” explains Michael Cade, Snohomish County EDC Vice President, who is serving as chair of the ECI Task Force.

Many of the cities’ needs center on the issues of readiness for community development such as critical infrastructure improvements (water/sewer, transportation, etc.) marketing programs and a solid economic/community development strategy.

The ECI can provide the expertise to identify the necessary requirements that will ensure quality community development. One of the first tasks for the group is to identify critical impediments and potential solutions.

The ECI cities have expressed joint interest in developing industrial market analysis and promotion strategies, developing downtown or Main Street business districts and developing tourism expansion for the combined planning area.

Other needs include infrastructure improvements to support development, market analysis for industrial development, freight mobility planning, improved planning and permit coordination, and improved coordination with county, regional and state planning agencies.

We welcome and fully support this very important program. With all of us working together, we’re confident that the ECI can provide a foundation for decisions and actions on local development investments, land-use decisions as well as marketing and promotional activities that will lead to the creation and retention of living-wage jobs.

Deborah Knutson is President of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council. She can be reached at 425-743-4567 or by e-mail to dknutson@snoedc.org.

Back to the top/February 2002 Main Menu