Published March 2003

Everett grapples with issues of future growth

By David Olson
Herald Writer

With predictions that Everett’s population could surge by nearly 50 percent over the next 22 years, city officials have begun grappling with the tough questions of where to put all those new residents.

Everett will grow from its current population of about 96,000 to as many as 139,510 people — a 45 percent increase — by 2025, according to predictions in a recent report from Snohomish County Tomorrow. The group, which analyzes growth issues, is made up of officials from the county and its cities.

At the very least, the city will have a population of more than 123,000 by then, the report says.

Stopping growth is not an option, because state law requires Snohomish and other counties to develop policies to make room for more residents.

The question is how Everett and other cities choose to grow. And the solutions won’t be easy, said Everett City Councilman Mark Olson, co-chairman of Snohomish County Tomorrow.

“We have to allow for denser development, but we also have to do our best to preserve the character of neighborhoods,” Olson said. “It’s a fine line we walk. What we can’t do is pretend it won’t happen.”

The key to absorbing more residents is building more high-density housing downtown, Olson said. That would attract young high-tech and other new-economy workers seeking a more urban atmosphere with cultural options, such as the rock concerts the downtown arena under construction will provide, he said. Adding more housing would further rejuvenate downtown, bringing more restaurants and stores, he said.

“To make downtowns thrive in this day and age, you need residential development,” Olson said.

Everett is especially suited to absorb more residents, because it already has roads, sewers and other expensive infrastructure necessary for development, said Kamuron Gurol, planning division manager for Snohomish County.

The biggest challenge in dealing with large-scale growth is the increased traffic that accompanies it, he said. But higher-density housing in Everett and other cities benefits all area residents, Gurol said.

“If you have someone who can walk or bicycle to work or take the bus, it’s one more car off the road,” he said.

Most of Everett’s vacant land is in the south end of the city, said Dave Koenig, manager of long-range planning and community development for the city. That is where most single-family subdivisions are likely to be built.

But there’s limited space for large-scale development projects even in south Everett, said Brenda Stonecipher, chair of the planning commission.

The city’s population has skyrocketed over the past 13 years, from less than 70,000 people in 1990 to more than 96,000 today. But that population boom consumed many of the city’s biggest chunks of vacant land that can be used for development, and the city will not grow at the same pace during the next two decades, she said.

In the near future, Stonecipher said, the soft economy will prevent large-scale development, especially of apartment buildings and other high-density housing that the county and state are pushing. The rental vacancy rate in Everett — where a majority of residents are renters — is 8 percent.

A Feb. 4 meeting was the first step in putting together an updated comprehensive plan on growth, which is due for release in December 2004. On April 1, the city must give Snohomish County Tomorrow a preliminary population target for 2025.

After the 1990 Census, the city went through a similar process that led to the growth plan that the City Council approved in 1994. The council then adopted several measures to encourage higher-density growth, including allowing taller residential housing downtown.

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