Resolution 7924 - Laserfiche WebLink

City Council Memo Page 1 of 31 CITY OF EVERETT Planning MEMORANDUM TO: City Council FROM: Rebecca McCrary, Long Range Planning Manager DATE: July 27, 2023 MEETING DATE: August 9, 2023 SUBJECT: 2044 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update – Advancing Alternatives and Specific Amendment into Phase III environmental review Staff is seeking the concurrence by the city council on growth alternatives to advance for study in an environmental impact statement, as recommended by the planning commission in Planning Commission Resolution 23-02. This action will initiate Phase III of the Periodic Update process, which includes technical and environmental analysis to evaluate impacts of growth alternative components in preparation for developing a preferred alternative in late 2023 and 2024. In addition to the draft alternatives, the council is asked to decide which Specific Amendment Requests should advance in the environmental analysis and evaluation with the three growth alternatives. Staff provided a briefing to the council on the alternatives on May 24, 2023 (agenda, packet). RECAP OF GROWTH ALTERNATIVES Growth Alternative Principles •The alternatives should maximize differences between them to be able to discuss comparisons and tradeoffs. This is a challenge because even with substantial growth to plan for, all of the existing development in the city, and most of the growth, is common to all alternatives. Of the 85,600 homes in Everett that we are planning for in 2044, about 70,000 (81%) of the growth will be the same under all alternatives. •The alternatives must be reasonable. While none of the three alternatives are likely to be adopted as the final plan (likely a blend), each should individually be reasonably achievable. •The alternatives will focus on housing growth because employment growth is much less sensitive to local government regulation. Manufacturing facilities, restaurants, and offices frequently scale up or down without any city permits at all, whereas every new housing unit must be permitted by the city. Growth Geographies Growth geographies were developed to identify potential areas for additional housing capacity using planning principles such as access to multimodal transportation facilities and the capacity of those facilities, and proximity to jobs, daily needs, and amenities. In some cases, the geographies described below are treated the same in all three alternatives because of the existing characteristics and land use patterns while new growth is assigned in a different range and layout from each other to establish a wide range of opportunities to study impacts.