2025/06/18 Council Agenda Packet

EVERETT 2044 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN 6/17/2025 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN URBAN FORM ELEMENT Page 20 Planning for the future The city’s urban form plan balances growth with protecting natural resources and watershed health. Everett is a city of neighborhoods connected by transportation networks. The form of these neighborhoods is defined by the land uses, topography, and access to natural areas. The attractiveness of these neighborhoods to existing and new residents is impacted by housing choices and the proximity of convenient services, schools, parks, and other destinations. Having good access and connections are also important, including transit, safe streets, trails, and other public spaces. The residential areas of the city will welcome new neighbors with options for the development of middle housing in most neighborhoods across the city. The Comprehensive Plan proposes to use new growth to help expand access to employment and great neighborhoods. The Plan guides growth to centers and corridors. Growing up and not out supports the clustering destinations and makes access by transit, walking, and rolling more practical and desirable. In turn, this helps reduce the amount of driving needed to access work and services. Focusing growth and investments in centers and along corridors also makes good use of existing infrastructure capacity and encourages efficiency in new infrastructure investments such as parks, streets, sidewalks, transit routes, water distribution, sewer collection, and stormwater treatment. While future growth will be focused in centers and along corridors, it is vital that the natural environment is preserved and enhanced. This can be and should be accomplished by designing buildings and spaces that put people first and limit the impact on the environment are fundamental to creating a sustainable city. Mixed-Use Centers Mixed-Use Centers (Centers) are compact and pedestrian-oriented urban places. They are connected to public transit and active transportation networks. They anchor complete neighborhoods with retail stores and businesses (grocery stores, restaurants, markets, shops, etc.), civic amenities (libraries, schools, community centers, places of worship, etc.), housing options, health clinics, daycare centers, employment centers, parks, or other public gathering places. Centers will be the primary areas for growth and change in Everett over the next 20 years. Focusing new growth in centers helps achieve goals of having more people live in complete neighborhoods, use public transit and active transportation — walking, biking, and rolling — to commute to work and complete errands, and it will help mitigate and prepare for the effects of climate change. Clustering destinations Middle Housing is a range of housing types that are designed to be compatible with single-family neighborhoods and may include duplexes up to sixplexes, townhouses, courtyard apartments, and cottage houses.