2005/12/05 Council Agenda Packet

January 31, 2005 CITY OF EVERE17 Planning Dept. CITY OF EVERETT DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 2930 Wetmore Avenue, Suite 8A Everett, WA 98201 RE: Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the City of Everett 10 -Year Comprehensive Plan Update The DSEIS is an impressive document in terms of size and scope. It sets the pattern of development in Everett for at least the next ten years and allows for the consideration of 3 alternate rates of growth in terms of population and employment. This in itself would be a tremendous amount of information for the taxpaying public to digest, let alone comment on intelligently, but the DSEIS was further burdened and complicated by the addition of 8 site- specific docket items that are actually part of the regular comprehensive plan annual cycle. This action detracts from the 10 — Year Comprehensive Plan Update. By not granting an automatic 15 day public comment period as allowed for in WAC 197-11455(7) the City has eroded public confidence, undermined the process and possibly eliminated pertinent testimony that would actually enhance the plan. 15 days is meager compared to the 3,650 days this plan is supposed to represent. Many citizens took precious time from our lives and work to read the document and provide meaningful testimony. I only hope the Planning Commission and The City Council will read the document and deliver thoughtful consideration. THE PROCESS: I acknowledge the fact that the Planning Department is understaffed and that they had an extraordinary amount of work recently including: the North Marina Redevelopment; The Boeing Rail/Barge Facility; The Shoreline Management Program and subsequent settlement; The 41" Street Overcrossing settlement; providing staff assistance for the Vision Team; all of the other regular projects that come up; and even more that I have no knowledge of. The Comprehensive Plan Update is so significant in terms of long range impact that it should be scheduled far in advance of the deadline. I understand the WAC dictates the timeframe on which to comment on the DSEIS, but through workshops, or even a program on the City's cable station, the City could have done much, much more to foster citizen involvement. I recommend that a Vision Team be part of all subsequent updates and be assembled so that their findings will be in final form when the plan is scheduled to be updated again in 7 years. Future Vision Teams should elicit public input BEFORE and after crafting their vision. This year the Vision Team will not have presented its draft vision to all of the neighborhoods by the deadline