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for public comment on the DSEIS, although it did get presented at the Chamber of Commerce in <br />good time. <br />Requests for Comp Plan and rezone applications are standardized to provide flesh for the <br />request; require the applicant to thoroughly think out the implications of the plan; and are easy <br />for staff to evaluate and make comment. A simple instructional form on how to comment on the <br />next 7 year Comp Plan update would be helpful to the public and staff alike. <br />IN GENERAL: <br />Alternative #2 with the goal of accommodating medium intense growth is clearly the most <br />prudent choice to make. <br />The City should support legislation in Olympia that requires all trades, not just plumbers and <br />electricians, to pass a proficiency test. This will speed up the permitting process since much staff <br />time is devoted to homeowners and inexperienced contractors and in inspecting and re -inspecting <br />a job. Such legislation will also minimize shoddy construction and reduce the subsequent <br />lawsuits that clog our courts and impair our ability to provide safe, affordable housing for our <br />population. <br />Eliminate the Multi Family Tax Abatement Program. The burden of this tax break is carried on <br />the backs of all the other property owners in Everett and is hampering our ability to provide the <br />most basic of services. We are paying for the additional fire, police, school, infrastructure and <br />port projects they require but recipients of the abatement are not. If the City's coffers were <br />overflowing it might be a reasonable thing to do — but they are not. This policy attracts <br />carpetbaggers of the most despicable sort. Instead collect the full tax from multi -family projects <br />and invest some of that money in things that will draw the type of upscale development we crave <br />like: parks and open space; the ability to care for our most vulnerable citizens (the children, the <br />elderly, and the disabled) and safe, attractive neighborhoods. The City should give tax <br />incentives for Building Green and promoting sustainable locally based small business. Do <br />something that is truly progressive, long range and ultimately profitable. <br />Explore with the Office and Council of Neighborhoods the possibility of re -drawing <br />neighborhood boundaries. Right now they are metes and bounds lines on a map that frequently <br />leave huge portions of our City under -represented Configure neighborhoods that are more <br />organic in nature and that will ultimately serve the residents and business within the boundaries. <br />Let's apply GMA strategy of "tall not sprawl" to our schools and encourage the school district to <br />build multi -story buildings. Most educational facilities built since the 1950's have the <br />automobile age characteristic of skinny one level structures joined by breezeways. Children are <br />obese, staff and students alike are exposed to flu and colds from going inside and then back <br />outside to change class, heating costs are exorbitant and we have a dearth of playing fields. <br />Going up will definitely help correct these costly problems. <br />2 <br />