2005/12/05 Council Agenda Packet

Relocate the school administration building closer to the other city services downtown and put their huge and mostly vacant, unused acreage on Colby Avenue into more productive use Assemble a design review committee made up of architects, artists, landscapers, developers, real estate professional and mere mortals for all commercial and multi -family projects. It is unthinkable to leave decisions of such long lasting and profound effect to a single staff person. The community will have to live with whatever is built for the next 50 to 100 years. All of this talk of high density housing does little or nothing to address the needs of families who in many cases require more than 2 bedrooms. Encourage developers to build with this vastly underserved portion of our community in mind. If the Riverside is Everett's front porch — what does that make the Harbor side? The back porch? Immediately halt all speculation of altering the heights on Rucker Avenue and put the western portion of the CBD and the entire Western slope into a sub -area planning phase. Revise the height in the Port Gardner neighborhood south of Pacific Avenue and in the Bayside neighborhood north of Everett Avenue that are zoned either R4 or R5 to be commensurate with the adjacent Historic Overlay Zones in those neighborhoods. The existing zoning was put in place nearly 60 years ago and the entire area is ripe for redevelopment. Do not piecemeal a significant area that has some of the greatest potential for positive change within the City limits. Begin conversation with the railroad regarding moving the switching yards (both Bayside and Delta) out of the City limits. They are a stranglehold on the redevelopment of the North end. Provide non -automobile, mass transit to the employment centers in Paine Field and Seaway. Log rafts, boat houses, docks and wharfs make shade on sensitive water environments. Enact sunlight provisions that afford people the same necessary light and energy as our fish. Tall, straight -up un -modulated buildings cast huge, inescapable shadows. Sunlight provisions could help reduce medical costs in terms of treatment for depression and for people who are allergic to molds and they will reduce repair and maintenance costs for adjacent property owners. The city is in violation of the Shoreline Management Program in that it still has not formed a committee to review the Maulsby Mudflat sub -area. In exchange for all of the intense development required to fulfill the GMA, I heartily recommend the Mudflats be placed in Aquatic Conservancy immediately in order to preserve its unique ecological function and to spare it from inappropriate and catastrophic development. Enact a "no wake zone" for the entire length of the Snohomish River that is within City jurisdiction. Fast boats, ski -loos and water skiers are accelerating the erosion of the banks putting at risk numerous property owners, including the City and Port, both of which have extensive holdings on the shorelines. 3