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City Council Staff Report on Industrial Land policy for Southwest Everett <br /> Background <br /> While the recent request from CEMEX is the best known effort to convert industrial <br /> lands to other uses such as residential and mixed use,there have been several similar <br /> attempts over the past few years. To datestaff as_relied on adopted policies found in the <br /> Comprehensive Plan to inform prospective parties interested in converting industrial <br /> zoned land to other uses that the City policy is to preserve these lands for future job <br /> growth,and protect compatibility among existing uses in the affected area. <br /> The history of those the industrial land policies came in to being follows: <br /> HistoricalPrecedent <br /> The 1994 update to the City Comprehensive Plan was the first update guided by the State <br /> Growth Management Act(GMA). Given the scope of changes called for in the GMA,it <br /> was decided to have a declaration of significance and accomplish an Environmental <br /> Impact Statement(EIS). The EIS.examined future growth scenarios which emphasized <br /> employment growth,population growth and a mix of the two. At the time under <br /> Alternative 2 of the Draft EIS,the southwest Everett industrial area was designated as a <br /> "special study area,"and considered for partial conversion to"other uses." <br /> Uses which were to be considered in future studies were,"residential,parks, schools, <br /> employment activities,retail, office,service and industrial." A result of the EIS process <br /> was a request by a major local land owner and the broader business community to retain <br /> industrial areas, and not to convert them to other uses. <br /> Specifically the Final 1994 EIS included comments on the draft analysis just described <br /> from several organizations in response to the idea that some industrial land might be <br /> converted to "other use(s)." <br /> Three of the 1994 FEIS responses are offered below to give an idea of the proposed City <br /> strategy at that time. <br /> From Associated Sand and Gravel(now CEMEX's), "Several cities and industrial <br /> developers have expressed concern that the usable inventory of land for job- <br /> producing industry is in shorter supply than existing land use maps presume to <br /> provide. A key goal of the Growth Management Act and of the Snohomish <br /> County Economic Investment Strategy has been to accurately inventory usable <br /> land areas and set these aside for protection so that family wage jobs can be <br /> provided in step with the growth in our area's region." <br /> 6 1 <br />