2010/05/26 Council Agenda Packet

The fundamental issue upon which Property Counselors' report is based is that the city's zoning policies should prevent changes to existing land use policy in this matter principally because, when compared to alternative uses, i,e, retail and residential, industrial uses offer superior economic revenue streams for the City. In the report, they scrutinize impacts through city taxes and other revenues, and employment, both in terms of salary as well as number of employees. The results show that, specifically, manufacturing employment provides the optimal economic impact. Their figures suggest that, on a 20 -acre site, retail uses would provide between $400,000 and $650,000 in annual tax revenue, but manufacturing will offer between $12,000,000 and $15,000,000 more in taxable employee earnings annually. A second significant factor in their determination of the importance relative to the preservation of industrially zoned land, is the current levels of supply as well as demand in the South Everett submarket. The report's land demand analysis was accomplished through an examination of all industrial developments undertaken since 1995. It found average annual absorption to be 30.8 acres. Their supply side analysis was initially based upon a City of Everett report, and then updated to report more recent data. It found a total of 458.6 acres of land available for industrial uses, of which 226.3 is currently vacant. g We did note that there is a discrepancy relative to the current supply of industrially zoned # , land. On Page 25, it was stated that current inventory — per a City of Everett analysis — was r 1,663 acres, yet the Property Councilors report suggests on page 26 that the gross acreage is substantially less (721.6). This is a major discrepancy and one that would appear to require i further analysis, although the overall balance of developable land is suggested to be almost identical. It is the report's conclusion that the supply of heavy industrial (M-2) zoned land is even more limited than the general supply of industrial zoned land. According to the Property Counselors' analysis, of the 458.6 acres of available industrial land in the submarket, only two acres of that is zoned for heavy industrial purposes. With annual absorption averaging 4.8 acres since 1995, at the time of publication, their analysis suggested that there was around 6 -months of supply remaining in the market. Property Counselors' analysis of office and industrial park (M-1) and light industry (M -M) indicates broader availability of land, with 16.7 years of supply (321.3 acres and 19.2 average acres absorbed per year) for M-1 zoned land, and 25 years of supply (135.3 acres and 5.4 average acres absorbed per year) for M -M zoned land. Overall, we agree that the argument relative to current land supply as it pertains to a twenty- year planning horizon is appropriate, and it is clear that there is a significant shortage of developable M-2 land. Additionally, assumptions as to potential demand appear reasonable, although we have not confirmed, or otherwise investigated, the accuracy of the data that was provided to Property Counselors by Colliers International. It is stated within the report that the City had received a request for a comprehensive plan amendment and zoning change for the CEMEX sand and gravel site on Glenwood Avenue REVIEW OF A SOUTH EVFRGTT INDUSTRIAL ANALYSIS FOR CAMPBELL SOUP COMPANY PAGE 2