Ordinance 2978-07 - Laserfiche WebLink

EVERETT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN the 1970's, two notable State laws affected land use regulation in Everett, the Shoreline Management Act and the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). Aside from the City's programs to implement these two important pieces of legislation, only minimal revisions were made to Everett's land use regulations and implementation programs. Everett instead focused on improvement and extension of its drainage, infrastructure and utility systems. During the 1980's, Everett initiated and completed several important comprehensive planning efforts. Concurrent with the extension of infrastructure to a largely undeveloped area in the south part of the city, Everett prepared and adopted the Southwest Everett Comprehensive Plan (1982). In the early 1980's, the City formed a citizen's committee to study "growth management." Among the findings of this committee were two significant recommendations: 1) to update the comprehensive plan, and 2) to revise the 1956 vintage zoning code. The first step came with the adoption of residential land use policies (1984-1986) and the adoption of a new residential land use map (1986). The emphasis of these policies was to maintain the quality of existing single-family neighborhoods, reduce the multiple family densities in parts of north Everett, and increase the residential densities where possible in south Everett. In 1987, the commercial and industrial land use policies were adopted, along with the Central City Development Plan, designed to guide the improvement and redevelopment of downtown and surrounding areas. These policy documents set the stage for the 1989 revision to the city's outdated zoning code. In 1990, the City adopted the Urban Service Area plan. In 1991, the Environmentally Sensitive Area policies were adopted along with the revised zoning regulations for sensitive areas, as required by the State Growth Management Act. In 1994, Everett's Growth Management Comprehensive Plan was adopted consistent with requirements of the Growth Management Act. The Plan was completed following an extensive community visioning effort and extensive public involvement. The Plan provided for population and employment growth through 2012. The Growth Management Act allows annual amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, and establishes a schedule for comprehensive review and update of the Plan. Annual amendments have been made to the Plan over the last 9-years in response to property owner requests, amendments to State laws, and new information. The purpose of this update is to meet the requirements for the 10-year comprehensive review and update, including providing for population and employment in 2025. After this amendment, the comprehensive review and update must occur every 7 years. V. Geographic Extent of the Comprehensive Plan A. Everett Planning Area-- The Future City Limits? Everett's "planning area" includes not only all lands within the present city limits, but also extends to areas that are presently unincorporated and for which Snohomish County has the responsibility for planning and land use permit administration. These are areas that have a reasonable chance of being annexed to the city within the twenty-year horizon of the Growth Management Act. INTRODUCTION 7