Ordinance 3010-07 - Laserfiche WebLink

EVERETT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CHAPTER 5 TRANSPORTATION ELEMENT I. Introduction A. Transportation Element of the 1994 Comprehensive Plan As required by the State of Washington Growth Management Act of 1990 (GMA), the Transportation Element of the 1994 Everett Comprehensive Plan (the 1994 Plan) identified preferred levels of service for the transportation system to support existing and future development in the plan area of the incorporated City and its Urban Growth Area (UGA). The overall objective of the growth management plan was to provide a balanced transportation system that would control the sprawl of urban land uses and encourage alternate means of travel to the single occupant vehicle (SOV) particularly during peak hour commute periods. Extra road capacity was frequently required just for a few hours each day to accommodate personal preferences to drive alone in a vehicle. The extra traffic and road surfaces have considerable impacts on air, noise, and water quality. By encouraging other modes of travel such as carpools, transit riders, cyclists and walkers, the 1994 Plan sought to minimize the environmental impacts of too many vehicles in the peak hour commute periods. The 1994 Plan sought to shift about 14% of the SOV mode of travel to other modes, particularly transit, by the horizon year of 2012. In the 1994 Everett Comprehensive Plan, the city's planning area was divided into six sub -areas. For each planning area, transportation, utilities, educational, social services, and recreational needs were analyzed and forecasts were made for future developments of residential, industrial, commercial, retail, institutional and recreational land uses. The 1994 Plan provided a target share of "mode of travel" for SOV, transit, carpool, ped/bike and substitute modes. The 1994 Plan also adopted a position in its concurrency provision that congested levels of vehicular traffic would need to be accepted in the peak commute hours of travel if the overall goal of reducing SOV travel was to be attained. The 1994 Plan was updated several times to include a Non -motorized (Trail) Sub -Element, a section on State -Owned Facilities and Transportation Facilities of Statewide Significance, and several updates of the Six -Year Transportation Improvement Plans (TIP's). B. Transportation Element — 2006 Update The overall objective of the State GMA plan has not changed since 1994, and the overall goal of the Transportation Element of the City's Comprehensive Plan has not changed either. The City has grown significantly, from about 70,000 residents in 1990 to more than 100,000 residents in 2006 within the current City limits. In that period, many transportation projects have been completed, and new transportation agencies have been developed, such as the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, known as Sound Transit, in 1996. As noted, the 1994 Everett Comprehensive Plan divided the planning area of the City into six sub -areas for review and analysis of all services for the various land uses. Over the past decade, the six Sub -Areas have been slightly modified to those shown on Figure 1.1. Sub -Area 4, which is mostly outside the existing City limits, has been significantly reduced from its former UGA boundary, which previously included Paine Field. Part of Sub -Area 5 is also outside the existing TRANSPORTATION ELEMENT