Ordinance 3675-19 - Laserfiche WebLink

EVERETT WASHINGTON ORDINANCE NO. 3675-19 An Ordinance Adding the Landfill Site of the Riverfront to the Multifamily Property Tax Exemption program, and Amending Ordinance No.3635-18 (EMC Chapter 3.78) WHEREAS,the City Council finds the following: 1. In 2010,the Everett city council adopted Planned Development Overlay Zone and approved the development agreement for the Riverfront redevelopment. 2. The purpose of the Riverfront is to transform the Riverfront property from its former industrial use to a high quality mixed use neighborhood with substantial public open space and public access to the shoreline, with commercial, residential and public uses. 3. The approved development agreement includes areas for the development of up to 1200 multiple family dwellings in various locations within the Riverfront landfill pad redevelopment area. 4. Housing is an integral component to the overall development of the Riverfront landfill pad, including the economic viability of the non-residential elements of Riverfront, such as restaurant and retail uses. 5. The Riverfront landfill pad owner's development strategy is to build multiple family dwellings within mixed use buildings containing commercial uses on the ground floor and housing on upper floors. 6. The Riverfront landfill pad is location of the former City of Everett landfill. The Riverfront landfill is subject to a consent decree with the Washington Department of Ecology. 7. Construction of multiple story buildings on a landfill requires more costly foundation systems (including piling)than constructing on native soils. 8. This more costly method of construction creates an economic challenge to the viability of building housing in the Riverfront landfill redevelopment area, given the projected rents that can be supported by the Everett rental market for the near to mid-term future. 9. The City established the Multiple Family Property Tax Exemption program in 1998 to encourage residential redevelopment in the downtown urban center, which has resulted in the construction of nearly 1,000 housing units in an area that had experienced little housing development in the preceding twenty years prior to the creation of the program. 1