EVERETT — City planners began undertaking a full rewrite of zoning and land use codes last year, and now their “Rethink Zoning” effort is on stage for the big show.
A major goal is to simplify the codebook. What’s sparked people to speak up are proposed changes to reduce the public notice requirements for all but the largest multifamily residential buildings, as well as reducing public notice for some shoreline permits.
At a public hearing last week at the city’s planning commission, other speakers commented on density changes in the Norton-Grand residential area west of downtown, which has a set of historic preservation guidelines called an overlay.
The planning department is taking written public comments through Tuesday, Sept. 8. That evening, the city’s planning commission is expected to vote on forwarding its recommendation on the plan to the City Council for final consideration.
All the documents are at www.everettwa.gov/rethink
City planners are narrowing almost 35 land use types to just 15, and these are meant to be applied for residential, commercial and industrial purposes citywide. Most of the paring work is merging similar varieties of zoning: For example, 11 varieties of commercial zones would merge into three, and five varieties of multifamily zoning would merge into two.
Adjustments to single-family housing will be addressed separately in 2021. In May, city planners paused on editing this part of the rules.
More than 50 public meetings have happened about Rethink Zoning. Now it is being lined up for final consideration.
At last week’s meeting, some commissioners shared concern on reducing public notice requirements. Commissioner Michael Zelinski additionally spoke to making the project types clearer in the Rethink Zoning documents on who has the final say — the planning director, the hearing examiner, or otherwise — on deciding what happens for each of the many land use categories.
One change would result in no longer requiring public hearings for new apartment buildings and other multifamily projects of up to 200 dwellings because these projects would no longer need to go through an environmental impact review, known more formally as SEPA. The same exemption is in the Metro Everett plan for downtown established last year.
City interim planning director David Stalheim said this change is in part to streamline permits but also because these SEPA-related pieces are not legally required today as state Legislators lightened up on the rules. He said the state’s Growth Management Act introduced in 1990, which has its own checklist requirements, now handles many of the checks and balances also found in SEPA paperwork. “When SEPA was passed, it made sense, as it asked you on a whole number of subjects ... but the Growth Management Act has required policies addressing all those,” Stalheim said, adding that SEPA “no longer really serves that purpose and the legislation has recognized that and increased what is exempt.”
Stalheim said the reductions to the notice requirements being discussed are for high-density buildings that would go in designated high-density areas such as along Evergreen Way.
Former city planners have spoken out against removing public notice requirements.
One is Dave Koenig, who spent 30 years in Everett’s planning department before taking a stint as Marysville’s planning director. Another is Mary Cunningham, who retired from Everett’s planning department.
“There’s no good reason to make the changes” to reduce public notices, Koenig said at the hearing. In a letter, he recommended the Planning Commission reject the changes. “At a time of reduced access to elected officials and no in person meetings/workshops the city should not be reducing notice of development to its citizens,” Koenig wrote.
Stalheim noted there is a six-month backlog on notice permits at last week’s meeting. “Our staffing levels are not what they used to be,” he told the commission.
In 2010, the city’s planning department was about 16 people. In 2020, it has a staff of about 12, and it may review 800 permits this year.
The primary place for public comments should be on the framework of the comprehensive plan and not on a case-by-case basis, Stalheim said. The comprehensive plan is a broad map used to dictate development standards in city areas that requires formal hearings to make adjustments.
The city also will eliminate the requirement to have posted notices for any project exceeding the SEPA threshold “as it is not required by state law and adds additional burden on staff.”
One change within historic neighborhood zones strips the requirement to mail notices to nearby residents when the project makes significant alterations to the building or adds a “mother-in-law” unit on the property. The city’s Historical Commission will still hold a public hearing and make a recommendation on a proposal like this.
Stalheim said in an interview that in these cases, projects like these shouldn’t endure “a neighborhood review.”
For individual projects in people’s backyards, such as adding a dwelling, “neighborhood input is not appropriate,” he said. Stalheim noted Rethink Zoning is not changing development standards that outline what is allowed.
He said the public can monitor activity at the historical commission to learn if a change is happening.
“Not having public notices keeps the citizens out,” historic commission member Andrea Tucker told the commission last week.
Koenig, in his letter, encouraged not to do away with public input because neighbors know the history of their neighborhood and their information at historical commission meetings can inform planners on neighborhood character.
What about the special standards produced during the 2010s for north Broadway and Evergreen Way? While the consolidation does delete these standards, the new zoning framework “merges these, but it is not losing the essence of what’s in those,” Stalheim said.
The Broadway and Evergreen Way Revitalization plans encouraged street-facing storefronts to make these corridors more pedestrian-friendly, among other goals.
Separately, the city will revamp its code to focus on looking at the character of nearby streets, such as whether they are residential, pedestrian-oriented or arterials. Building heights, types of permitted building uses (such as which businesses are allowed) and other zoning guidelines will be aligned to these streets.
