SNOHOMISH -- Proposals to plan redoing First Street from a student group from the University of Washington were presented at this week's City Council meeting on Tuesday night, and council also adopted the Complete Streets initiative which if adhered to would give pedestrians and bicyclists more weight in road design.
The city will next seek a contractor to do public outreach and develop a final First Street master plan, city public works director Nova Heaton said. The First Street plan would be prepared through to 2025.
Here are some screenshots from their First Street presentation (photos are able to be opened in full, links open in new window):
Proposed ideas include
- Parallel parking along First Street.
- Encouraging people to use the parking west of Avenue D.
- Adding 30-minute parking limits.
- For big events, encourage out-of-towners to park away from First Street and use the bus system and/or walk to get to First Street.
- Turning the end of Avenue A into a public plaza to complement the gazebo versus parking spaces.
Complete Streets
Additionally, the council authorized a "Complete Streets" ordinance on its Consent Agenda. This will alter how future Snohomish roads are built to include bicyclists and pedestrians more heavily.
The three mathematical factors that would have the most weight for deciding which roads to improve would become: Safety Improvements, Accessibility Improvements (ADA) and Economic and Racial Equality (for areas below national median income and Snohomish's areas with higher than national average percentages of American Indian residents; there are no recommendations tied to Black or Hispanic populations).
Developments that involve site work would newly need to fill out a Complete Streets checklist as part of the introduction of the ordinance. The checklist asks to show ADA-accessibility, pedestrian infrastructure, bicycle infrastructure and if the project asks for on-street parking, plus more.
