Lake Stevens planners, developer present 57-unit residential plan for 22-acre wetland site; neighbors raise flooding, habitat concerns

Christy Schmidt, senior planner for the City of Lake Stevens, opened a neighborhood open-house presentation on a development application for a 22-acre property near Grama Road and Hartford Road and said the meeting’s aim was to explain the city review timeline and opportunities for public comment. "The purpose of the meeting is to let you know the city's review process and at what points that you will have opportunity to provide public input," Schmidt said.

The applicant, represented by planner Samantha Adams of LDC, presented a master development plan and concurrent preliminary plat application that would convert the developable portion of the site to 57 residential units — 28 detached single-family homes and 29 attached townhomes — while leaving more than half the property as protected critical areas. "What's proposed on-site is 57 residential housing units," Adams said. The project team said roughly 6 acres of the 22-acre parcel would be used for development; the remainder would be retained as critical-area open space and recreational greenspace.

The proposal is being reviewed under an existing development agreement that vests some approvals to earlier code and a 2014 stormwater manual, the city explained; the agreement was amended in 2021. Schmidt told attendees that vesting can mean wetland buffers and other regulatory requirements on the site are measured under the older rules that applied when the agreement was approved, not necessarily under current code.

On stormwater, the applicant's engineer described a detention-and-treatment approach. "What we'll do is we are modeling our stormwater to the pre developed, runoff rates and peak rates so that we will not harm the downstream environment," the engineer said, describing an underground stormwater vault (an "R tank") sized to hold and gradually release runoff into the on-site wetland buffer and wetlands. The team said modeling treats the site as if it were forested to set conservative release rates and that, by the applicant's calculations, the proposed drainage system would release flows at rates lower than current conditions.

Neighbors at the open house pressed for more detail and said the area already floods and supports habitat. Speakers raised questions about the capacity of downstream ditches and culverts, the name and behavior of the Levitt Ditch, past flooding on Hartford Road, and the site's peat soils and potential for settlement. One resident noted studies they said found undersized conveyances and urged the city to leave the site undeveloped. The applicant's team said geotechnical work has identified peat pockets and that some homes are likely to require piled foundations to reach stable soils.

City staff and the applicant also described proposed on-site amenities and code requirements: a roughly one-third-acre, 10-foot-wide hog-fuel walking trail intended to connect to Hartford Road and, via that corridor, to the Centennial Trail; small pocket parks with picnic tables and a sports court; private open-space areas to be maintained by a homeowners association; and parallel on-street parking to serve trail access. The team said the trail counts toward the planned business-district requirement that at least 5% of the site be devoted to civic or commercial uses when a project proposes residential uses in that zone.

Staff said the city will start formal technical review next and that a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) threshold determination and stormwater review will follow; those steps trigger circulation of materials to outside agencies (the city specifically named the Department of Ecology and Department of Fish and Wildlife as agencies that will be notified). Schmidt told attendees the initial public comment period connected to the neighborhood notice is 14 days and that additional comment opportunities will occur during technical review and at any public hearings arising from the permitting process.

The meeting produced no formal action or decision. Staff asked attendees to submit written comments to the project planner and said application documents are posted on the city’s project page. The city and applicant said they will address site-specific technical concerns through the review process, including potential contributions to downstream capital work the city is studying to improve conveyance and localized flooding.

The city invited continued public comment and closed the neighborhood open house after answering questions about how to view documents and be added to the project’s interested-parties list.