Snohomish County Tomorrow briefing outlines possible expansion into housing, transportation and human services

Snohomish County Tomorrow, the countywide interjurisdictional planning body created after the state Growth Management Act, briefed the Snohomish County Council on May 20 about its structure and an exploratory effort to expand the group

Anne Larson, Snohomish County Tomorrow, told the council the group that it was created by the county council in 1989 in response to the Growth Management Act and that its primary purpose is to oversee countywide planning policies (CPPs). "Its primary purpose is to oversee CPPs or countywide planning policies, and it's an interjurisdictional platform that consists of 19 of our cities, Snohomish County and Tulalip Tribes," Larson said.

Larson described Snohomish County Tomorrow as organized around multiple committees: an executive committee that functions like a board of directors, a steering committee made up of elected officials, a planning advisory committee of local community development directors, a community advisory board of residents, and an Infrastructure Coordinating Committee that works with the Puget Sound Regional Council and transit agencies including Sound Transit.

Mayor Pro Tem Brian Wall said an exploratory committee created after a December general assembly has been meeting to consider next steps. "So far at our last meeting, we decided that housing, economic development, transportation and infrastructure and health and human services are going to be the key areas we really want to dig deeper into," Wall said. He added the group will next determine structure and specific topics to study, taking care not to duplicate existing efforts.

Larson said the exploratory committee will make a formal recommendation to the steering committee "under the SCT operating guidelines," and she emphasized that the steering committee has authority to decide what topics to prioritize. She said the general assembly last December was the first in-person meeting since the pandemic and produced a wide-ranging discussion that led to forming the exploratory group.

Council Member Megan Dunne, who serves on the steering committee, praised a separate human services provider call that SCT has maintained since the pandemic and asked whether it would continue. "It's very needed, very necessary," Dunne said, and she noted those calls typically draw about 40 to 60 attendees, including cities and local service providers. Larson and Wall said those calls are continuing as an information- sharing forum among providers and cities.

Larson said the next general assembly is scheduled for Dec. 10 at the same venue used last year. She and Council Member Roger Mead, another steering committee member, invited council colleagues and members of the public to submit suggested topics for future SCT agendas.

The briefing included no formal council action on Snohomish County Tomorrow's structure or priorities; the exploratory committee is preparing recommendations for the steering committee, and any change in SCT's scope would require the steering committee to update operating guidelines.

The administrative session later recessed for an executive session on pending litigation under state law and then adjourned to an 11 a.m. planning committee meeting.