Everett planners outline 2044 comprehensive‑plan updates; council hears neighborhood concerns on density, parking and services

City planning staff on May 21 briefed the Everett City Council on the draft Everett 2044 comprehensive plan and related development regulations, laying out a schedule for a May 30 final package and subsequent public hearings before the Planning Commission and the council.

Planning Director Yorick Stevens Wodgert and Long Range Planning Manager Alsand Wetzel summarized the update as the city’s 20‑year framework for land use, transportation, housing, public facilities and related rules. “The comprehensive plan is the long range 20 year, overarching plan for the city,” Wodgert told the council, and staff pointed residents to the project website for the April 7 draft materials and a draft environmental impact statement.

Why it matters: the update would change zoning and development standards across much of Everett to comply with state requirements for “middle housing” and to allow limited neighborhood commercial uses on selected corner parcels. Those changes affect neighborhoods’ scale, parking demand and infrastructure needs and could change where duplexes, triplexes, accessory dwelling units and small multifamily buildings are allowed.

Most important details

- Timeline and process: Staff said the formal public comment period on the April 7 draft closes May 26; the city will publish a final package on May 30 that includes the final draft plan, zoning map, development regulations and final environmental impact statement. The Planning Commission public hearing is scheduled for June 3, with a council public hearing on June 11 and council action set for June 18.

- Scope: Wodgert said roughly 30 chapters of the Everett Municipal Code would be amended and that staff and the Planning Commission have conducted roughly 70 public and neighborhood meetings since late 2022. “All of the materials, the draft materials, the regulations, the plan, and everything else are dated April 7,” he said.

- Zoni…