City begins phased update to engineering design and development standards; public comment process outlined

City civil engineer Whitney Ojaleta briefed council on a planned update to the Engineering Design and Development Standards (EDDS), the city’s construction and specification manual for streets, drainage and utilities.

Ojaleta said Lake Stevens currently operates from a 2009 EDDS that still contains references to other jurisdictions and does not reflect current local practices. The update will proceed chapter by chapter; staff plan to publish each draft chapter with a 10‑day public comment period and to host targeted outreach (developers, builders, environmental and utility stakeholders). Drafts will include both tracked‑change and clean versions. Ojaleta said chapter 1 could be posted as soon as the week following the meeting.

Staff will coordinate EDDS updates with planned Title 14 code revisions to avoid conflicts for street and sidewalk provisions. A project web page and a change request form will allow stakeholders to submit suggested edits in writing; staff encouraged developers and contractors to subscribe to EDDS update notifications.

Council members asked about outreach to local builder and contractor groups; staff said they had requested Snohomish County’s distribution list as a starting point and planned additional industry outreach and at least one open‑house event tied to the streets and sidewalks chapter. The update is meant to improve consistency, clarify standards (for example, transitions at temporary sidewalk terminations) and add standards where neither EDDS nor code currently provide guidance.

No vote was required; council expressed support for the phased update and asked staff to proceed with stakeholder notification.