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Community and Economic Development fills staff vacancies, updates council on major projects
Summary
Community and Economic Development staff reported full staffing, new and ongoing contracts, and active projects including White Community Park phase 2, an Island Crossing subarea plan, an aquatic-organism passage grant for Escombe/Ishcon Creek, and multiple residential and commercial proposals.
Mark Hayes, Community and Economic Development staff, briefed the council on quarterly CED activity, staffing and development projects.
Hayes said the department has filled all vacant positions and named recently hired managers: a development-services engineering manager and a planning manager. He summarized several active contracts and grant awards, including a $325,000 contract with the Department of Commerce for a paper-to-digital records grant and ongoing contracts for park and subarea planning work.
Project highlights Hayes raised include: - White Community Park phase 2 (construction contract with Capture Energy under Rock Project Management oversight). - Island Crossing subarea plan (design contract with Maker’s Architecture and Design; next draft expected before the council retreat). - An aquatic-organism passage grant for replacement work on Ishcon Creek at 60 Seventh Avenue in partnership with local tribes and Burlington Northern’s rail-crossing work; Hayes said the Ishcon Creek crossing is one of the remaining fish-passage blockages along Escombe Creek. - Several private development proposals in active review or pre-application meetings, such as a five-lot subdivision, a 36-unit townhome project (Allen Townhomes), the Lindsay master plan (a 64,000-square-foot aircraft-manufacturing/warehouse hangar proposal at the airport), and a proposed urgent-care clinic at property east of Cascade Valley Hospital.
Hayes told the council that several subdivisions and single-family plats are under construction or close to building permits and that negotiations continue with multiple developers. He said the Northpointe development relocated Escombe Creek into a corridor that will ultimately provide a trail connection between Arlington and Marysville once completed.
Council discussion covered process questions and coordination with other advisory bodies. One councilmember suggested greater early coordination with the Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission on design review items such as wrapped transformer boxes; Hayes said staff will explore ways to involve the commission while respecting statutory design-review limits. He cautioned that upcoming state legislation may change design-review meeting requirements and could reduce opportunities for some types of housing projects to receive planning-commission design review.
What’s next: staff expects to bring the Island Crossing subarea plan back for review in March (before the council retreat) and to continue processing submitted development projects through land-use review and permitting.
