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Everett Planning Commission advances periodic update toward council review and DEIS
Summary
Planning staff briefed commissioners on the Everett 2044 periodic update timeline, materials sent to council, and remaining elements and public outreach, setting a path toward a council hearing in early June and a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) comment period in March–April.
The Everett Planning Commission received an update Feb. 18 on the city’s Everett 2044 periodic comprehensive-plan update, including a calendar that staff said leads to early June council consideration and a public draft environmental impact statement. Planning Director York Stevens Wojta told commissioners the city sent an early council draft review package and asked the council for amendments by March 19.
The memo and presentation summarize progress on several plan elements already advanced to the council, including housing, urban form, design and development, transportation, climate change and parks. “All of the comprehensive plan goals, policies, actions, and maps are ones that have been through the planning commission,” Planning Director York Stevens Wojta said during the briefing.
Why it matters: staff said the early package aims to capture major policy directions before the complete draft and to limit large late changes that could trigger additional regional or state review. York told the commission staff will publish the complete draft and the draft environmental impact statement in March; the DEIS comment period will follow, and the city expects to process comments into the final EIS before hearings later in the spring and early summer.
Key details commissioners were given: staff set an outreach schedule (including neighborhood open houses and briefings), an open house for boards and commissions at Everett Station’s Weyerhaeuser Room on March 26 from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and a council briefing the following day. York said the council will receive the early package and was asked for amendments by March 19 so that the “big items” can be addressed before the complete draft is published. He also explained timing constraints tied to the environmental review process: the final EIS must follow the draft EIS by 30 days and that sequencing affects when the planning commission can make a formal recommendation.
Staff stressed that several elements remain unfinished and that work will continue through March and into April and May for development regulations and public hearings. Commissioners asked for clarification on what level of change could require renewed regional or state review; York said changes that affect compliance with state law or regional policies could prompt extra review and that the city will check in with Department of Commerce and the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) as needed.
Ending: staff asked commissioners to review the early package and flag missing items; York said the city remains open to edits before the council’s more formal review and public DEIS comment period.
