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Staff recommends adding Colby corridor to Everett’s 'stay-out-of-drug-areas' map
Summary
City staff presented data and recommended adding Colby Avenue (Pacific to the 3600 block, two blocks east/west) to Everett’s designated SOTA (Stay Out of Drug Areas) zones; council will consider action in two weeks.
City staff on Oct. 8 recommended expanding Everett’s Stay Out of Drug Areas (SOTA) designations to include a stretch of Colby Avenue from Pacific to the 3600 block, with two blocks of buffer on either side.
Angela (staff lead) and law enforcement presented substance-use calls, drug and narcotics arrests, and overdose incidents covering Sept. 2023–Sept. 2025. The material showed 66 drug/narcotics arrests in the proposed area during that period and multiple overdose incidents, and staff recommended adding the corridor to the city’s SOTA map under Everett Municipal Code 10.13.
SOTA zones give prosecutors and the municipal court an additional tool: courts may impose SOTA orders as a condition of probation or sentence for certain controlled-substance convictions, and violations can be charged as a municipal offense. Staff said there are no existing SOTA violations for the proposed Colby corridor because it is not currently designated; slides shown at the briefing contrasted the proposed area with existing North Everett SOTA zones.
Councilmembers asked questions about boundaries and consistency with other SOTA areas—one member asked why a one-block gap would remain between the existing zone and the proposed area. Staff said data did not support over-including territory and that clear, consistent boundaries aid enforcement and public understanding.
Sergeant Nate Wallace and other police staff said SOTA orders are intended to reduce recidivism by keeping people away from locations with high volumes of trafficking-related activity, and staff noted that felony-level trafficking cases can be reduced and charged at the municipal level where prosecutors elect to do so; staff said that sometimes felony matters are reduced to municipal charges.
No vote was taken; staff said the resolution to add the Colby corridor will be scheduled for action in approximately two weeks so council can review updated slides and neighborhood feedback.
