Longtime downtown merchant urges pause on parking variance for 20th and Main project

Ron Chase, a 50-year resident and downtown small-business owner, used the public-comment period of the Oct. 28 Lake Stevens City Council meeting to urge the city to pause or deny a parking-variance request tied to a proposed development at Twentieth and Main.

Chase described reviewing permits and said he was not opposed to development generally but worried about the scale of the proposed project and its effects on downtown parking and small businesses. He said the developer—s variance request would "circumvent all of the parking requirements of downtown, not only asking for a 25% reduction, but then going further to ask for even a further reduction to a point 6%, stall per unit, for single family and for a 1.2." He asked the council to "put the parking variance be, put in a state of, at least pause, if not denial, to give an opportunity for public comment."

Chase said he filed a written letter with the city and urged the council to open an in-person public comment period rather than rely solely on emailed letters. He requested the city require more parking rather than less, telling the council he and others would prefer a higher parking minimum for the project.

The council did not act on the request during the meeting. No staff presentation or formal agenda item on the Twentieth and Main permit appeared on the meeting agenda; the comment was recorded during public comment and referred to staff for follow-up.

No formal response was given during the public-comment period; the meeting proceeded to other items.