The public is invited to weigh in Tuesday evening as the Everett Planning Commission looks for suggestions on dealing with future population. The city has disagreed with population estimates provided by the Puget Sound Regional Council calling them too high. The city does have to plan for future growth but says it’s looking at a population of 143,000 in 2035 as opposed to the 164,812 suggested by the PSRC. No matter the number, the fact remains that there is limited land within the Everett City limits for growth and the Planning Commission is looking for suggestions on where to put people. Here’s the invitation from the Planning Commission explaining what they’re looking for…

The City’s Planning Commission will hold a workshop at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 15 to hear from the public on approaches to accommodating population and employment growth.

The meeting will be in the Planning Hearing Room on the 8th floor of the Wall Street Building, 2930 Wetmore Ave.

The purpose of the workshop is a kick-off presentation and overview of the project approach and to initiate discussion on key issues, such as urban form, urban service levels, housing choices, and alternative methods of transportation, sample infill approaches, market trends and integration into the 2015 Growth Management Act Comprehensive Plan update.

The City of Everett is designated a metropolitan city and regional growth center by the Vision 2040 regional growth and transportation strategy. The Regional Growth Strategy seeks to focus a major share of employment and housing in metropolitan cities and regional growth centers connected and served by fast and frequent high-capacity transit service.

As the metropolitan city for Snohomish County, the City of Everett is expected to experience significant growth in population and employment as part of this regional growth strategy and must identify areas where more intensive land uses may help to accommodate the anticipated growth.

Everett is also a city that has little remaining undeveloped vacant land. The City will need to identify how to accommodate the additional housing and employment projected in the regional strategy. The City is considering various approaches to develop an innovative program for increased density and redevelopment in existing neighborhoods, transit and arterial street corridors and commercial districts, while preserving and enhancing the City’s well-established neighborhoods and community assets.

For more information, contact City Planning Department staff members Dave Koenig or Jim Hanson at 425 257-8731.

Here’s a link to more information and some good background on the population numbers and the process the city plans to take to define them.