Industrial plans surprise residents near Everett-Mukilteo border

EVERETT — Some neighbors along the Everett-Mukilteo border were surprised last month to learn about a new industrial park going in next door.

Ordinarily, they would have a public hearing to air concerns at about wildlife, storm runoff and other effects. This project, however, is part of a 4,000-acre area that Everett city leaders primed for industrial development two decades ago.

That leaves neighbors without the typical administrative routes for appeal. They’re registering their objections anyway.

Don March, of Mukilteo, found out about the development through word of mouth — not any official notice. Plans call for about a half-million square feet of floor space in three office buildings.

“We’ve just been scrambling ever since to get up to speed,” March said. “I didn’t know that there was a project in the permitting stage for that property or what the deadline was for submitting written comments.”

The project, known as Soundview Technology Center, would occupy 40 acres along 36th Avenue W. The wooded land is zoned light industrial. Boeing’s Employee Activity Center and PowderMill Business Center are nearby. So are Japanese Gulch and Edgewater Creek.

The site has been zoned for industrial uses for more than a half century. What’s allowed there has become more restrictive since Everett annexed the area in 1962, city planning director Allan Giffen said.

In the 1990s, city planners performed State Environmental Policy Act studies in advance to make permitting future projects easier. It’s called a planned action. An economic development tool, it’s defined by state law.

“Instead of doing six months to a year of environmental review, you can get an environmental approval in about a month,” Giffen said.

The Boeing Co.’s Everett plant and several business parks lie within the planned-action area, where Giffen estimated that more than 100 projects have been developed.

City code offers no administrative appeal, but opponents are challenging that point. They’re also appealing an aspect of the project called a binding site plan. A successful appeal on that front would not affect what buildings can be built, Giffen said, but whether the lot can be divided.

The land is owned by a Canadian firm, which paid $2.1 million for it last year.

Richard Peterson, of NAI Puget Sound Properties, is marketing the project. Peterson describes upscale facilities aimed at prospective tenants from the aerospace, biotech and high-tech fields. The development is to include space for offices, warehouses and light manufacturing.

“They’re all things that are done inside, don’t make a lot of noise, don’t make a lot of smells,” Peterson said. “It’s going to be one of the nicest projects up there.”

The city will require 75-foot natural buffers on two sides of the property. Giffen said some clearing can occur in those areas, as long as they are replanted.

March and his allies contend the corridors should be considered sacred and kept in a natural vegetated state.

“The existence of that corridor is near and dear to our neighborhood,” March said. “It’s near and dear to people who care about Japanese Gulch, and that’s true regardless of where any of us live.”

Kelly Patel, of Mukilteo, believes the new industrial park has the potential to worsen drainage issues.

“This area has a history of stormwater problems, so putting a parking lot with about a 1,000 spaces on it isn’t going to help,” she said.

The Tulalip Tribes, the city of Mukilteo and the Japanese Gulch Group have joined neighbors and others in expressing concerns.

Veritas Construction, of Woodway, is overseeing the development. Randy Previs, whose daughter Ashley Previs owns the company, said he has been acting as an adviser.

He says large stormwater vaults for the project will lessen the amount of water flowing downhill.

“The water problems they’ve got today certainly aren’t going to be there when this is completed,” he said.

Previs said he’s been working for two and a half years to secure federal and state permits for the project.

He’s committed to observing the natural buffers and any other requirements.

“The project will proceed in every way following the rules of the city,” he said.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.