At its Nov. 12 meeting, the Bothell City Council was updated by Bruce Blackburn of community development on Canyon Park Subarea Plan progress.
No action was taken by the council at the meeting. The focus was to bring councilmembers up to speed on potential alternative concepts for how the plan will be executed, as well as provide more information on growth in Canyon Park.
The ultimate goal of the project is to further develop the business park and retail/service activity centers in the Canyon Park subarea. It also seeks to increase the opportunities available for housing developments around these centers.
The subarea is located in Snohomish County, between the Canyon Creek and Crystal Springs subareas. For reference, key locations touching the designated Canyon Park subarea on its south and southwest boundaries include the old Country Village site and the Shelton View subarea.
“This is a big keystone event for us,” Blackburn said of the project.
Blackburn added that the drafted planned action environmental impact statement will be issued and shared with city staff either on Nov. 27 (which was after the Reporter’s print deadline) or Dec. 2. The draft analyzes how the surrounding environments would be affected by each alternative growth scenario.
There are three options in the books. One maintains the comprehensive plan as it already exists. Another is referred to as the “live/work” choice, which results in a mixture of 32 percent residential and 68 percent employment-focused land use. There is also a “business plus” version, which sees a mixture of 20 percent residential and 80 percent employment-centered land use.
When analyzing the options, Blackburn noted that Canyon Park’s natural environment, transportation systems, private streets and other factors render it a complex subarea, making the alternatives important to have locked down before moving forward. The planning commission discussed alternatives at its Nov. 20 meeting, which was after the Reporter’s deadline; the Bothell City Council will be discussing which alternative it prefers at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 18. Public engagement on the project will be taking place from January to July 2020. That July, council is set to adopt a final ordinance and planned action EIS.
Canyon Park has been identified as one of 29 regional growth centers (RGCs) by the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). According to the PSRC, RGCs are locations that hold an area’s most significant business, cultural and governmental facilities and are interested in expanding.
At the end of the meeting, the city’s community and economic development director Michael Kattermann said that what’s in the works for Canyon Park is “a unique project,” and that he hasn’t seen very many other regions embark on plans like the one for the Canyon Park subarea.
“This is the only one I’m aware of where we’re taking an existing, viable, valuable business park and employment area not only to Bothell and this part of the region…and evolving that into a more mixed-use urban environment,” Kattermann said. “It’s a little more complicated, it’s a little more challenging, but it’s more exciting for that reason.”
For more on the discussion surrounding the plan, watch the council meeting video at bit.ly/344lW2N. For more information about the plan’s background and development, go to the Nov. 12 meeting agenda item at bit.ly/35bQ50e.
