Urban Village Ordinances Hearing Regarding Point Wells Is Wednesday

Editor's note: The following is from Save Richmond Beach.

The new Urban Village Ordinances will be presented to the public and the Snohomish County Council on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that the Snohomish County Council will hold a PUBLIC HEARING on Wednesday, September 19, 2012, at the hour of 10:30 a.m. in the Henry M. Jackson Board Room, 8th Floor, Robert J. Drewel Building, 3000 Rockefeller Avenue, MS-609, Everett, Washington, to consider proposed Ordinance No. 12-069 

The new Urban Village ordinances were revised to allow for less intense development, but the County is also introducing other changes that loosen the definition of an Urban Village to fit the unique characteristics of Point Wells and give greater flexibility to the developer.

Because the state Growth Management Hearing Board ruled last year that Snohomish County’s designation ofPoint Wells as an Urban Center was out of compliance with the state Growth Management Act (GMA) and the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA), they have had to revise their ordinances.

The proposed changes allow much larger Urban Villages containing more than twice as many dwelling units while reducing the size of the roads required to serve these dense urban developments.

Richmond Beach Drive, which goes through Shoreline's Richmond Beach neighborhood, is a two-lane street and only way in and out of Point Wells. The vague transportation language is what was at the root of Save Richmond Beach's original legal challenge and the County and developer have not found a way to resolve that issue.

Save Richmond Beach and its attorneys believe, "we are seeing the same squishy language to allow for dense development in locations not served by high capacity transportation options."