Volunteers of America representatives present to the neighborhood at a meeting about the shelter plans held the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Northshore Church in the neighborhood.
Photo by Michael Whitney.
EVERETT — A council-initiated amendment to rezone the general area of the Phil Johnson Ballfields exclusively for parks and open space would prevent future alternate uses such as the planned Pallet shelter lot for individuals in homelessness.
The city’s shelter project is already pre-emptively permitted. It will be running as a two-year pilot project on the undeveloped north end of the property near Glenwood Road and Sievers-Duecy Boulevard.
The zoning change, though, would mean no repeat. It makes Pallet shelters a non-conforming use after the two-year time period elapses, city planning and city legal staff said June 4.
City Council President Don Schwab introduced the amendment. On June 4, Council voted yes 6-0.
The half an acre Pallet shelter project will have 20 tiny homes to house pregnant women and women with children, according to a 2023 presentation. Volunteers of America Western Washington (VOAWW) would operate the site.
Schwab said there is no debate homeless shelter services are needed, but for neighbors, “it was always the intent of the community that this was going to be a park, that was the expectation.”
“I did this for the future to set at least a starting point where parks and open space” is the baseline use for the land at Phil Johnson Ballfields, Schwab said.
It also protects park space. With state legislators changing regulations to create denser cities, which can mean fewer homes with backyards, it adds pressure to be sure there are also ample park spaces, Schwab said.
The ballfields used to be a small part of the land of the CEMEX cement plant and quarry mine operation along Sievers Duecy Boulevard. It was zoned light industrial.
In March, the city settled a land-use lawsuit with a neighborhood group. The lawsuit opposed the shelter services being built here.
The terms of the settlement do not allow continuing to use the site for shelters after the two-year pilot, city attorney David Hall said at the June 4 City Council meeting.
The city didn’t have money arranged to continue past the two years, Schwab said. But, if the city was to find funding to extend this shelter site’s lifespan, the settlement prevents any way to continue and that made him think about the land’s future.
The homeless shelter idea was put forward because although the site was promised to expand the ballfields, the city has no immediate park development plans, project representatives said at a 2023 meeting.
Years ago, the site’s corporate predecessors promised to gift upwards of 85 acres of its land to the city for recreational purposes. The Herald reported it was a land deal made in trade to let the cement company develop elsewhere.
CEMEX (now Cadman locally) transferred the first 12 acres in 2001. These became the original Phil Johnson Ballfields. Another segment of about 57 acres was transferred in 2017.
Schwab’s amendment specifically rezones four lots tied to the Phil Johnson Ballfields to parks use only.
Last week’s vote was built into the citywide Comprehensive Plan package which is at the point of finishing to authorize. The City Council will vote on the Comprehensive Plan this week. The plan is called “Everett 2044.”
