ARLINGTON — Plans for the future here include expanding growth boundaries, partnering with Marysville to entice industry and keeping a small town feel while bracing for growth.
An update to the city’s comprehensive plan is in the works. State law requires the plan to be revisited every decade, and Arlington’s deadline is the end of June.
The document isn’t finished, but a first draft was posted to the city’s website last week.
Public hearings are planned by the Arlington Planning Commission and the City Council before the document is finalized in June.
The comprehensive plan looks ahead 20 years. It touches on housing, land use, transportation, parks and recreation, economic development and public services. The county also has been working to update its comprehensive plan.
Arlington’s population is expected to grow from 18,380 this year to 24,937 by 2035. About 2,400 new housing units would be needed, based on city estimates.
“We will be tested at times during the next 20 years as we fit more citizens into less space,” according to the draft.
The document calls for expanding the city’s official urban growth area to include several hundred acres west of I-5 between the Smokey Point and Highway 530 exits. It also suggests annexing parts of the Hilltop neighborhood, near the junction of highways 9 and 531, that are not already within the city.
“Because of Arlington’s proximity to population centers and the freeway, growth is inevitable, but not necessarily as a bedroom community,” according to the new plan.
The goal is to have a high ratio of jobs to houses, meaning that people who live in Arlington also work in the city, rather than commuting elsewhere.
Arlington leaders aim to work with Marysville officials to attract employers with a new Manufacturing and Industrial Center. The center would cluster new or growing manufacturing and industrial businesses in the Smokey Point area.
Despite the focus on job growth, city leaders aim to preserve Arlington’s small-town atmosphere. In fact, that’s in the first few pages of the plan and is reiterated throughout the document. The town’s character can be preserved, in part, by creating design standards for downtown buildings and having a walkable, easy-to-navigate business district, according to the plan.
Some details of the comprehensive plan are specific: provide recycling stations at city buildings and events; prohibit dead-end cul-de-sacs when possible; build small parks within walking distance of neighborhoods; and create incentives for re-purposing old buildings like the American Legion and Masonic halls.
Other ideas are more sweeping, leading to plans within plans. Officials want to take advantage of the city’s perch at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Stillaguamish River by crafting a Riverfront Master Plan. A non-motorized transportation plan could help form a network of trails, sidewalks and bicycle lanes. A new drainage plan is suggested for west Arlington, near Island Crossing, where many properties lie in the 100-year floodplain.
The city’s outreach for this year’s comprehensive planning update is less extensive than in the past, when city staff held multiple workshops and meetings.
“It was assumed that the public was comfortable with the Vision and the greatest need was to ensure that current trends and information supported it,” according to the plan.
Information about the planning process is posted on the city’s website, shared through social media and published in the city’s newsletter. People also can fill out a form online at www.arlingtonwa.gov to hear from city staff.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439, kbray@heraldnet.com.
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