MARYSVILLE — In the recent past, city officials have spent a lot of time bragging about growing retail development and planning for what they hope is the coming commercial and light industrial development in the Smokey Point area.
Apparently, that doesn’t mean residential development has fallen by the wayside.
At a recent City Council meeting, Community Development Director Gloria Hirashima reported there are approximately 3,260 residential units within the city in some stage of development.
“That’s a significant number,” Hirashima said, though she and others added how quickly any of those actually see development is dependant on a number of factors, not the least of which is the regional economy and housing market.
Hirashima added the properties are in various stages of development, ranging from the very preliminary to calls for plan approvals.
With 192 condominium units and possibly a 109 room hotel listed on its applications to the city, the project proposed by AHM Development is easily the largest known to be in the planning stages.
Again according to application materials, the development will be located at roughly 11923, 12017 and 12105 State Avenue. According to Hirashima, developers have been to the city for design approvals and are “waiting to get into the ground,” though when that might happen is not clear.
Listed in application materials as the contact for AHM Development, the company’s Dick Nord did not return phone calls.
Another major development in the works is commonly known as the Sagewood Development, according to city Senior Planner Cheryl Dungan.
Sagewood could consist of 138 townhouses on 13.3 acres in the 6300 block of 83rd Avenue NE.
Dungan said the developers currently are awaiting approval for two environmental variances allowing less than the required buffer zones between the development and both a stream and some wetlands on the site. Dungan said the city already has been in contact with state Department of Wildlife officials who voiced no objections.
The variances are headed for a formal hearing before a city land use examiner on April 24. If the variances are approved, the city and developers can move forward with hashing out infrastructure designs, road layout and similar issues. Again, a contact for the developer did not return phone calls.
Apparently following objections from nearby property owners, Hirashima said one major residential proposal has been taken off the drawing board by developer Harbour Homes Inc.
The Seattle company had announced plans and begun formal application to place 300 apartments and 41 town houses on 27 acres east of the intersection of 86th Avenue NE and 70th Street NE. Developers needed a variance from the city’s residential density codes, which apparently sparked objections from neighbors. Once again, developers did not return phones calls.
