South Snohomish News

Snohomish County wants public input on its Light Rail Communities, so it created a virtual workshop for them to help make future planning decisions for unincorporated land around planned light rail stations.

The workshop focuses on collecting information to make planning decisions in the second phase of the multi-year Light Rail Communities project, a Snohomish County news release reported. The public can access the workshop through Sept. 25 at https://bit.ly/LRCHousingWorkshop.

The public will be asked what housing types they want to see at the different locations as the workshop explores growth and housing.

Station area planning in the project’s first phase collected residents’ thoughts on where the light rail stations should be located. The county council approved a resolution on an option preferred by the public. A presentation video can be found on the project webpage.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leverage major transportation investments to benefit Snohomish County,” Dave Somers, Snohomish County executive, said in the release. “We need to hear from the public about their priorities to guide the county’s plan for light rail in our community.”

The Sound Transit Board will make decision on station locations and alignment, using the county project for planning purposes.

Light rail will extend from Northgate to Mountlake Terrace and Lynwood. It will eventually onto Everett via Paine Field under voter-approved Sound Transit 2 (ST2)  and Sound Transit 3 (ST3). Snohomish will have stations at 164th St (Ash Way Station) and 128th St (Mariner Station) near their respective intersection with I-5 under the ST3 plan.