Midtown District 

City’s Planning Department Receives Award for Midtown

The City of Snohomish is proud to congratulate the Planning Director Glen Pickus and his team for receiving an award from the Planning Association of Washington. The Planning Department was recognized for the Midtown Planning District in the category of Comprehensive Plan: Small Cities & Counties.

“I congratulate Planning Director Glen Pickus and the Planning Department on this award and thank the Midtown District Task Force for all the work contributed to the final product.  This award is meaningful because it recognizes projects that have shown outstanding use of planning principles, that reflect community values, and that demonstrate innovation and applicability to other projects,” said Mayor Linda Redmon. “Mr. Pickus and his team have provided guidelines that will allow Snohomish to adapt to inevitable growth and change in a thoughtful and proactive fashion, preventing haphazard development and negative impacts to our city.”

The award was presented at the Washington Chapter annual conference of the American Planning Association in Vancouver, Wash., in October 2022.

History of the Midtown District

In 2018 Snohomish County notified the City they would be selling their former 9.4-acre public works yard site on Avenue D at 13th Street. The City took steps to proactively update regulations to guide the development in a direction that reflected the community’s vision of ensuring a vibrant, forward-looking community affordable for Snohomish residents for generations to come. The Midtown Planning District Project was launched in 2020 to look at updating the development regulations and standards for not only the County property but also the entire Avenue D corridor from Sixth Street north to SR9. The goal of the District is to create a revitalized Midtown that creates jobs and increases shopping, work, activity, and housing options, including increasing the amount of affordable housing in the city.

Design Standards

Snohomish Municipal Code 14.214, lays out the design standards for new construction in the Midtown District, including that the architectural character reflect the historical context of the City and to avoid generic, corporate architectural design that is inconsistent with the character and identity of Snohomish.

midtown planning district (2)

Resolutions, Ordinances, and other Related Documents

  1. Ord 2442 PH Midtown target area for MFPTE (070522)
  2. Res. 1433 Midtown target area for MFPTE (060722)
  3. Res. 1437 Midtown target area for MFPTE (081622)

Map of City of Snohomish Midtown

Midtown Planning District (cropped map)
  1. Process for Establishing Midtown
  2. Supporting Documents
  3. City Council Action
  4. Final Meeting
  5. Meeting #4
  6. Meeting #3
  7. Meeting #2
  8. Meeting #1
  9. Survey Results

Process for Establishing Midtown

Midtown planning process flowchart


Midtown Story Map

This ESRI story map was created for public meetings during the development stages. The story map is a virtual experience that contains videos, maps, images, and links. The story map is still available to view, however all the survey links have been disabled.


Storymap Link button Opens in new window


study area oblique (cropped)

The City Council adopted Ordinance 2403 to form a Task Force to be comprised of community members, some with expertise in land use, real estate and development and others who are tuned in to the community’s vision for this area.