Everett Link Extension
Connecting Snohomish County jobs and housing

Stakeholders and partners

Advisory Groups

The Community Advisory Group, Elected Leadership Group, and Interagency Group are key audiences that inform the development of the Everett Link Extension project in various ways. These groups review technical information and public feedback and provide recommendations and insight through multiple phases of the project.

The CAG includes residents, transit riders, business owners, and representatives of organizations that reflect the diversity found throughout the corridor, including groups who have been historically excluded from planning processes like this. The CAG consists of people who know the community and can provide valuable insight as we review and refine our project alternatives.

The ELG is composed of elected officials who represent communities along the project corridor and Sound Transit Board members. The purpose of this group is to work through project issues and to coordinate with decision-makers. Meetings will align with key project milestones and are open to the public. 

ELG members:

Mayor Cassie Franklin, Co-Chair
City of Everett 
Sound Transit Board

Executive Dave Somers, Co-Chair
Snohomish County 
Sound Transit Board

Mayor Nancy Backus
City of Auburn 
Sound Transit Board 

Mayor Christine Frizzell
City of Lynnwood 
Sound Transit Board

Assistant Secretary Julie Meredith
Washington State Department of Transportation

Councilmember Shannon Sessions
City of Lynnwood 

Councilmember Strom Peterson
Snohomish County 

Councilmember Ben Zarlingo
City of Everett 

The IAG provides a platform for Sound Transit to work closely and coordinate with several agencies and local governments as this project moves forward. The IAG will convene throughout environmental review. 

People in a group

Model Code Partnership 

The EVLE Project, which is currently in the planning phase, includes a unique component intended to implement consistent best practices along the corridor and streamline permitting in later stages of the project. This Model Code Partnership (MCP) is funded primarily by a $2M grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Pilot Program. Sound Transit is working with the three partner jurisdictions along the corridor and the Puget Sound Regional Council to analyze the existing regulatory environment and develop potential policy and regulatory language to be considered for local adoption by the end of 2024.

This collaborative effort will evaluate how local policies and regulations may affect the design, permitting, and construction of light rail facilities and also incorporate considerations for the broader station areas. This includes regulatory language and other tools to facilitate TOD, multimodal transportation, economic development, infrastructure improvements, public/private partnerships, green building, affordable housing, and other topics supported by the jurisdictions and encouraged by the FTA.  

The MCP consists of four major components:

  1. Policy and regulations inventory, which catalogs existing language from guiding documents for each of the three jurisdictions;  

  1. Gap analysis, which identifies potential gaps and/or conflicts between policies and regulations within each jurisdiction, between jurisdictions, and between existing and best practices;  

  1. Case studies, which focus on exemplary planning and TOD efforts in peer cities; and  

  1. Model code development, which will provide options for policies and regulations that could close local gaps and implement best practices along the full EVLE corridor. The partnership will culminate in local adoption of policies and regulations, customized for each of the jurisdictions.