MARYSVILLE – Apparently, a growing community just can’t have enough five-story hotels or fast-food restaurants.

In the next year or so, Marysville is going to be getting a Chick-fil-A on 88th Street and a Sonic, Popeyes and Arby’s on 116th.

On top of that, another restaurant will be going in next to the five-story Hilton hotel already being built on 116th.

Nearby, as 38th is being extended south of 116th, a five-story La Quinta hotel will be going in.

And on 88th, a five-story Hotel America is being proposed.

That doesn’t even include the new $100 million Quil Ceda Creek Casino in Tulalip, across from the current one and next to Roy Robinson Suburu. That will break ground next month and create 200 jobs. Also, the tribal police and courts will finally get out of their temporary trailer buildings after 20 years there and move into an old aerospace building.

Planning director Dave Koenig said high-occupancy rates in Snohomish County mean Marysville is a hot spot for hotels. The Tulalip Resort-Casino and the Outlet Malls are bringing tourists to town from all over, he added.

All this development will be great for people looking for jobs. It will also give locals more options for fast food, and tourists more options on places to stay. It’s also going to help the local economy, as all those businesses will be paying property and sales taxes.

The major drawback will be traffic on two roads that already get congested, especially when trains go by.

Mayor Jon Nehring said there were similar concerns when Wal-mart was built off Highway 9, and when Applebees and the Holiday Inn Express were built on 88th. But developers work with the city to minimize problems.

But Nehring said the growth means locals will be able to go out to eat and shop closer to home, which is what they have been telling him for years is what they want.

“What new is coming? People are eager to hear that,” Nehring said Wednesday. “Now more than ever people can do most of what they want to do right here in Marysville.”

As a result of growth, the mayor likes to remind residents that the City Council has not had to raise property taxes in many years, thanks to more money coming in from sales taxes, which also are paid by out-of-towners.

“The burden is not just on locals,” he said. As Nehring said, developers are being told they need to mitigate for potential traffic problems. But city traffic engineer Jesse Hannahs said, “Regardless of improvements, it’s always going to be congested when there’s trains, which we have no control over.”

Hannahs and city planning manager Chris Holland met with residents near the 92-unit Hotel America last week in a public meeting. Because the land is zoned for a hotel, a meeting was not legally required. But because of neighborhood opposition, the city decided to have one to inform them about the proposed project. Everyone who lives within 300 feet of the project was informed.

For the developers, it’s all about location, location, location.

But for neighbors who live on 36th – along with anyone else who uses the already busy 88th Street NE – it’s all about traffic, traffic, traffic.

At City Hall July 20, Holland said the meeting was to educate the public about the proposal. He emphasized that a project just to the south that includes a Chick-fil-A, Starbucks and medical facility already has been approved and the land is being cleared.

More in the audience seemed upset about that project than the hotel one, saying the public wasn’t involved enough. Attendees said they have read horror stories about traffic problems caused by Chick-fil-A. To mitigate that, motorists will only be able to make a right turn out of the restaurant going south on 36th. A left-turn lane will be added going north so drivers won’t have to wait for turning traffic.

The situation will get even better in the future. Both 88th and 116th expect to be single-point urban interchanges, where traffic accumulates on ramps rather than on city streets or the highway, like at 41st in Everett.

Also, 88th and State hopes for relief in the future at that interchange.

Koenig said it was odd at that recent meeting that the public was upset about the hotel. He said people were asking for something low impact like a hotel at the previous meeting about the Chick-fil-A development.

Officials also said the hotel could be required to mitigate traffic, too, once an analysis is done. But it won’t bring in the traffic that the restaurant does, they added.

Hannahs said the traffic study for the Chick-fil-A development was “by far the most I’ve ever seen,” over 400 pages. “They had to analyze for everything.”

As for the hotel, construction is expected to start next spring, with an opening planned for May of 2019.

“That gives us a lot of time to get everything right,” said Gil Hulsmann of Abbey Road Group development services.

He said they want to hear concerns of neighbors to see if potential problems could be mitigated. “When we come to the city we already want to have addressed concerns you might have,” he said.

He noted the group changed the name because of the Tulalip copyrighted name, and it was scaled down from 114 rooms and 76,370 square feet to 64,535.

Asked why it has to be 55-feet high, he said it’s because “we can’t spread out” due to the number of required parking spaces. A building that tall would mean a significant loss of privacy, one neighbor said.

One resident expressed concern that there is only one way in and out of their development of 200 houses. But Holland said talks are continuing with the Tulalip Tribes to see if that can change.

One person asked Holland if residents can do anything to stop the project. Since the plan is already a permitted use it would be hard, but there always is an appeal process, he said.

Later, Hannahs said 116th was already built for the growth, and that widening the road from 100th to 116th will help traffic flow even more.

Also, the new intersection at I-5 and Highway 529 will change traffic patterns for the entire city, as motorists using that will avoid trains altogether. When one neighborhood resident said the city already messed up 116th, Holland countered that there are many plans in the future to improve 88th. Those include making 88th three lanes to the east, turning lanes at State and 88th and an interchange similar to what’s at 41st and I-5 in Everett.

“That will mean drastic improvements,” Hannahs said.