A Portland, Maine-based wireless infrastructure company wants access to Snohomish County road rights-of-way, and the county is proposing to overhaul commute-reduction rules for large employers like Boeing and Providence Regional Medical Center.

Both items go before the county's Public Infrastructure and Conservation Committee tomorrow.

The committee meets at 10 a.m. in the Jackson Board Room, 8th Floor, 3000 Rockefeller Ave. in Everett.

Ordinance 26-025 would grant SQF, LLC, doing business as Verta, a non-exclusive franchise to use public road rights-of-way in Snohomish County for telecommunications infrastructure.

The committee's proposed action is to advance the ordinance to the General Legislative Session on July 15, where a public hearing date would be set.

Verta develops poles and towers that multiple wireless carriers can share, rather than each building their own. The company has been expanding across Western Washington. Tacoma granted Verta a 10-year franchise in January 2026, and Kirkland had a similar 10-year agreement under consideration as of June 2026.

The Snohomish County ordinance text was not publicly available as of July 5, so specific franchise terms, duration, and geographic scope within the county remain unclear.

In Tacoma, the franchise required Verta to indemnify the city, provide insurance, a letter of credit, and a performance bond.

Ordinance 26-029 would repeal the county's existing Commute Trip Reduction code (Chapter 32.40 SCC) and replace it with an entirely new chapter (32.10 SCC), renaming Title 32 of the county code "Commute Trip Reduction" and adopting an updated county CTR plan.

The committee's proposed action is to advance this ordinance to the July 15 General Legislative Session as well.

Washington's CTR law, established in the 1990s under the state's Clean Air Act, requires employers with 100 or more affected employees in the state's nine most populous counties to implement programs reducing drive-alone commutes.

Affected employees are defined as full-time workers who start between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. on two or more weekdays.

In Everett, that threshold captures major employers including Boeing's widebody assembly plant, Providence Regional Medical Center, Naval Station Everett, and Snohomish County government itself. What specifically changes under the new plan compared to the existing code has not been made public.

Neither ordinance faces a final vote Tuesday. Both are on the committee's agenda to advance to the July 15 legislative session, where the county council would schedule public hearings.

Residents can attend the Tuesday committee meeting in person or remotely via Zoom (Meeting ID: 948-4685-0772) or by phone at 253-215-8782 or 206-337-9723. Public comment is on the agenda.