I hope you are all enjoying the official Seattle start of summer 🙂
Here are some updates and announcements on land use issues:
Fruit Stand Block Design Meeting – We held a meeting with the Roosevelt Development Group to preview the design of the proposed development for the block at the corner of 15th Ave and 65th. Three designs were presented. I am personally excited about the third option as it is actually two buildings split to create a see through courtyard in the middle of the block. We had about twenty people in attendance and when asked for a show of hands the split building scheme was overwhelmingly preferred by the attendees. I am cautiously optimistic that this scheme will yield a better outcome for the site than a wall of building blocking views of the high school from 65th. I am also encouraged that the developer has taken the time to meet with our ad-hoc RDG/RNA design committee over the last few months and actually listened and incorporated our concerns into their design in a meaningful way. In the next couple of weeks I hope to receive images of the building for general distribution.
RDG Design Review Meeting Pending – Please expect RDG to schedule their first Design Review Meeting presenting the split building scheme as well as two other options (as required by the City). The date is like Monday July 23rd at the University Heights Center but this have not been confirmed. You can check the schedule yourself here and I will update you once I know the exact date.
Green Streets and Design Guidelines – Our consultant and the City are busy working through the summer to prepare a first round of suggestions for Green Street designs and updates to our neighborhood Design Guidelines. I will likely be inviting members of our stakeholders committee to discuss options for improving or design guidelines as that seems to be the most difficult item to put our arms around. If you have interest in helping with the design guidelines and are not already on the stakeholder committee please contact me. We are expecting to have a full stakeholder meeting to review the work in the first part of September.
Wallingford Neighbors Need our Support – Wallingford and other affect North Seattle neighbors are very concerned with a piece of proposed legislation that would allow developers to gain additional height and bulk (FAR) in IC zones when the project agrees to participate in the Living Building pilot program. Despite all the benefits the Living Building program, it seems that the way this legislation is drafted may provide unintentional consequences for other sites that are near by or zoned at IC as this code applies to all IC zones throughout the City. My concern is that this is not the proper mechanism to allow for discretionary up-zones as we have often stated to the City with respect to our own neighborhood. You can take a look at the legislation here and read the attached flier from the Wallingford group.
Thank you all. Enjoy the sun!
John Adams
Land Use Chair
Roosevelt Neighborhood Association