Welcome

Seattle’s Central Area Neighborhood Plan (CANP) Land Use, Open Space and Housing Committee is a group of Central Area community residents and business owners, and Neighborhood Plan Stewards, who are preparing for updates of the Central Area Neighborhood Plan, focusing on components:
Section 3: Land Use & Open Space
Section 6: Housing

The committee meets the third Monday of each month (except for August and December) at the Madrona Shelterhouse, just inside the playfield by the corner of 34th and Spring, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

All residents and business owners of the Central Area are welcome.

Contact Kathryn Keller ktkeller@earthlink.net if you would like more information.

Next Meeting Monday September 21

Next Meeting:
Monday, September 21
6:30-8:30 PM
Madrona Shelterhouse
(inside the park by the corner of 34th and Spring)

Announcements
Introductions
Committee Business and Updates
Yesler and Jackson review

Please send business and updates items to Kathryn ktkeller@earthlink.net

All residents and business owners in the Central Area are welcome!

April 2009 Meeting Minutes

MEETING MINUTES
Central Area Stewardship
Land Use Open Space & Housing Committee
April 20, 2009

Attending:
Cheryll – Madrona
Bill B. – Jackson Place
Vince – Judkins
Joanna – Squire Park/23rd and Union
Bill Z. – Squire Park/12th Ave. Stewardship
Kathryn- Madison Valley

Kathryn Keller and Marty Liebowtiz, co-chairs

As the group was small, the meeting consisted of committee business.  We will do the detailed review of Cherry Street being prepared by Cheryll and Andrea at the next meeting

Stewardship:
The Central Area Neighborhood Plan Stewardship is meeting the fourth Tuesday of the month.  Our committee minutes will be brought to the Stewardship.

Multifamily Zoning Update:
We sponsored a great presentation by CORA at Hiawatha Lofts last month.  The City Council PLUNC has had presentations by a number of groups and will be working on the ordinance.  Our website http://canpluosh.wordpress.com/ has and will have links to pod casts of these discussions.

Some in the group have serious concerns about the nature and public process that will be included in Administrative Design Review.  DPD is holding an overview of their proposed Administrative Design Review process that is called for in the new ordinance.  This meeting will be Monday May 4, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Bertha Landes Room, Seattle City Hall, 600 4th Avenue. http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/TownhouseReview/Overview/

A few of us will likely study the whole proposed ordinance and work with others in the city to be sure that folks in the Central Area who actually live in Multifamily zones are able to represent that perspective with come level of technical credibility.  Even watching the pod casts of discussions is a good basis for understanding what the issues are.

But, the most in the group felt that community concerns are the key that needs to be represented in the discussion.  For example, we may focus more on preserving neighborhood character.  If we think that there is a way to propose improvements to the ordinance that will allow us to preserve existing housing stock, we should work on that with neighborhood groups.

Committee Work:

We are wrapping up our survey of land use on the major thoroughfares in the Central Area.  This work is now in our meeting minutes.  We will construct a report that pulls together relevant parts of the neighborhood plan along with comments made by participants.  As well, we will abstract any major themes that emerge.  Hopefully, we can draft this document over the summer and complete it in the fall.

What are the areas regarding land use that people in the committee might wish to tackle?  Some thoughts:
-    Preservation of housing stock
-    Preservation of Neighborhood Character
-    Preservation of Single Family zones
Possible mechanisms:
-    Central Area Design Guidelines
-    Strategies such as being implemented by the Pine-Pine Neighborhood
-    Improvements in the Multifamily code (and Commercial code?)  to reward preservation of existing buildings

Goodwill Development:

Bill Bradburd presented the alternate proposal developed by Community Alliance for Responsible Development (CARD) for the Dearborn site.  Along with a critique of the current plan, this proposal included a site design that was developed in a workshop at the University of Washington lead by Michael Pyatok, a leading proponent of ‘New Urbanism’.

The main features are:
-    Goodwill retains ownership of half of the site
-    Much more housing for all income levels, and more family sized units
-    Smaller amount of retail, less parking and less traffic
-    No street vacation is required

The group’s comment included:
-    We think the plans should respect the intent of Neighborhood Commercial zoning and the South Downtown plan.
-    We want more housing where we are zoned for it.  That is the intent of the Urban Village strategy.
-    The CARD proposal is healthier for Goodwill, and healthier for small business.
-    The proposal would still allow a general mercantile such as Fred Meyer or something like City People.
-    The proposal focuses on a neighborhood and businesses to support all the new people who will live there.
-    The proposal lessens the economic impact on other neighborhoods in the Central Area, i.e., does not take all commercial development.
-    It is a major undeveloped area and we hope that it will be able to be done really well.

Folks at the meeting voted to draft a letter to council regarding this, timed for the street vacation action.  (Now moot as the current developer has cancelled his efforts)

April 2009 Meeting Minutes

Next Meeting May 18

Next Meeting:
Monday, May 18
6:30-8:30 PM
Madrona Shelterhouse
(inside the park by the corner of 34th and Spring)

Announcements
Introductions
Committee Business and Updates
Cherry (detailed survey)
We may begin Yesler and Jackson review if time permits

Please send business and updates items to Kathryn ktkeller@earthlink.net

All residents and business owners in the Central Area are welcome!

March 2009 Meeting Minutes

MEETING MINUTES
Central Area Stewardship
Land Use Open Space & Housing Committee
March 16, 2009

Attending:
Marty, Max, Cheryll – Madrona
Andrea- MLK
Paul, Bill B. – Jackson Place
Vince – Judkins
Bill Z. – Squire Park/12th Ave. Stewardship
Kathryn- Madison Valley

Kathryn Keller and Marty Liebowtiz, co-chairs

Announcements and Committee Business:

CORA will present on the new Multifamily Zoning proposal at Hiawatha Lofts on March 25 at 6 PM

Paul will provide a list of State legislation of interest for the google group.

SCCC Woodworking School Plans will be presented at an Open House at the school on Monday, March 23.  Folks wondered why the property was not covered by a MIMP.  Turns out it’s too far away from the main campus and too small to have it’s own MIMP.  Some members wondered why there is no deign review for small institutions and thought that seems to be a gap in the codes.

The Stewardship has been reformed and one meeting held, to which the chairs of this committee were not invited.  Marty and Kathryn will meet with the Stewardship chair and report back to the committee.

Union Street Wrap Up: (See February 2009 Minutes)

It was noted that, while the Union Street Business Association has done quite a bit regarding development from 20th to 23rd, a big item for the to-do list is a plan for Union Street from 12th to 34th.

Comments included: beautification, economic development, pedestrian zing

There are new businesses at 18th (and businesses east of 23rd) who should be interested.

The status and use of TT Minor building is a concern.

Cherry Street Discussion:

Cherry Street was viewed as a secondary commercial street in the Neighborhood Plan and was not targeted for major economic development. The thought was that only so many streets would need development to support the population, and Cherry has historically already had African American owned businesses such as Jordan’s.  Now it has seen a number of new restaurants, and Jordan’s has closed.

The group is interested in enhancing the economic life on Cherry as the population is now denser in the area and can support it.

We looked at the following areas: 12th – 23rd, 23rd – MLK

Heading east on Cherry from 12th starts with institutions and apartments.  From 20th to 23rd there is a need for more small business development and increased safety.  The gas station at the corner of 23rd and MLK is a source of problems in the neighborhood.  Some think that the properties on Cherry just west of 23rd could be better developed.  New commercial development could serve both Garfield students and people who live at the top of the hill and work at the institutions to the west.

Cherry from 23rd – MLK

One person commented that these blocks have a pall over them, starting on the west side of 23rd with the gas station.  The Dilettante Building is not yet occupied.  The group is very concerned about the Mann Building not being occupied.  We agreed that it should be put to s good use as a showcase historic building.

There could be a healthy mix of apartment buildings and commercial/neighborhood commercial if these blocks would be developed appropriately.  New development needs to be built to the existing zoning designation, along side a number of buildings that the group would like to see preserved. as they are a major part of the character of the neighborhood.

It has been noted that the small brick apartment buildings that some people really like and would like to see stay, are due to be torn down for new development.

We asked Cheryll and Andie to map out the details of the buildings on Cherry so we can visualize a walk down Cherry, agree on we would like to preserve, and what zoning and uses would be good to have.  We will review these at the next meeting.

It was mentioned that we could consult with an organization like Feet First to deepen our understanding of pedestrian experience.  For example, they conceptualize ‘pedestrian pathways’ that may go between major streets, for example 17th between Cherry and Union.

minutes-march-16-2009

February 2009 Meeting Minutes

MEETING MINUTES
Central Area Stewardship
Land Use Open Space & Housing Committee
February 23, 2009

Attending:
Max, Cheryll – Madrona
Andrea- MLK
Paul – Jackson Place
Vince – Judkins
Bill – Squire Park/12th Ave. Stewardship
Kathryn- Madison Valley

Announcements:

CORA presentation at Hiawatha Lofts in March (now scheduled for March 25 at 6 PM)
Coleman Neighborhood Get it Together Event
Seattle is working on its Pedestrian Master Plan or P-Zones.  One is at MLK and Union.

Review of Madison:

(Note that Madison-Miller was reviewed at the July 2008 meeting)

Development on Madison took off with the Safeway, which one person termed ‘brutalism’.  This was followed by Trader Joes, but upper Madison had a lively drug trade, which was recently moved out.  New major mixed use buildings are going up.

There are some bars like the Bottleneck, but the Twilight has moved to Cherry.  One person commented that upper Madison is a funny place for a commercial district because of the topography.

There was a lot of discussion about how to get the kinds of stores people want.  Maybe some store fronts need to be configured differently to get in a hardware store, for example.  Folk thought that more mid-sized types of businesses might be good.

Madison has opportunities for interesting architecture as one heads east.  Most of what is there is unlikely to be torn down any time soon.  The hill is steep, but could be a better pedestrian experience.  A new building is under design review on the triangle by 23rd.

The valley has a nice business development on the south side west of MLK.  One person thought that east of MLK on the south side are a strip of very nice facades that would be worth preserving so that everything does not look like the new building across from City People.  Another person asked what about a NC-15 designation?

We agreed that Neighborhood Design Guidelines and historic character, such as the work being done in Pike-Pine, is important.
Review of Union:

One person commented that it is actually getting rather pleasant to walk along Union between 14th and 18th. 18th has some nice shops.  There are some interesting developments, a new building at 14th, and apartment buildings in the south side.  The bus parking lot is not so nice, and its unclear what will happen with TT Minot.

We noted that there is a lot of new development coming right at the 12th-14th-Union-Madison intersection and that it is important to us that we have an experience that includes more green space, maybe in the form of planting strips with trees.  The only ‘park’ is on Madison by the intersection of Pike west of 14th and is not accessible.  The ‘entry’ to Union and the Central Area could be a lot nicer.

It was mentioned that the hills need to be considered when reviewing the design of new buildings on Union.

Heading east on Union, there is development up to 23rd and on some side streets to the north.  Past 23rd, we see some commercial and live work type units are viable.  There are also viable alleys between 25th and 26th so it is possible to create a lively street front with parking and delivery in the back.  This could work with the P-zone idea at MLK.

We will look at Union again in March.

minutes-february-2009

CORA Multifamily Housing Presentation March 25

We had a community event on the Multifamily Zoning Updates. This will apply to townhouses and apartment buildings and will be a major part of city council’s work over the next year.

The meeting was held March 25th at the Hiawatha ArtSpace Lofts

The presentation (attached here) by members of Congress of Residential Architects (CORA) included:
What’s wrong with the Multifamily Code & why was it done that way
Summary of the new proposal
New housing types that would be allowed by a more flexible code
How administrative design review works
Critique of the proposal

CORA’s concerns and recommendations:

1. FAR is better for all ‘L’ zones, along with parking requirements, open space requirements, setbacks…. as opposed to density, i.e., unit sizes.

2. Parking that is cut and cover where the cover is a shared courtyard or landscaped area should be departable when looking at FAR.

3. 25′ should be allowed to go to 30′ as a departure

4. There is still a legacy of design standards that don’t make sense.

5. There are a bunch of omnibus additions that a lot of people will hate that could bring the whole thing down.  One example they gave was new locational requirements for rezoning.  These should not be included.

People who attended also have the following concerns.

1. WITH ADR, who is going to hold the DPD planner accountable?  What qualifications should this person have?  Should the qualifications or vetting of them be set in law?  Also, should there be a review by independent architecture firms?

2. ADR — citizen notification, accessibility and productive involvement is KEY.

3. Preservation of existing houses.

4. Can we have a design competition to allow some pre-approved plans?

cora-nw-townhome-design-march-2009

November 2008 Meeting Minutes

Central Area Stewardship
Land Use Open Space & Housing Committee
November 17, 2008

Attending:
Kathryn (Madison Valley), Marty and Cheryll (Madrona), Bill B (Jackson Place), Bill Z. (Squire Park), Anne (MLK), Ron (Cherry)

1. 23rd and Cherry- A committee member asked for the group to consider
upzoning and consolidating the zoning at this intersection- specifically
the parcels abutting the gas station, and also the ones he owns by the
dilettante. Since the drawings we were looking at were small and did not
have parcels noted on them, Another committee member suggested we
discuss this matter at the next meeting using a blow-up drawing of the
intersection so we could talk in specifics. The group concurred.

2. 23rd & Union- Discussion was held about this intersection and
upzoning several parcels. Similar to item 1 above, a larger map will be
brought to the next meeting to discuss specifics of the request. The
group cncurred.

3. A committee member mentioned that since most of the committee
attendees were not planners, it would be good to invite professional
planners to sit in with us at our meetings to assist with the tasks.
Additionally, someone mentioned that a Vashon Island resident owned a
large portion of the land we’re discussing. A committee member suggested
we invite him to the meeting as well. The group concurred.

4. Two planners and the Vashon property owner will attend this next
meeting.

november-2008-minutes