Around 80 people showed up at a July 13 meeting the Department of Planning and Development held to discuss the future growth of the Interbay area around West Dravus Street, according to Bob Derry from the Interbay Neighborhood Association (INA).
The INA, which has roughly four dozen members, had originally called for the area to be turned into a Hub Urban Village, but the idea was dropped because it didn't meet the criteria for such a designation under the city's Comprehensive Plan, Derry said.
But INA member David Bolin echoed a common belief prevalent within the association that a planned development is needed to revive an area he described as blighted when the issue first came up several months ago. "People recognize change is needed," he added in a recent interview.
The Seattle City Council agrees that the area bound by 15th and 20th avenues West, the northern edge of the golf-course driving range and the Emerson Street overpass could handle more development, Derry said.
The council has directed Planning and Development to come up with proposals for zoning changes, he said. "The city council also changed the Comprehensive Plan to allow this area to have higher density."
That would happen by changing the existing 40-foot commercial zoning of the area into a neighborhood-commercial zone that would allow mixed-use buildings with heights that vary from 45 to 125 feet, Derry explained. The mixed-use approach under the proposed zoning change would allow as many as 1,300 new residential uses, according to city estimates.
"The (extra) height allows you to do a better building," Bolin added. But there are limits. A building that is only 65 feet high, for example, would have to be built out almost to the edges of the property line, he said.
There's also another development consideration. "Parking always governs what you ultimately build," Bolin said. And building underground parking for a project is limited to just a couple of floors because the garage would hit ground water if it goes any deeper, he said. "So you're not going to get any more units than you would with a shorter building."
Planning and Development prepared rudimentary renderings of what the zoning changes would look like, but they didn't correspond to the ideas championed by the INA, Derry said.
According to a scale model built for the INA by architect David Hewitt, the buildings next to West Dravus Street would be 40 feet tall; starting half a block or so south and north of Dravus, buildings would be taller than 40 feet. Planning and Development's version shows higher buildings located right next to Dravus. Furthermore, Dravus Street would become more pedestrian-oriented under the INA proposals.
Some concerns about future traffic impacts have been expressed by Elizabeth Campbell, who says she represents a new group called the Magnolia Neighborhood Planning Council.
But Derry said the INA hired Heffron & Associates, a go-to traffic consultant company that has provided analysis for numerous private and city projects. "Actually, we've been kind of a squeaky wheel about it," he said of identifying traffic impacts.
The city is already going to redo the timing of the traffic lights at the intersections of Dravus and 15th Avenue West, which should help, Derry said. The Heffron company has also come up with some suggestions that were discussed at the July 13 meeting.
They include, among other steps, installing a traffic signal at 17th and West Dravus and restricting left turns onto Dravus from southbound traffic on 16th Avenue West.
Outside of minor concerns about future traffic impacts, the Magnolia Community Club, the Magnolia/Queen Anne District Council and the Queen Anne Community Council have all sent letters to the city approving of the changes proposed by the INA, Derry said.
"The sense in the community is that area is ripe for redevelopment," said Magnolia Community Club president Vic Barry. If zoning stays the way it is now, big-box, car-oriented retailers such as Home Depot could move into the fledgling neighborhood, he warned.
"I think the bottom line here is, having a more pedestrian-friendly atmosphere would be better." But Barry noted the plan still has to be vetted and approved by the city council.
Planning and Development staff members are preparing a report that will initially end up in front of city councilman Peter Steinbreuck's Urban Development and Planning Committee, Derry said. The goal is to get the zoning changes approved before fall, when the city council will be tied up with the city's budget, he said.[[In-content Ad]]
