Seven story buildings around the Shoreline Center? City Council approves study for 185th St Subarea

By Diane Hettrick

In the council meeting on August 25, 2014 the Shoreline City Council approved a 185th Street Station subarea plan for study which includes 5 to 7 story buildings for half of the Echo Lake neighborhood, a sizable section of Meridian Park, and and a large section of North City from the freeway to 10th NE.

Members of the 185th St Citizens committee were caught off-guard by the aggressive scope of the zoning that the Planning Commission sent to the City Council for inclusion in the Environmental Impact Study. The zoning was amended slightly and approved by council.

The Citizen's Committee had been involved in many public meetings with the Planning Department where the growth area was identified as a section along the 185th Street Corridor, from the freeway to Aurora. The width of the planned growth area was about three lots to each side of the street. 8th NE south of 185th in North City had also been identified as a growth area.

However, the plans that the Planning Commission sent to the City Council allowed for seven story buildings all the way north to NE 195th, and five story buildings to NE 205th. This area is identified as a 100 year build-out, meaning that it would be 100 years before the area would be fully converted from single family to multi-story buildings.

The problem, one citizen told me, was that property that developers could acquire would be scattered throughout the neighborhoods, only as individual homeowners decided to sell, making an unattractive mix in what are now quiet residential streets.

Another citizen told me that the reason they were caught by surprise was that they understood that the Planning Commission would not be making radical changes to the plans, but would be cleaning it up and making minor changes.

The Planning Department was surprised that the citizens were unaware of the scope of the changes. The Planning Commission had held what they felt was a well-advertised public hearing about the subarea on July 10, as well as collecting public comments via email. Planning had a large display at Celebrate Shoreline on August 16 with the maps of the alternatives under consideration.

Of their four alternatives, they ranged from one which made no changes at all, to one with the 100 year build-out. The Commission was leaning toward plans which kept pockets of single-family homes among the multi-story buildings, which were planned for the higher traffic streets. To their surprise, at least one person from each of the pockets commented that if all the area around them was going to be rezoned, they might as well rezone the whole thing.

Part of the motivation for the aggressive planning was to give Sound Transit the ammunition to get government grants for the station. Denser zoning means more people means more potential riders.

Planners also wanted to move directly to multi-use buildings, not wanting a scenario where townhouses replaced single-family, with the whole process repeating itself in a decade as townhouses were replaced by multi-use buildings.

Another reason given was to allow maximum options to the School District should they wish to redevelop the Shoreline Center, which is currently a sprawling one-story building.

Planning staff also emphasized that the Environmental Impact Study is a study and could be changed. However, at the City Council meeting, Councilmember Chris Eggen, who was the only dissenting member of the city council, pointed out that inertia usually prevails, and plans once set in motion are rarely changed. His concern was that people were unaware of the proposed changes.

Meanwhile, residents in Echo Lake who live more than a block from 185th are indeed unaware of the zoning changes which might be coming around them.

There were indications that consideration might be given to adjustments to the plan, which would concentrate the growth and allow for a build-out that better matched the timelines of the station itself, which will not be operational for nine years. Even developers who were consulted thought that the plan was too aggressive, as it is not cost-effective for them to acquire one lot at a time.

There will be opportunities for residents to comment on the plans. See the article from the City.