Report on City meeting on 145th subarea rezoning

The City of Shoreline held an open house on January 22, 2015 at Bethel Lutheran Church to present current information on the 145th Station subarea planning.

Report from Robin Lombard, co-chair 145th Station Citizens Committee

January 22 – 145th SCC Meeting – City Introduction to the DEIS

Attendees – 80+ including at least one council member, several city staff and several planning commission members. Many of the attendees had not been to a 145th SCC meeting before.

This meeting started with an introduction to the context about the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), a review of the entire station subarea planning process, and a glimpse at the future schedule. A couple of highlights:

• Miranda Redinger (Senior Planner at City of Shoreline, who led the meeting) was careful to point out that the city will not be buying and developing land. This is a question that she has gotten repeatedly. 
• Advice on reading the DEIS is that Chapter 3 is the one to read (it includes all the impacts and mitigation measures) 
• Near term – likely interest in 35 and 45-foot products (buildings). The 65 and 85-foot products are much more likely later (more than 20 years). 
• Population projections – growth of 2800+ people in the subarea over the next 20 years. Alternative 3 provides the most housing opportunities but Alternative 2 provides more employment opportunities. 
• With redevelopment surface water issues should be mitigated beyond what the effects are today.

The majority of the meeting involved Q/A from attendees, many of whom were very frustrated. Many people feel that the development plans proposed in Alternatives 2 and 3 will impact their quality of life. There was heated discussion on several issues: 

• Property values – going up or down?
• Why are we going so fast through the process of getting a plan approved?
• How much parking will developers be required to provide?
• Why not do the DEIS for 185th and 145th together?
• Can we please consider phased zoning with triggers?
• Why Planned Action Ordinance? Won't residents be better protected by the existing process?
• Is Alternative #1 (no action) really an alternative?

Clearly more people have heard about the light rail area plans but many are frustrated and angry with the zoning alternatives as they are today. 

Key dates

Feb 5 – Open House on DEIS (City Hall) 6 – 7 pm

Feb 5 – Planning commission public hearing (public comment invited on the DEIS) 7 – 9 pm

Feb 17 – Public review (and comment) of DEIS ends

Feb 23 – city council chooses final alternative for 145th; meeting starts at 6:30 – council may also adopt 185th plan (feedback at the meeting indicated residents thought these should not be on the same night)

May 7 – planning commission public hearing on Final Environmental Impact Statement

June 2015 – anticipated approval of subarea plan and zoning regulations by city council

Relevant links:

• City of Shoreline explanation of MUR (mixed-use residential zoning) for light rail station areas.
• 145th Street Corridor Improvement project page (another project that will impact/be impacted by the station area plan)
• 145thSCC Facebook page
• 145th Street Station Page (City of Shoreline) 

Correction - Feb 23 key date used the word "county" instead of "council" - 1-29-2015 10:45pm