Tim Burgess' City View

Moving Beyond the Status Quo to Provide More Workforce Housing

The following article was sent out in my City View Newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here.

Today the City Council approved bold amendments to the zoning legislation that will positively impact South Lake Union for a generation. In February, I articulated my three guiding principles focused on fairness as the City Council considered a major increase in housing and office density for the neighborhood:

1. Increase benefits to the public in exchange for value given to the private sector.
2. Build homes for our workforce.
3. Support our public school system.

I am pleased to report that, after collaborating with economists, local businesses and affordable housing advocates, we are on a path to achieve all of these goals.

Together we passed in committee a sensible solution that brings affordable workforce housing to the City’s hottest real estate market far above the level called for in the Mayor’s original proposal. Now many more nurses, school teachers, construction workers and other working families can call this booming neighborhood home.

Bertha Arrives Today

Bertha, the world's largest tunnel machine, will arrive in Elliott Bay today after cruising 5,000 miles from its construction site in Japan. After the ship carrying Bertha docks, it will take several days to unload the various parts of the machine. The State Department of Transportation is preparing for Bertha's arrival by digging an 80-foot launch pit in which it will be reassembled. After the reassembly and further testing, the tunneling will begin later this year. You can follow Bertha's progress here.

The deep bore tunnel is only one element of the massive effort underway to transform our central waterfront and reconnect it to the rest of the city by replacing the seawall, tearing down the viaduct and creating attractive public open spaces. Read more about the creation of a Waterfront for All.

Designing a Family-Friendly Downtown

AIA Seattle is hosting a one-day conference at City Hall on April 11 to explore design elements and policies that make for a family-friendly downtown. As we attract more residents to our downtown neighborhoods, it is increasingly important that we make the area welcoming for people of all ages. Sometimes it is the little things that signal we're serious to having families downtown, like designing a play area for children at Westlake Park. Sometimes it is the bigger things, like making sure zoning codes in South Lake Union provide incentives for a new elementary school in that area.

If you are in the urban design field or studying to be, you might enjoy the discussion at this event. Event details and registration are here.

The event is co-presented by the Downtown Seattle Association, the Seattle Planning Commission and the Department of Planning and Development.

Fairness in South Lake Union

The following article was sent out in my City View Newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here.

The City Council is debating Mayor McGinn’s rezone recommendations for the South Lake Union neighborhood. Our decisions provide a historic opportunity to shape the future of our city in a way that properly balances public and private interests and creates an exciting, liveable mixed-income neighborhood.

Buried in the tongue-twisting zoning language of setbacks, floor-area ratios and set-asides is a simple idea: fairness. At the end of the day, can we craft legislation that encourages development in South Lake Union (and our other urban centers and villages) and also provides affordable workforce housing?

The answer is yes, and here are three guiding principles I will follow as we work to improve the Mayor’s zoning proposal.

Density Done Well

At the State of Downtown 2013 Economic Forum yesterday morning, the keynote speaker was an urban planner from Vancouver, B.C. who shared that city’s experience with density downtown. He described the efforts to convince the public of the environmental benefits of "density done well" or "ecoDensity" and then the evidence Vancouver sees now of successful urban planning. It was fascinating.

He listed three components of density done well:

1) Make sure that land use and transportation planning efforts are aligned.
2) Require consistently high quality design, especially at the ground level.
3) Provide the amenities and diversity that make density enjoyable.

Watch the full talk below.

Final Roosevelt Decision Upholds Neighborhood Values

The City Council voted 7-2 (Harrell and Godden in opposition) this afternoon to approve the Roosevelt rezone proposal.  The final legislation mandates landscaped setbacks at the ground level to achieve wider sidewalks and wider view corridors to the high school, further setbacks between 35 and 45 feet to create building modulation and an even wider view corridor, incentives for workforce housing, a requirement that any off-street parking that may be offered go underground, residential units only on Northeast 66th Street facing the high school except at the corners of the buildings and preservation of appropriate scaling to the east across 15th Avenue Northeast which has an existing 40 foot height limit.

Sorting Through Roosevelt Station Area Rezone Conflicts

The City Council's committee handling the Roosevelt neighborhood rezone meets again tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. to consider and possibly vote on this package. The Council's decision will be important for the Roosevelt neighborhood but also carries implications for the entire city. It involves balancing different policy priorities, including respecting the needs and values of neighborhoods and managing the City’s strategy to concentrate density around transit centers in order to protect single family homes and reduce suburban sprawl. 

The Council’s decision is complicated by a few very important factors.

Keeping Downtown Neighborhoods Attractive and Strong

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a quiet little celebration that highlighted the new residents and new jobs that have sprung up and transformed the South Lake Union neighborhood. About a hundred neighborhood activists, representatives of the area's mega-developer Vulcan, business owners, urban planners, and others reflected on the ten-year conversion of a sleepy, somewhat run down area adjacent to downtown into a thriving, upbeat area with thousands of new residents and jobs.

Danny Westneat wrote about South Lake Union's success in last Sunday's Seattle Times, giving appropriate credit to former Mayor Greg Nickels for his vision and persistence in pushing forward the redevelopment of the area.  David Brewster posted an interesting historical perspective at Crosscut.com last Monday.  (Here's a link to the report that both Westneat and Brewster cite that summarizes what's happened in South Lake Union.)

Brewster, in his Crosscut piece, raises an interesting question about how the success of South Lake Union will impact the downtown core of Seattle.  Frankly, we would do well to accept Brewster's commentary as more of a challenge than a question. We dare not become complacent about our downtown, an area of multiple neighborhoods stretching from Lower Queen Anne to the International District and Pioneer Square and from South Lake Union to First Hill and the Central Waterfront.

An attractive and strong city center doesn't flourish on its own.  It takes determined work and a constant focus on things that matter, like the attractiveness of the pedestrian environment, crime and street disorder, quick and efficient transportation options, and strong businesses. (Continue after the jump for a list of key steps to maintaining an attractive and strong downtown . . .)

UK Study Mission: Renewable Energy, Density, Transportation, Economic Growth, Public Education and More

Those Brits!  Focused.  Stiff upper lip.  And, did I say "focused?" 

I recently returned to Seattle after a week-long trip to Edinburgh, Glasgow and London.  I was part of the annual international study mission put together by the Trade Development Alliance and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.  (Don't fret, I paid my own way and didn't use a dime of City money. Highlights of my trip after the jump.)

Lake Union Streetcar Use Soaring

This morning, the Council's Transportation Committee approved (3-0) and sent to the full Council an ordinance that accepts $65,000 from South Lake Union employers who want to "buy" more operating hours for the South Lake Union Streetcar during the afternoon/early evening commute. 

What was most surprising to me in this morning's briefing was the surge in ridership.  Average weekly ridership soared 43.6% to 2,471 this month compared to 1,720 in May 2010. Ridership averaged 1,404 per week in May 2009.  But there's more.  So far in 2010, the average number of riders per hour on the streetcar is 46.6.  The same measure of ridership on nearby trolley bus routes is 48 riders per hour. 

You can watch this morning's Transportation Committee meeting here.