LUOA meets with Mayor to discuss SLU Up-Zone

The Lake Union Opportunity Alliance (LUOA), which now has a presence on this blog – wave to Kevin McCarthy – thanks to our new open platform, had the chance to sit down with Mayor Greg Nickels today to discuss their position on the South Lake Union Up-Zone:

We presented to the Mayor, the background on LUOA, our activities to date, and our advocacy position which is:

1. Do a comprehensive Urban Plan and Design on what kind of community we want and what public amenities will be included and how they will be funded, before setting the zoning. The current city planning seems to be doing it backwards, define the zoning and then maybe we’ll add the public amenities. That backwards approach hasn’t worked in Belltown, why would we believe it would work in SLU.

2. Eliminate the City’s Alternatives #1 and #2 – they would rezone all of South Lake Union (SLU) outside of Cascade to either 300’ or 400’ and even upzone Cascade to 160’. This would create a ‘mountain of concrete’, 3/4 mile long and 1/2 mile wide, that would be up to 100’ taller than the top of Capital Hill and Queen Anne. They would potentially add up to 130 towers of 300’ or 400’ height. These alternatives are inconsistent with the Seattle Comprehensive Plan, the SLU Neighborhood Plan and the comments of 80 to 90% of the public. These alternatives have been criticized in writing by the Space Needle Corporation, Washington State Department of Transportation – Aviation Divison, the Floating Home Association, and about 30 individuals.

3. Include the LUOA Alternative that has 240’ height only along Denny Way, steeply steps down to 40’ at Lake Union, and includes provisions for public amenities, view corridors, green streets and a active center for the neighborhood.

We believe the Mayor understood our position and the support we had from the community, and that he and the City will take our position into account in future actions. We were told that in about a month the City will select the alternatives to be studied for the EIS [emph. added]. We did not receive any commitment to include our LUOA Alternative, but, in our opinion, it would be difficult to ignore the 80 – 90% of the public comments that support this position.

It will be interesting to see if the City (the Mayor) backs down on the issue of building heights. Taller buildings don't have to block views and do not preclude neighborhood amenities. They are, however, a smart use of urban land. I guess we'll know in a month.

A full recap of their meeting is available on the new-and-improved LUOA blog (hey, that's my turf!)