Tonight’s the night for the Design Review Board’s Maple Leaf ‘neighborhood within a neighborhood’ recommendation
Tonight at 8pm at the University Heights Center, the Design Review Board will convene for its recommendation on Prescott Development’s proposed 46-unit development at the old Camp Fire USA site in Maple Leaf.
You can view the entire presentation by checking out this link to the recommendation Prescott will be making tonight.
In addition to Prescott’s point of view, Maple Leaf Community Council’s very detailed response to Prescott’s project assumptions will also be submitted to the DPD.
Personally, I think Prescott overpaid for this property by both incorrectly overestimating just how much development would be allowed here and underestimating the effectiveness of Maple Leaf’s response. I guess these are the risks you run when you purchase property from slick-talking Camp Fire girls.
Below are some photos of some of the proposed designs for the property, along overhead views of the development.
(Overhead shot of the current property - the Maple Leaf reservoir is located to the left of the property)
(Overhead view of the planned development)
(Views of the types single-family and duplex housing proposed for this area)
7 comments
Nobody likes it when what has been a beautiful open space — “Waldo Woods” I think is what the opponents of this project are calling it — gets developed. But the fact is that this is private property, and imho the owners should be allowed to do with it what they can within the applicable zoning, without having to defend themselves. And this project seems to do this, while preserving a huge hunk of the open space and trees that I see each day while communting up 15th NE. Sure it will create more traffic. Sure the townhomes aren’t exactly what the rest of the ‘hood looks like. But neither is the existing building, or the little commercial building that is not part of the project, of the triplex I own across the street at 8601 15th NE. So it impacts me and my tenants. But it’s not public land. I think Prescott has listened and tried to respond with project that takes many of the neighbor’s concerns into account.
The City explicitly creates a process, including Landmark, Design Review, and environmental review, that encourages developers to engage the community. This is a good thing. One drive through any L2 zone in the city, like Roosevelt north of about 91st, and you can see the hazards of no input. The townhomes that are terrible were not subject to design review. The townhomes that are not terrible, were.
The Maple Leaf Community Council has acknowleged from the beginning that development is coming to this parcel. Our goal has been to work with all parties to make certain the development reflects the unique nature of the site and the context of the neighborhood.
When I say “unique”, I don’t just mean the visual aspects of the site and the historic building. This L2 zone, according to City code, shouldn’t even be here. It’s a leftover mistake made by the County during transitions. This is not just our opinion, the earliest documents in the file on this project demonstrate the City knows this as well.
What we’ve asked the developer to do in terms of design is simple:
1. Shift units (about seven) on the property to preserve the “exceptional” tree at the north edge and the “significant” grove to the east.
2. We support the Design Review Board’s repeated request to reform the designs facing 85th and 86th to improve the streetscape. The current designs form a “wall” that is completely out of character with the rest of the community, and particularly concerning since 85th will be the major access point to the new Upper Maple Leaf Park atop the reservoir and 86th is a quiet, dead-end street with nice views.
3. Work with us to create meaningful traffic and pedestrian mitigations that respond to the more than 290 daily trips this development will bring and the couple of dozen extra cars that will need some place to park.
We’ve also asked the city to require a full EIS on the project. We believe this is completely reasonable given (among other items) the chance for the spread of toxins during demolition and construction, the proximity of the drinking water reservoir, and the impact the development will have on the trees and stormwater runoff.
As we’re approaching 200 letters on file and nearly 2,000 signatures on petitions from members of the community, we believe there is strong neighborhood support for our effort to improve whatever development happens at Waldo Hospital.
David Miller
President
Maple Leaf Community Council
David, I fully agree with you that the DR process can improve a development, especially one of this scale. And I think your three points are spot on. But the impression I got from savelwaldo.org, and the trailer parked out front with the “Save Waldo” (or something like that) banner, was that there was opposition to ANY development, not support of thoughtful development. But maybe that’s a totally different group than your MLCC. If your goal is constructive input, sign me up.
I’ve shared MLCC’s position, and you can see more details on our web site at MapleLeafCommunity.org.
Personally, I don’t see the two sentiments as being in conflict. We’ve been approached by developers who wish to condo the building and add units around the west edge (saving all the trees), save the building and remodel it to return its use to a medical educational facility, and tear the building down and replace it with a development that saves all the trees and is better scaled to the surrounding neighborhood. Each is a more appropriate and environmentally sound approach.
Right now, the only alternative in front of us is the plan advanced by the current option holder Prescott (Camp Fire still owns the property). That’s what we’re responding to, while remaining hopeful additional alternatives will be considered.
We met with Camp Fire in August 2006 and pleaded to be involved in their process. We offered to raise money to refurbish the building and keep them in our neighborhood, asked for some time to try to raise funds for City acquisition, volunteered to work with them on different financial strategies so they could get cash *and* stay (i.e. sale and lease back), or to work with them to find a good developer who would be sensitive to the site. We were told by their executive director we were not welcome in the process and that their only goal was to sell to the highest bidder. That is their right, of course. The dissonance between that attitude and the stated goals of their otherwise exceptional organization was (and remains) more than a little jarring, however.
From the moment our neighborhood council was conceived in the 1980s, we have worked very hard to be reasonable and reasoned voices representing our neighbors. I’ve been on board only two years and President only three months, and I cannot tell you (1)How widely known and respected this reputation is within the city (particularly City Hall), and (2) How critical it is we maintain this approach. We know development is coming. Our goal is to make sure when the construction crews depart, our neighborhood remains liveable for both our new and existing neighbors.
We have plenty of room on the bus, and need for folks to help. Our next community-wide meeting is April 30. The next Waldo-specific meeting is March 10 at 7pm, Olympic View Elementary where we are sitting down with Prescott and City planners to try and hash out mitigations for pedestrian and traffic impacts if the development goes through as planned.
Thanks for the great discussion Gordon and David. I learned quite a bit about both developer and neighborhood point of views from your comments.
Thanks for the back story, David. Your mission sounds terrific and I want to learn more about it. Can you please put me any the mailing list that you have for any more info that you distribute re/meeting and notices for Waldo and other Maple Leaf biz?
I’m the owner of Real Property Associates — at NE 80th and 14th NE, so right here in the ‘hood for over ten years and also vested in the future of community. gordon(at)rpaseattle.com
We have set up a list system covering several different topics of interest to Maple Leaf residents:
http://www.mapleleafcommunity.org/mail_list_join.html
It’s easy for me to sign you up, but I might miss signing you up for another topic of interest to you. Just visit that link and you’ll be set.
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