Seattle's skyline headed upward

Seattle's skyline will be dramatically reshaped under changes approved by a majority of City Council members Wednesday that are expected to let loose a new wave of downtown development.

By removing a cap on building heights that voters fed up with office towers run amok imposed 17 years ago, the city hopes to concentrate new housing and jobs downtown.

There are at least 10 proj- ects in the wings waiting for the changes.

But under the plan, developers would have to pony up money for affordable housing, environmentally friendly buildings and designs that make streetscapes livelier.

Five council members also approved a compromise plan to create more low-income housing, requiring residential developers to pay between $17 and $19 a square foot into a fund for that purpose.

Seven members unanimously approved resolutions to explore locating a major park in Belltown and other strategies to make downtown more livable, such as addressing public safety issues, improving transit and promoting policies that create living-wage jobs downtown.

"For the past 20 years, downtown has largely been on an uncharted course that's not well-planned. ... Most acute has been the growing gap between the haves and have-nots," said City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck, who helped lead the "Flowers not Towers" movement fighting downtown development in the 1980s.

But Wednesday, he championed the plan to raise building heights in the Denny Triangle, parts of Belltown, the office core and areas between the Pike Place Market and the retail center as a sustainable way to handle future growth and encourage more attractive skyscrapers.

Residential projects could rise to 400 feet in most areas. Commercial towers would have no height limits in the office core, though their overall size would still be regulated.

Overall, building heights are expected to increase by 30 percent to 40 percent.

From downtown residents who want more neighbors to developers trying to build to environmental groups fighting sprawl, there's been widespread support for funneling residents and jobs to the city's core in taller buildings.

That can help spare farmlands and single-family neighborhoods from development.

But some have disagreed on how to achieve that goal -- and what developers should be asked to provide in return for receiving lucrative zoning changes.

Mayor Greg Nickels, who first proposed raising downtown building heights last year, supported setting the low-income housing fee for residential developers at $10 a square foot, which, along with the fees office developers already pay, would create roughly 2,300 new units over the next 20 years.

Steinbrueck proposed charging close to $20, which would have increased that number slightly to 2,600 new units.

The compromise plan approved Wednesday by council members Steinbrueck, Tom Rasmussen, Richard Conlin, Nick Licata and Sally Clark allows for more negotiation on how to apply the fee, but sets the total amount at the higher end of that range.

Residents such as Kate Marrone, an academic editor who can afford to live in Belltown only because she inherited a condo, asked the council to act boldly to curb the city's growing lack of affordability -- a problem she compared to global warming.

"We're nearing a point of no return," she said. "If we don't make good policy decisions ... the harm will be irreparable."

Council members Jan Drago and Richard McIver supported a slightly lower affordable-housing fee, concerned that more costs and restrictions could inhibit the residential growth the city wants.

Kate Joncas, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, said she was gratified to see action on a plan that downtown residents and businesses have steadfastly supported for years.

But she said she hoped the changes wouldn't make building in downtown Seattle so expensive that developers would simply go elsewhere.

"The thing nobody knows is where that tipping point is -- we have tried to get as close as we can, but it's an art rather than a science," she said. "We have made incredible progress today, but we still have a couple more issues to work out."

Marty McOmber, spokesman for Nickels, said the mayor was "very pleased" that the council supported a key part of his "city center" strategy, which aims to create vibrant urban neighborhoods in and around downtown.

"In general the mayor's been encouraged that the proposals have been moving in the right direction and finding that very important balance between finding money for affordable housing and not discouraging the residential development that you want to see happen," he said.

Under the plan that the full council will consider on April 3, Steinbrueck said residents could expect to see more housing, more parks, more ecologically sound buildings and fewer parking garages that create dead zones along the street.

Council members approved several changes to Steinbrueck's final proposal on Wednesday:

Allowing an additional fourth floor of above-ground parking on smaller lots, saving developers from having to build expensive underground stalls.

Eliminating a requirement that new skyscrapers be spaced at least 80 feet apart in residential areas outside of Belltown.

Restoring part of the mayor's plan allowing 350-foot-tall office buildings in part of the Denny Triangle.

Clarifying that some of a building's required open space be at the street level and accessible to the public.

An amendment introduced by Drago to allow taller residential buildings between First and Western avenues and Columbia and Spring streets was defeated 5-2, despite pleas from Pioneer Square residents and business owners desperate to see more housing developed there.

Other council members worried that allowing 240-foot zoning that close to the waterfront and historic buildings could set an unwanted precedent.

They suggested that city planners study the issue further, and that the company looking to build housing on the area's one ripe lot at the corner of Western and Columbia seek a waiver for that individual project.

Voting for the overall zoning package were Steinbrueck, McIver, Clark, Conlin and Rasmussen. Drago abstained until more details are worked out. Licata was not present for that vote.

John Pehrson, a Belltown resident, said he was thrilled to see the changes, particularly the council's commitment to work on livability issues that go beyond the scope of zoning.

For downtown residents who have wanted more company, it's been a long wait, he said. "It's been a long gestation period -- even for an elephant," he said.