Tall-building plan stirs South Lake Union alarm

When South Lake Union was imagined as an urban center, few expected it might someday be home to 400-foot-tall buildings.

But a South Lake Union group is considering new proposals that would do just that -- seek zoning changes to allow 300- or 400-foot buildings in response to business interest in the growing area.

That has some residents, business owners and concerned citizens crying foul. They fear that if the new heights are ultimately approved, views from every neighborhood around Lake Union would be blocked, beloved parks and P-patches would lose sunlight to shade, and any vision for a walkable, "livable" South Lake Union would be destroyed.

"It's scandalous, what's happening in South Lake Union," said Peter Buck, an attorney representing Pacific Retirement Services, a South Lake Union property owner concerned with increased heights.

"What's being proposed is way higher than what people thought when SLU was designated as an urban center -- and a significant departure from existing zoning."

The South Lake Union Friends and Neighbors group (SLUFAN), a community group of both elected and appointed members who live, work or own property in South Lake Union, meets Tuesday to discuss the increased density proposals.

Members are expected to vote next month on which proposals will be included in an environmental impact statement, which would determine environmental, traffic, shading and other impacts of an upzone. Mayor Greg Nickels will choose the final proposal.

However, "SLUFAN is a nonrepresentative group," Buck said. "We are concerned, but others throughout the city should be too."

The proposals, which are not yet final, call for a range of heights from 85 feet to a maximum of 400 feet. A more modest plan -- proposing 65 to 240 feet -- recently was offered by Cascade Community Council President Lloyd Douglas, also a member of the SLUFAN board. But it was modified by other SLUFAN members to include greater heights. Cascade is a subgroup of SLUFAN.

On Tuesday, the 13-member SLUFAN, which helped craft the South Lake Union Neighborhood Plan and represents the neighborhood in all dealings with the city, will hold a critical vote to choose between two potential board members, Diane Masson and Noel Franklin, who have very different constituencies.

Franklin, who represents United Indians of All Tribes, said she has been caught off guard by inferences that she is pro-tall buildings, since she has taken no position on zoning issues. The Tribes hope to create a Northwest Native American Canoe Center at Lake Union Park, which Franklin called a cultural amenity for all.

"This (board) vote is not about heights, it's about me accurately representing the First Peoples and trying to do what's right for the neighborhood," Franklin said. "I don't have a position yet. The proposals aren't final, and there's not enough information."

The outcome could significantly affect the composition of the board and the zoning proposals ultimately forwarded to the mayor.

"Any way you look at this, 400-foot height limits is very scary," said Masson, regional marketing director for Mirabella, a continuing retirement community run by Pacific Retirement Services.

Masson, a SLUFAN board member said she speaks for many concerned about the impact of 40-story-high structures that could block views, including those of Mirabella, and undermine a goal in South Lake Union's recently approved neighborhood plan -- livability.

By comparison, the Westin Hotel's north tower on Fifth Avenue is 448 feet high. The Space Needle is 605 feet high.

"It would be a major change," Douglas said. "It would be like bringing downtown here -- and who wants that? That's not going to make this area livable."

Steven Paget, SLUFAN board chairman, was out of town and did not return cell-phone calls. Steve Crosby, spokesman for one of the area's largest property owners, Vulcan, deferred comment to longtime Queen Anne Community Council member John Coney.

Coney is aware of the upzone plans, and supports them, he said. The 400-foot-tall buildings, such as the pedestal buildings in Vancouver, B.C., that are broad at the base but slim on upper stories, do not block views, he said.

"I favor a few, tall narrow towers. ... It's not true that 400-tall buildings will block views," said Coney, who favors concentrating jobs, buildings and residential density in South Lake Union.

"The principle behind urban centers is ... that you provide people the opportunity to live near where they work."

But Masson says nothing in the proposals would preclude building 400-foot-high structures out to the lot line.

"Building 400 feet and out to the lot line could create a concrete jungle and blot out the sun," she said.

Zoning in South Lake Union is a "moving target," acknowledged city planner Jim Holmes, as the area grapples with addressing city, county and state requirements to prevent sprawl, decrease auto transportation demands and provide housing.

Most buildings in South Lake Union are zoned for 65 feet, but Amazon, the area's newcomer, is expected to reside in a new office 160-feet high. Mirabella, which will have 500 residents when it opens early next year, is the next highest at 125 feet. Mirabella is run by Pacific Retirement Services.

City Councilwoman Sally Clark, who chairs the Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee, said she is aware of the 400-foot-high zoning proposals -- and concerned.

"I was pretty surprised when they (SLUFAN) came up with that height, but provoking conversation ... is not necessarily a bad thing," Clark said. "We have 300- and 400-foot-tall buildings in downtown; is that what people want all the way down to the lake? I would say not say that's my picture of what's appropriate."

Added Clark: "I wouldn't say that my concerns are that SLUFAN is pro-development, but that everybody be at the table and have a voice. If they are voting people in or off the board based on whether they are pro- or con-development, that would be a big concern."

LEARN MORE

SLUFAN will meet Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Armory Building, Room 127, at Lake Union Park.