by Kirby Lindsay, posted 15 January 2014
The Lake Union District Council (LUDC) gathers on the first Monday of the month. Its membership consists of representatives sent from community groups that represent, and advocate, on behalf of those who live and work around the lake. At the January 6th meeting, the LUDC voted unanimously to accept a new organization for membership – the Lake Union Liveaboard Association – to give people that live ON the lake more access and a louder voice about opportunities and obstacles that could affect them.
For at its January meeting, the LUDC heard reports on three different projects/proposals being put forward by City government. The LUDC often acts as a clearinghouse by dispensing information presented to its community representatives, who can carry this information back to their home organizations.
The first presentation came from the City of Seattle Department of Planning & Development (DPD) – Seattle’s building department – about a project that, at first glance, appears to only affect a small, specific number of property owners. DPD representatives Sandy Howard and Steve Pfeiffer explained that the policy being drafted will apply to brick buildings with unreinforced masonry bearing walls, except single and duplex family residences. A windshield survey (done without entering or closely examining the structures) yielded 1,000 potential buildings, with 60+/- in the Lake Union District, and some with historic designations. The owners of these identified buildings were sent a notice in 2013.
The DPD is drafting new retrofitting requirements to make them safer in the event of ‘seismic activity.’ Pfeiffer and Howard acknowledged that retrofitting could cost the building owners anywhere from $5 – $60 per square foot, the work would usually require all tenants vacate the building, and that some owners may decide to demolish the buildings as a way to cut their losses.
LUDC members pointed out that such a policy – and financial burden – could cause neighborhoods to lose some of their most charming buildings. When asked, the City representatives said that buildings with historic designations would also be required to retrofit, but those owners would be given a different, longer timeline in which to have work done. The City has compiled a .pdf document that lists addresses of buildings that may fall in this category.
Pedestrian Zone Mapping Project
Aly Pennucci, also from DPD, presented materials on Pedestrian Zones, including information on extending existing zones and expanding the standards in the zones. However, Pennucci met with more concern, and resistance, on the question of whether pedestrian zones would work at all. Pennucci described the zones as a way to promote thriving business districts, but some LUDC members expressed their concern that the zone standards could undermine a neighborhood business districts’ ability to flourish.
Pedestrian zones place standards on development – to make new developments more accessible to people, and less vehicle friendly. Downtown Fremont is considered an ‘Urban Village,’ and is subject to standards that override pedestrian zones. According to the materials distributed by Pennucci, the Top Of the Universe (Upper Fremont,) areas of Stone Way, and areas just outside the Fremont Urban Village are all slated for pedestrian zone designations.
A few of the pedestrian zone standards questioned at the LUDC meeting including the prohibition on surface parking lots. In Downtown Fremont, shared, pay lots – like those maintained by U-Park System – have been credited with some of the success in drawing customers, and events, to this business district. In pedestrian zones administrative/professional service offices are prohibited from locating in street level and/or storefront office spaces. Again, Fremont has had businesses lease spaces that might have otherwise sat empty, and continued to discourage shoppers from circulating through the business district.
The Pedestrian Zone Mapping Project actually proposes wider sidewalk regulations and more awnings or coverings over sidewalks. Consideration of these amenities led to a tangential discussion on the use of sidewalks by cyclists, and the need for more infrastructure around the City to allow safe access by both pedestrians and cyclists.
Neighborhood Boundries
Hot off the presses, the LUDC also heard dependable rumors that the Seattle City Council will consider redrawing the boundaries of the City of Seattle neighborhood districts to match those coming to the Council under Charter Amendment 19, as passed by voters last November.
Under Charter Amendment 19, seven council seats will be elected from seven specific districts, with boundaries drawn based on voter counts. The City Neighborhood Council (CNC,) which represents the 13 neighborhood districts – of which the LUDC is one – reported on this effort to potentially streamline the districts down to seven.
This would lower resources required by the City to administer to and respond to the district councils, although those resources have been lowering significantly over the last four years. Currently the City employs nine District Coordinators to administer to the 13 councils.
However, the majority of LUDC members resented drawing district council boundaries along political lines. The boundaries of the existing 13 district councils were drawn, originally, with careful consideration of natural boundaries and shared interests. LUDC member organizations share shoreline and waterway concerns, and Lake Union which is the largest employment area in Seattle after Downtown.
While the LUDC agreed to draft a letter of opposition for the CNC, the organization, as usual, pushed that its members take this issue back to their community organizations for consideration, and action.
The LUDC, and the District Coordinators, provides access to City government, and its inner workings, to ordinary citizens. Projects like the Pedestrian Zone and an Unreinforced Masonry Policy could go largely unknown by citizens without the LUDC.
With its next meeting scheduled for February 3rd, at 5p in History House, LUDC meetings are open-to-the-public and everyone is welcome to come listen. Those who wish to learn more about this organization, and how it operates in Fremont, can attend the upcoming meeting – or ask their representatives to the LUDC, from the Fremont Neighborhood Council and the Fremont Chamber of Commerce for details.
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©2014 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.