Back in February we mentioned that there was a land use proposal to rezone a row of houses in the 1100 block of 33rd in Madrona, right across the street from Madrona Elementary. As mentioned in the comments of that original story, the owners of those properties have banded together to sync up their own zoning with that of everything else around them, which is “neighborhood commercial” (NC1-30) instead of their current lowrise multifamily (L2). The change would allow future development to have about 66% more space in the buildings and allow commercial establishments on the first floor.
Now we’ve gotten word that the rezone has been recommended by the Director of Planning & Development. The approval did come with some conditions:
- Existing street trees must remain
- No additional curb cuts (driveways) can be added
- New development will need to study parking utilization and access
The next step is a public hearing in front of the Hearing Examiner. If approved at that level, it will require final approval from the City Council.
More details at  http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=8416
why are these older homes that have been in our neighborhood being torn down and used for businesses that mostly promote money, alot of these people have been in this neighborhood for years I was one of them, we sold our family home and let me tell you the vultures who got it did nothing but renovate it and resold it and it’s not beautiful anymore, this is what’s happening in this neighborhood, I no longer even drive thru there cause it looks just shabby, businesses on the bottom and condo’s on top with no yard and people aren’t friendly anymore. I wish these people would fight for their homes and property quit selling so cheap. be proud of our hood.
If you know the code at all, and the person at the helm of this change you can see what is going to happen. Mr. Tom Flood, who is developing 5 town houses without parking on the north end of Madrona at the corner of Pike and 34th, owns two of the houses in this proposed change. In the NC-30 code you can build live work units, which look exactly like the cookie cutter town houses you see all over the city, but in NC-30 you don’t have to give them parking. If he wanted he could build a 3 story office building there, and get this, without a single parking space, and it would be legal. Just imagine that, down that tiny one way street with school buses and parents picking up their kids from school. What Mr. Flood wants is money to build cheap projects that hurt Madrona, he does not care about the community, he cares about himself. If he cared about the community he would develop the existing land with L-3 zoning into affordable rentals, or nice town house, each of which he would have to provide parking for. I just want the community to know that under NC-30 no parking is required.
The project at 34th & Pine does have parking – 5 spaces in a rear courtyard:
http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2008/05/21/cool-building-
And don’t you think that parking requirements go directly against any goals for “affordable rentals” and “nice town houses”? They’re a major expense that has to be reflected in the final sales price, and they tend to make town homes uglier than they could be otherwise.