NORTHGATE COMPROMISE PROPOSAL APPROVED

On Monday, December 8, the City Council unanimously approved four pieces of legislation to implement the Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan (NACP). The legislation creates a clear regulatory structure, agrees to development plans for the Northgate Mall sites, commits the City to investments, offers ways to manage transportation issues and increase housing, and provides the opportunity to daylight Thornton Creek. The package of legislation was a compromise that Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck and I, representing a majority of the Council, worked out with the Mayor's Office.

Approval of the compromise followed several weeks of intense negotiation. Mayor Nickels had proposed a package of legislation that raised many concerns. It included a Development Agreement with Simon Properties, owner of the Northgate Mall, emphasizing development along the freeway side of the Mall. It also included repeal of the General Development Plan GDP), a Northgate-specific regulation requiring coordinated planning for properties of 6 acres or more. The GDP was an attempt to move Northgate towards becoming a pedestrian-friendly Urban Center. And the Mayor proposed a stormwater detention pond on the South Parking Lot, which would have precluded the possibility of daylighting Thornton Creek.

The Council's counterproposal was presented at a news conference at Northgate on November 12, with the support of five Councilmembers (Conlin, Steinbrueck, Licata, Wills, Nicastro). The Council package was designed to foster the Northgate Urban Center - a place where good jobs, a diverse mix of housing, and excellent transit connections can come together, and to move beyond the classic developer versus neighborhood conflict by meeting the needs of many different stakeholders through finding common ground. Our proposal was developed in consultation with Northgate area community organizations, business interests, housing developers, and environmental groups.

Specific elements of the proposal included:

• Moving forward with a parking garage and with development on the west side of Northgate Mall as proposed by Simon Properties, but including development along 5th Avenue NE and pedestrian circulation improvements.
• Incentives for building multi-family housing, including considering additional height for mixed-use projects, reducing parking requirements and provisions for shared parking in certain locations.
• Economic development strategies emphasizing small business.
• A Northgate public art initiative.
• A coordinated surface water plan based on natural drainage strategies and allowing the opportunity to daylight Thornton Creek in conjunction with a mixed use development.
• Adding open space.
• Promoting open discussion with the community.
• Reworking the current development regulations to provide more options for developers.
• Setting forth parameters to be included in a new Development Agreement to be renegotiated with the owners of the mall, within 60 days of approving the resolution.

The council initiative was endorsed by seven Northgate area neighborhood groups and by many members of the Northgate Chamber of Commerce, which publicly opposed the Mayor's plan.

In the light of a Council majority endorsing an alternative, the Mayor's staff recognized that their proposal had bleak prospects, and were willing to come to the table to discuss alternatives. With some hard bargaining, we were able to forge a compromise agreement, which includes:

1. A framework resolution, incorporating a set of proposals to stimulate housing production (including extending the Multi-Family Affordable Housing Tax Exemption to Northgate), an economic development strategy emphasizing small business, implementing the natural drainage strategies called for in the Thornton Creek Action Plan, and fostering a public art initiative. As part of a continued commitment to public involvement, a Northgate Urban Center stakeholders group is to be organized, with an independent facilitator and a list of key stakeholders to be included. And the City will integrate the Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan into the Seattle Comprehensive Plan.

   The framework resolution also contemplates a Development Agreement with Lorig Associates, who are planning to purchase part of the South Lot of Northgate Mall. Under the revised Development Agreement with Simon, the City will get control of 2.7 acres of the South Lot for $375,000, without creating a detention pond. The City is committed to using the 2.7 acres for open space and natural drainage, and to preserving the option for Thornton Creek daylighting. Lorig will come up with 3 alternative coordinated strategies for South Lot development, including at least one that provides full creek daylighting, and the City will work with Lorig and the community to select a strategy for implementation. Lorig has agreed to restrictions that prevent auto-oriented development, to building at least 300 units of housing (including a range of affordability), and to work with the City on green building, natural drainage, open space, and pedestrian access.

2. The revised Development Agreement with Simon allows the Mall to proceed with their 167,000 square feet of planned development, but adds 63,000 square feet of development on the NE side of the Mall, built to the street, a major step towards the NACP goal of a pedestrian friendly 5th Avenue NE Main Street. Simon will also create an entrance on 5th Avenue NE opposite the library that complements the City development. Simon is allowed to construct a parking garage on the Mall site, but the garage cannot have any frontage on 5th Avenue NE or Northgate Way. Simon agrees that the 63,000 square feet of development in the NE cannot be transferred to any other portion of the Mall, and that they will work with the City to consider natural drainage strategies and green building techniques. Simon will coordinate development with the City's pedestrian circulation plan and will participate in the community stakeholder group to be organized.
   
   
3. The Land Use Code ordinance repeals the GDP requirement as proposed by the Mayor and restructures open space regulations in response to recent court decisions. It also adopts a set of criteria for any future Development Agreements, clarifies requirements for windows facing streets to be transparent, and adds new provisions for better pedestrian environments streetscapes on 5th Avenue NE, NE 100th, and NE 103rd.
   
   
4. Under the compromise plan, the Development Agreements on the North and South Lots will replace the GDP to control development on those areas. Other large property owners will be able to develop under existing citywide regulations. To coordinate future development, the Council also adopted a resolution moving forward with a Coordinated Transportation Investment Plan. And the Council adopted a proposal to create a future SEPA Planned Action or other mechanism to coordinate all aspects of future development. The goal of this proposal is to benefit both the community and development interests by providing a coordinated way to determine the impacts of development and the responsibility for mitigation for the entire Northgate Urban Center. This extends the ability to manage impacts beyond the 6-acre ownership criteria in the GDP, but does so in a way that dovetails with existing regulation and can accelerate, rather than slow down, appropriate development.
   
   

The outcome of this process is a win-win-win - for the Northgate neighborhoods, for the business community, and for all of Seattle. Above all, it is a win for problem-solving through substantive and thoughtful citizen engagement and mutually respectful negotiation.

In his keynote speech to the Downtown Seattle Association annual lunch, Mayor Norm Rice asked us to remember Seattle's past successes and renew our commitment to negotiation and compromise. Democracy works best when we find a way that everyone can win. The Northgate compromise is an outstanding example of putting this principle into practice. There is still a journey ahead, but this is a major step towards sustainable development for Northgate.

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CAB ELVIS LEGALIZED

On Monday, December 8, the Council voted to allow cab drivers to wear costumes - a small victory for individual creativity and promoting tourism. 'Cab Elvis' ran afoul of the City's dress code for cab drivers, and received a ticket from the City for wearing an Elvis costume. While the larger question of whether the City should require a standard dress for cab drivers will await a more comprehensive review of the City's taxicab code, I believed that ticketing Cab Elvis was an example of regulation taken to an irrational extreme. Cab Elvis has been referenced in tourist guidebooks, meets the standard of 'neat and clean' appearance, and brings a little lightness to the City's environment. I was pleased that the Council agreed with me and approved this minor legislative initiative.

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QUOTE:
"The road to freedom lies through democracy, and democracy means above all the capacity for common speech… To strong democrats, the right of every individual to speak to others, to assert the right of being through the act of communication, is identified with the precious wellspring of human autonomy and dignity.

Thus it was in ancient Greece, isogoria - the universal right to speak in the assembly - came to be a synonym not merely for democratic participation but for democracy itself. Thus it is that democracy, as it struggles to flourish in a shrinking world of ever greater complexity and interdependence, has to nourish the power of the people to speak, to decide, and to act.

For in the end human freedom will be found not in caverns of private solitude but in the noisy assemblies where women and men meet daily as citizens and discover in each other's talk the consolation and strength of their common humanity."

-- Benjamin Barber, Strong Democracy

DEEP THOUGHT:
“I will care not to go towards the dark. I will go towards the sky."

-- Igulik Eskimo words spoken before a long journey

Citizen participation and engagement are critical for maintaining democracy -- fostering it is a key task of elected officials. It's my hope that this newsletter will inform you about issues, inspire you to get involved, and that together we can make things work better in this great city. Please send me your feedback, so we can keep things lively, interesting, and useful. And please forward it along to friends who might be interested.

Richard Conlin
Your Seattle City Councilmember

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