Phinney Flats land use appeal:
We're making progress but need Big Final $$ Push to the Finish Line
Dear Neighbors,
Since our last letter in late February, a lot has happened.
- There has been considerable support for this appeal, but we need everyone to help fund the total expenses of this legal process. The only way to resolve the problems with Phinney Flats is through this
appeal!
- Several people
outside the neighborhood have donated because they see the value and
applicability of our appeal to other urban villages.
- We have engaged several expert witnesses and developed strong evidence for our case.
- We
have submitted our initial arguments challenging the city’s code
interpretations concerning the lack of setbacks and other issues.
- We are preparing for the hearing on May
2nd and 3rd.
All this is very costly and has involved many, many hours of volunteer time as well to keep legal costs down as much possible. Going forward we need to raise another $10-$15 thousand in
the next few weeks to cover the cost for preparing our
witnesses, exhibits, and the time our attorney spends presenting our
case before the Hearing Examiner and preparing the post-hearing briefs.
This appeal is our opportunity to:
- Rebalance the scales between Phinney’s
livability standards and developer maximum financial gain for this and
other new developments over the next few years.
- Secure reasonable changes to this project that will mitigate its parking impacts and other deficiencies.
- Keep commercial parking along Greenwood/Phinney Ave from being lost to new residential uses.
- Influence
upcoming land use code changes regarding parking and the City’s
misguided belief that a nearby bus eliminates car ownership and parking
demand by micro-unit residents.
More development coming to Phinney Ridge
The city’s
planning department has studied the zoned development capacity of the
city including the Phinney-Greenwood Urban Village. Data from that
model shows the potential for up to 674
new residential units just between 65th St. and 75th St. along
Phinney/Greenwood Avenue. This does not include the potential for
additional units under the increased building heights (upzones) the
Mayor has proposed. Our review of development trends
in the past few years shows the ratio of onsite parking to residential
units is under 50%. The three Johnson & Carr microhousing
developments (2 in Greenwood and the proposed Phinney Flats) are
providing ZERO parking for a total of 136 apartments. Phinney
Flats is 57 units.
Parking is a public resource that
should be shared equitably. Developers should provide onsite parking to
meet the new demand they generate when there is no public parking
capacity
left to “share.”
Help preserve the livability of your neighborhood. Please, go on line to livablephinney.org and
use PayPal or a credit card or send a check to Livable Phinney at the
address above or drop into the HomeStreet Bank at 73rd St. and make a
donation. All donations are for legal expenses only and donor
information is entirely confidential. All amounts are
welcome but consider $100, $200, $500, $1,000. Yes, we‘ve had a few $1K donations – thanks very much!
Sincerely,
For Livable Phinney:
Jan Weldin, Michael Richards, Irene Wall
LivablePhinney.org
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