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