City Hall
Seattle Transit Blog: 85 Feet is Enough for Roosevelt
Over at Seattle Transit Blog, Andrew Smith argues that the city should consider increasing density around the Roosevelt light rail station to between 65 and 85 feet, higher than the 40 to 65 feet upzone that the city and neighborhood originally agreed to. That would mean buildings as tall as 12 stories around the station itself, scaling down to eight stories within a quarter-mile.
However, Smith adds that towers taller than 85 feet are unnecessary, and that "it is possible to get a serious amount of density with fairly modest heights."
Citing the Thornton Creek development in Northgate, which has 530 housing units, Smith writes that that level of density is comparable to "Russian, Nob and Telegraph Hills, and North Beach in San Francisco, River North in Chicago, Beacon Hill in Boston, or along Connecticut Ave. in DC"---about 100 units per acre.
"Dense development is obviously hugely important to making transit successful. My only point here is that we do not need to build high-rises everywhere to achieve that density. Let’s continue to push the City Council and the Mayor to increase the amount of development allowed near all current and future light rail stations in the City. But let’s not get hung up on how tall the developments are allowed to be; let’s focus instead on how intense they can be."
A group of Roosevelt residents, transit advocates (including several Seattle Transit Blog writers), and business folks wrote a letter to Mayor Mike McGinn last week urging him to revisit zoning around the station, and McGinn and city council member Tim Burgess both agreed that denser development might make sense around the station. In response, the head of the neighborhood group that negotiated the original density increase urged the city not to revisit the zoning, saying it would be a "grave insult" to allow towers in the neighborhood after the city and neighborhood had spent years negotiating new height limits.
The Haller Lake Community Club will be hosting a town hall with McGinn at 6:30 tonight at the Bitter Lake Community Center (13035 Linden Ave. N), where angry residents are expected to turn out with signs supporting lower density around the Roosevelt station.
However, Smith adds that towers taller than 85 feet are unnecessary, and that "it is possible to get a serious amount of density with fairly modest heights."
Citing the Thornton Creek development in Northgate, which has 530 housing units, Smith writes that that level of density is comparable to "Russian, Nob and Telegraph Hills, and North Beach in San Francisco, River North in Chicago, Beacon Hill in Boston, or along Connecticut Ave. in DC"---about 100 units per acre.
"Dense development is obviously hugely important to making transit successful. My only point here is that we do not need to build high-rises everywhere to achieve that density. Let’s continue to push the City Council and the Mayor to increase the amount of development allowed near all current and future light rail stations in the City. But let’s not get hung up on how tall the developments are allowed to be; let’s focus instead on how intense they can be."
A group of Roosevelt residents, transit advocates (including several Seattle Transit Blog writers), and business folks wrote a letter to Mayor Mike McGinn last week urging him to revisit zoning around the station, and McGinn and city council member Tim Burgess both agreed that denser development might make sense around the station. In response, the head of the neighborhood group that negotiated the original density increase urged the city not to revisit the zoning, saying it would be a "grave insult" to allow towers in the neighborhood after the city and neighborhood had spent years negotiating new height limits.
The Haller Lake Community Club will be hosting a town hall with McGinn at 6:30 tonight at the Bitter Lake Community Center (13035 Linden Ave. N), where angry residents are expected to turn out with signs supporting lower density around the Roosevelt station.
