Roosevelt Development Group, aka RDG or HB Management, brought the Great City Organization to the Roosevelt neighborhood April 14, 2010, seemingly to enlist their help in convincing the populace of Roosevelt, the Seattle City Council and Mayor, and anyone else interested that the development wishes of one property owner should be more highly considered than the decade long work of the community as to how the urban village of Roosevelt will grow over the next 25 to 50 years.
Great City is "a strategic urban advocacy group that believes smart and responsible urbanism is the solution to many of our social, economic, and environmental challenges" according to their website. Five or six members of that group along with about 15 residents of the Roosevelt neighborhood were in attendance. RDG presided with their architect, attorney and possibly their public relations firm on hand to answer questions. Ed Hewson and John Breiner opened the conversation showing some charts and graphs that conceivably demonstrated that if the area in question (the approximately 45 properties owned by Hugh Sisley, as well as several that RDG has purchased over the past two or three years) were to be developed with taller buildings, there would be more "public space" at ground level, more green space, more walk friendly areas. Along with the charts and graphs were some "foot prints" of tall buildings and of short building. The neighborhood has been asking for almost two years to be shown what the buildings would look like but so far, there have been no profiles of the proposed skyline in the urban village.
A concern was raised about the number of units, and therefore the number of people, that would be added to a relatively small area of the village, and how that number compared to how the population would be affected by development to zoning changes as recommended by the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association. The architect gave a surprising answer. He seemed to say that the number of units in a 16 story building would be the same as the number of units in a 4 story building, because a taller building would be more slender and then talked about something in the Seattle Building Code called "floor area ratio." I would guess that his answer would be true if sixteen story zoning were granted to the site, but the builder chose to build only four levels. But given what he said, the question was raised, "Why then would a builder build a more expensive taller building, when the same density and number of units could be achieved with a cheaper design?" The answer was as vague and unsatisfactory as the answer to the first question.
Another big concern is that the RNA is considering disciplined growth in the entire area from 75th St down to Ravenna Blvd., from the I-5 Freeway to 15th Ave NE, and area of about 200 square blocks. The big push by RDG is to maximize expansion on approximately 5 blocks.
There are many residents of the area that a)Would like to see the derelict properties of the landowner torn down, and b)The property developed in a manner consistent with the carefully thought out Roosevelt Neighborhood Plan. RDG might be the best group to work with or there may be someone else. One thing the neighborhood is sure of, having experienced over 30 years of property abuse by the current landowner, there is no hope of working in a constructive manner with him. There is also no desire to see his interests sustained. He has resisted city and neighborhood efforts to clean up his holdings. There is no reason to believe that once developed there would be a more harmonious bond between this person and those of us who reside in the area.
For example, the homes in the pictures have been neglected for years. The entire block with the exception of a fruit stand on the corner has been vacated and fenced for almost two years now. The sight is an eyesore. It has been requested that all of these buildings be razed, but those requests have fallen on deaf ears. Our beautiful part of the city has to endure this landowner's stubbornness and vindictiveness.
Someday these properties will be developed, but in the interim, there is opportunity for community gardens, neighborhood events like block parties, and educational opportunities. Should the landowner to participate in something like that, it would be one small step in the right direction. No one expects it to happen.
Fortunately, there are enough concerned residents of the Roosevelt urban village, that our grassroots effort to achieve growth in the area with the right buildings in the right places will prevail.
-thumb-autox70-214.jpg)
-thumb-autox70-197.jpg)
Interesting that they brought in Great City, which you probably know was founded by now-mayor McGinn and deputy mayor Dively. The taller building thing makes some sense to me because of the views and quality of construction. If you've ever been on the 4th floor of a wood frame vs poured concrete building there is a very different feel. My wild guess is that the taller building would be aimed at the "class A" market and have much higher rents (maybe something like the Metropolitan Tower apts) than the shorter buildings you see in the U-District. That's not in the RNA plan which is very frustrating but I can see the advantages of attracting people to Roosevelt who want an urban lifestyle near a light rail station but also a quieter area than downtown or Belltown. Taller buildings would also give Roosevelt a distinct skyline for what that's worth.
One thing I wonder about is whether Sisley can veto an RDG proposal if he doesn't like it.
Thank you, Joshua. I know you have given urban development plenty of thought. In answer to your last question, yes, the developer does say that Sisley has veto power on any project on the land.
There are two points that many people who don't live and own property in the area that will be severely affected by this development don't seem to pay much attention to.
1. For about 10 years the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association has been working on and revising a plan to increase density in the urban village. The plan is to increase the density (call it height) along Roosevelt Way NE and along 12th Ave NE. The purpose is to provide the density necessary around the light rail station that the RNA asked for and worked hard to get. That plan has just been sanctioned by the city but in order for zoning changes to take effect, a developer will have to ask for the changes on a particular property. All that is well and good. Out there in the city at large there are many people who comment with aliases and accuse those opposed to high rises on Sisley's lots as nimbys. Since they have no investment in land of their own, building 1000's of cheap apartments is right up their alley. Someday they might even be able to live free. In this case the people of Roosevelt and Ravenna would welcome reasonable growth of the right kind in the right place, and it is the people of the area that are the best judges of that. Overbuilding these urban villages will only lead to more blight.
2. At earlier meetings with this group, when asked about the material to be used in the construction of the proposed buildings we were told that the buildings would be large, units would be small and the materials of lesser quality because the rents were to be low. Regardless of what the architect (same architect involved with the soon to be torn down McGuire build in Belltown)said about taller buildings having better quality materials, there is still a cheap way to build taller buildings and RDG has indicated that that is their preference.
City Space was called in as a ploy seen from here as sucking up to the Mayor so that he will broadcast to the city that this is a trashy area and anything now is better than what is there. When questioned the people at the meeting didn't seem to know anything about the RNA work on developing a cohesive and comprehensive plan. One of them even said, "Most of these urban village plans are so old..." He was cut off by several of those present and corrected.
The neighborhood is not about to allow this landowner from benefiting with this preposterous plan. He has blighted the neighborhood for about 30 years with his tar paper and blue plastic tarp fixes. No one believes he has any thought of what is good for the community at heart. Community is the key word here. A community is a place where people live together in harmony and if one party just wants to stick his ego in everyone else's face, that's not part of the plan.
RDG might be a reasonable developer and they might have solutions that would be good for Roosevelt. By being in contract with Sisley that have blocked any hope that they will get neighborhood support, so now they have gone to the city at large. Many in the city will say, "Better there than here."
We in the area will continue to say “No” until the proposals come within the scope of reasonable development.