Downtown: The Vision Thing

03/16/2007

Do you ever look at all the construction cranes in downtown Seattle and wonder what the heck the city will look like in ten years? Downtown is changing, and if you talk to Seattle's city planners, you'll find out there's method to what might seem like construction madness. It's called the Livable Downtown plan. The goal: to build thousands of new apartments, townhouses and condos in the heart of Seattle. Some critics say the plan is a sop to the whims of developers. Others believe a dense city center is the best path to an environmentally sustainable region. In the last story in a series on the evolution of downtown Seattle, KUOW's Marcie Sillman reports on how the city is pursuing its dream in the reality of our market economy.

THIS IS A STORY ABOUT ZONING REGULATIONS. I KNOW, I KNOW, YOUR EYES PROBABLY JUST GLAZED OVER. BUT HEAR ME OUT. BECAUSE BEHIND EVERY STORY ABOUT ZONING, YOU'LL FIND A TALE OF PASSION AND VISION. FIFTY YEARS AGO IN SEATTLE, THE LATE VICTOR STEINBRUECK EPITOMIZED THAT PASSION.

STEINBRUECK: "My dad was always trying to save some element of the city."

THAT'S SEATTLE CITY COUNCILMEMBER PETER STEINBRUECK. HIS DAD VICTOR WAS AN ARCHITECT, ACTIVIST, AND THE MAN CREDITED WITH SAVING THE PIKE PLACE MARKET.

STEINBRUECK: "In fact, I have a little drawing he did, a watercolor, that says Save Seattle, with a picture of the backside of the Pike Place Market, little shops and everything. I was definitely imbued with that kind of value and commitment for our city, the people of our city, and what makes it special."

PETER STEINBRUECK HAS DEVOTED THE LAST 20 YEARS TO PICKING UP WHERE HIS FATHER LEFT OFF. HE DREAMS OF A CITY THAT BLENDS ITS HISTORIC CHARACTER INTO A DYNAMIC 21st CENTURY METROPOLIS.

STEINBRUECK STARTED HIS QUEST IN 1989, LEADING THE FIGHT TO PASS THE CITIZENS' ALTERNATIVE PLAN. THE SO-CALLED CAP INITIATIVE LIMITED DOWNTOWN GROWTH AND BUILDING HEIGHTS.

STEINBRUECK: "We were fearful of the dramatic change that was taking place, with huge commercial office towers. There was a feeding frenzy if you will of demolitions and new towers going up, and we were losing a lot of the older, finer character of the downtown…And we had no bigger picture, no comprehensive plan, no real vision back then, except to let 'er rip."

NO VISION…THAT'S WHAT REALLY BOTHERED PETER STEINBRUECK. HE'S THE FIRST TO ADMIT THINGS HAVE CHANGED. A YEAR AFTER THE CAP INITIATIVE PASSED, WASHINGTON STATE PASSED THE GROWTH MANAGEMENT ACT. IT REQUIRED MAJOR URBAN AREAS TO DRAFT GROWTH POLICIES. SEATTLE PASSED ITS COMPREHENSIVE PLAN IN 1994. IT MANDATES THAT CERTAIN NEIGHBORHOODS TAKE MOST OF THE CITY'S GROWTH. THAT INCLUDES DOWNTOWN.

IT'S A PLAN MAYOR GREG NICKELS STRONGLY SUPPORTS. HERE HE IS ENDORSING PLANS FOR A MIXED USE PROJECT ON THE SITE OF SEATTLE'S OLD PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING.

NICKELS: "This neighborhood is emerging as a new residential hub in our city. We think that over the years what you're gonna see is a great diversity of people and activities here that will work well together and will attract people who want to live in a vibrant urban center."

MORE HOUSING DOWNTOWN IS AT THE HEART OF MAJOR ZONING CHANGES PETER STEINBRUECK LED SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL TO PASS IN 2006. THE NEW CODE ALLOWS FOR TALLER BUILDINGS AND DENSER DEVELOPMENT. SEATTLE PLANNING DIRECTOR JOHN RAHAIM SAYS MORE DOWNTOWN RESIDENTS ARE KEY TO CONTAINING SUBURBAN SPRAWL.

RAHAIM: "We believe growth downtown, where infrastructure is in place, and a lot of people work, makes a tremendous amount of sense to avoid commutes, walk to work, reduce pressure on rural areas and farmlands."

MOST ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS AND URBAN DESIGNERS SUPPORT THE PUSH FOR A DENSER DOWNTOWN SEATTLE. BUT CITY COUNCILMEMBER PETER STEINBRUECK WANTS MORE THAN BIG BUILDINGS AND MORE PEOPLE. STEINBRUECK WANTS A COMMUNITY.

STEINBRUECK: "It doesn't happen overnight, not from a single planning document. It takes continuous effort, and has to have public resources. It's not going to happen if we only tweak the land use code to encourage height and density."

FOR INSPIRATION, PETER STEINBRUECK SAYS SEATTLE SHOULD LOOK TO VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA.

SILLMAN: "I'm standing in front of what I've just been told is going to be the tallest building in Vancouver. Rising sixty floors."

I'M THINKING THIS COULD BE ANY DOWNTOWN SEATTLE CONSTRUCTION SITE. BUT THEN CONTRACTOR BRUCE DALE WANDERS OVER TO TALK TO ME.

DALE: "That area over there will be a food store. And restaurant with a roof garden. A full grocery store food store? Yeah, they call it Urban Fare."

GROCERY STORES, CHILDCARE CENTERS, SCHOOLS AND FAMILY FRIENDLY HOUSING. THEY'RE ALL STANDARD FEATURES OF RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER.

AFTER EXPO 86, VANCOUVER'S LEADERS DECIDED TO TURN OVER HUGE TRACTS OF PUBLIC LAND TO HOUSING. FORMER VANCOUVER CITY PLANNER LARRY BEASLEY SAYS THE CITY DECIDED TO REQUIRE DEVELOPERS TO PROVIDE A WHOLE LIST OF AMENITIES, TO ENTICE PEOPLE TO MOVE DOWNTOWN.

BEASLEY: "We believed if we asked our citizens to pay for all the amenities at the level we needed, they would have rebelled. They would have said, why am I paying all the taxes for someone else. We believe were creating enough value in zoning change from basically industrial. This was all a rail yard, to high density residential, we could pay for every amenity we could think of."

BEASLEY SAYS THE DEVELOPERS WERE LEERY AT FIRST. BUT THEY'VE MADE MONEY, LOTS OF IT. AND THE PUBLIC HAS EMBRACED THE NEW DOWNTOWN RESIDENTIAL TOWERS. NINETY-THOUSAND VANCOUVERITES, INCLUDING SEVEN-THOUSAND KIDS, NOW LIVE DOWNTOWN. DESPITE THE SUCCESS, LARRY BEASLEY SAYS MANY OF HIS COLLEAGUES REMAIN SKEPTICAL.

BEASLEY: "I remember having a group of people from the Congress of New Urbanism. We took them for a walk, it was rainy and cold. They went, 'well Larry, there's no people, it just doesn't work.' They were wanting to find something wrong. Then the sun came out and everyone was out."

MANY AMERICAN PLANNERS ADMIRE WHAT'S HAPPENED IN VANCOUVER. BUT THEY SAY STANDARD PRACTICE IN CANADA CAN'T FLY ON THIS SIDE OF THE BORDER.

RAHAIM: "Rightly or wrongly, in American society we rely on private developers to build."

SEATTLE CITY PLANNER JOHN RAHAIM SAYS UNLIKE CANADA, WHERE THE GOVERNMENT DETERMINES HOW AND WHAT DEVELOPERS WILL BUILD, IN THIS COUNTRY WE RELY ON INCENTIVES TO ENCOURAGE DEVELOPERS TO CARRY OUT AN OFFICIAL VISION.

RAHAIM: "And it's the only way to achieve some of these goals…We don't nearly influence the market the way other governments do, where development is a privilege, not a right. But nonetheless we do. These programs, subsidies, do influence the market."

YOU ONLY HAVE TO COUNT THE CRANES THAT HOVER OVER DOWNTOWN CONSTRUCTION SITES TO SEE HOW MANY SEATTLE DEVELOPERS ARE BUILDING RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS. DEVELOPER, AND FORMER CITY PLANNING AND LAND USE OFFICIAL, WILLIAM JUSTEN CREDITS SEATTLE'S 2006 ZONING CHANGES.

JUSTEN: "For the first time, we have a code that addresses infill development. So a lot of these parking lots that have been sitting around downtown, the empty teeth I call them, are gonna be filled in with residential towers. Because residential in this market still makes financial sense, more than office. We have a window now where residential towers can afford to pay a little more for the land, so we're gonna see infill and start getting more balance. Because we're way out of balance. We have way too many jobs compared to the small residential population in our core."

TEN JOBS TO EVERY DOWNTOWN RESIDENT, ACCORDING TO RECENT NUMBERS. BY COMPARISON, THE RATIO IS TWO TO ONE IN VANCOUVER.

SEATTLE OFFICIALS ACKNOWLEDGE THAT ACHIEVING THEIR GOAL OF A LIVABLE DOWNTOWN WON'T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT. IT'S AN EVOLUTION. TO SEATTLE CITY COUNCILMEMBER PETER STEINBRUECK, IT'S MORE OF A WORK IN PROGRESS.

STEINBRUECK: "And when I found myself being in the driver's seat, chairing the Land Use Committee, I had to pinch myself and think back to all I'd been through in the past. And here I was again, in a new role. Every day is a full plate on my agenda. It's never dull, I'll just say that."

PETER STEINBRUECK WILL STEP OUT OF THE DRIVER'S SEAT AT THE END OF HIS CITY COUNCIL TERM. HE'LL FOCUS HIS PASSION FOR A VIBRANT DOWNTOWN ON THE FIGHT TO CREATE AN OPEN WATERFRONT, WITHOUT A VIADUCT OR TUNNEL.

LONG BEFORE THAT BATTLE IS RESOLVED, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WILL MOVE INTO THE NEW HIGHRISE CONDOS THAT ARE CLIMBING UP THE DOWNTOWN SKYLINE. BUT SO FAR, THE PARKS, COMMUNITY CENTERS AND SCHOOLS WE NEED TO CREATE A REAL DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY, ARE SIMPLY WORDS ON A PLANNING DOCUMENT.

I'M MARCIE SILLMAN, KUOW NEWS.

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