Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 6, June 2003
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Hearing on Northgate, June 10
By JAMES BUSH and CLAYTON PARK
Citizens will get another chance to comment on Mayor Greg Nickels' proposal to encourage redevelopment of the Northgate Shopping Center and the mall's south parking lot.
A public hearing will be held Tuesday, June 10, 6 p.m. at Nathan Hale High School, 10750 30th Ave. NE.
The Seattle Planning Commission issued its review of Nickels' plan on May 19, making positive comments about the effect of regulatory changes meant to encourage development.
Nickels has called for eliminatiing a requirement that Northgate Mall's owners, who are seeking approval from the City to expand the shopping center, compile a General Development Plan an extra review of the long-term traffic, parking, and other environmental effects related to the proposed development.
The director of the City's Department of Design, Construction and Land Use recently issued a decision determining that Nickels' proposal to lift the Northgate GDP would pose no significant environmental impacts.
The public has until 5 p.m., Thursday, June 5 to file an appeal with the Hearing Examiner's Office in the Alaska Building (618 Second Ave., Room 1320) to overturn the DCLU director's State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) decision.
The proposal to repeal the GDP was made by the City's Office of Policy and Management at the behest of Nickels to encourage development in the Northgate area. The mall's owners, Simon Property Group, have complained that the GDP guidelines are too restrictive and have prevented them from expanding the 53-year-old shopping center.
Several citizen groups are opposing Nickels' proposal. The GDP requirements, which only apply to large projects, are part of the Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan, a document signed into law by the City in 1993. Local residents and business owners spent years crafting the Comp Plan, intended as a blueprint for transforming the sprawling, auto-oriented Northgate area into a pedestrian-friendly urban village.
Nickels' proposal to repeal the GDP requirements also calls for eliminating a current rule "that requires any deficit in open space to be eliminated when a proposal for substantial development is made," and to add a rule requiring developers to provide open space equal to 15 percent of the proposed gross floor area in addition to open space equal to 15 percent of the development site.
County officials have also released preliminary plans for transit-oriented development adjoining the Northgate South Lot, on the current site of the Northgate Transit Center. Two alternate plans, featuring retail and housing, were presented to the City Council on May 19 and the Northgate Chamber of Commerce on May 21.