Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 5, May 2004

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Wallingford facility could be sold or saved

By JAMES BUSH

Will a King County-owned industrial building near Gas Works Park be reserved for community use or sold for development?

That's one of the issues that a group of Wallingford residential and business representatives will address during a two-month review.

But the county's Department of Transportation (KCDOT), which now uses the former Chevron Oil tank facility at 1600 N. 34th St. as the headquarters for its bus shelter cleaning crews, has a clear favorite among the possibilities. Last year, KCDOT held discussions with the Touchstone Corp, a real estate development firm which proposes to purchase the tank property for $5 million, to build a new facility for the bus shelter cleaning operation, and to build a biotechnology building on the 1.7-acre site. In a letter to County Council member Larry Phillips, County Executive Ron Sims said the $5 million from the potential sale has already been programmed into the Metro Transit budget; meaning that legislators will have to make cuts or find other revenues to fill the gap if the sale doesn't go through.

Residents of the South Wallingford neighborhood overwhelmingly supported recommendations calling for public use of the building in their amendment to the Wallingford neighborhood plan. "The main thing is to not turn it to commercial use, but use if for some special, open space public usage," says Karen Buschow, one of two Wallingford Community Council representatives on the review group.

The group also includes four representatives of the South Wallingford planning effort and four representatives from area businesses. It will also discuss the long-term future of two other King County properties: a shoreline parcel west of the Seattle Harbor Patrol facility, and another shoreline parcel near the intersection of North Northlake Way and Stone Way North. The final member of the group is Bruce Agnew of the Discovery Institute, which recently studied the concept of in-city passenger-only ferries.

Omitted from the review group was South Wallingford activist and architectural designer Genevieve Vayda, who developed a proposal for a "non-traditional aquatic facility" on the site which was specifically endorsed in the South Wallingford amendment. Vayda says she asked County Council member Bob Ferguson to appoint her to the group, and she's displeased with the slight. "They won't let me sit on it because they know that I care and that I make sure what I want is at least heard," she says.

A Ferguson aide said that Vayda wasn't included on the review group because her aquatic center proposal is one of three specific alternatives being studied by the group (the other two being the Touchstone sale and keeping the maintenance facility in place). She will be invited to make a presentation on her concept.

Vayda says that possible elements of the Aquatic Center could include transparent garage doors on the North 34th Street facade to open up public views through the building, swimming pools below, an environmental learning center, and retail space, is a community proposal. It was envisioned in the South Wallingford amendment that a non-profit organization could be formed to run the facility and pursue grant funding, but the county's fast-track process gives the neighborhood little time to proceed in that direction, she adds.

One tactic which could hold up the county's quick sale of the building would be to seek landmark protection for the structure. Neighborhood historian Tom Veith, who is currently compiling an inventory of historic buildings in Wallingford, says a strong argument could be made for landmark designation of the tank facility. "I think that building is a reminder of our industrial past," he says. "Although it's not an outstanding example of architecture, it is an example of a kind of approach to industrial architecture that was used in those years."

Most of the industrial buildings along the North 34th Street corridor have been displaced for new office buildings and condominiums, a phenomenon some residents derisively call "The Wallingford Wall." Betty Richardson, chair of the South Wallingford Amendment steering committee and a review group member, says the incremental loss of public views hurts the neighborhood. "Most of the homeowners don't have private views," she says. "We have to stand in the middle of the street to have a view."

Patrick Duhon, the KCDOT facilitator for the review group, says it will hold four Wednesday meetings (April 28, May 12, May 26, and June 9, all at 5:30 p.m. at the Wallingford Bible Fellowship, 3701 Burke Ave. N.). A brief public comment period will be held at the end of each meeting. The review group will prepare a set of recommendations on the property which will be submitted to the County Council.

Ferguson, who took office in January, says he was surprised to discover how far Metro had already gone in seeking to dispose of the tank property. "It seems like Metro had lined up a buyer, put that $5 million in their budget," he says. "I'm not tied to a certain outcome at this point, so I'm very interested in seeing alternatives beyond a sale to Touchstone."

County Council approval is required for any property sale.

Although the disposition of the two shoreline parcels has been overshadowed by the flap over a potential tank facility sale, review group member Suzie Burke of the Fremont Dock Co. says the possibilities of water taxis on Lake Union and Lake Washington is a fascinating issue that she's eager to examine. She notes that the county parcel adjacent to Gas Works Park is equidistant from Fremont and the University of Washington and that South Lake Union or Kirkland could be popular enough destinations to warrant water taxi service.

Ironically, despite its central role in this debate, the South Wallingford amendment has still not yet been forwarded to the Seattle City Council for final approval. Dave Boyd of the Department of Neighborhoods says that city land use planners haven't yet prepared the necessary analysis of zoning changes proposed in the amendment, although the plan goals and policies may be submitted to the Council as part of this year's comprehensive plan amendment process.