Latest from land-use land: 2 West Seattle proposals

| Development | West Seattle news

Two notes from the city’s latest Land Use Information Bulletin, starting with 4515 44th SW in The Junction:

Back in October, we brought you first word of a planned mixed-use development on that site; the Design Review Board took a look at it in November. The application notice (which also includes contact info for comments that’ll be taken through 1/30) describes the project as a “4-story, 14-unit apartment building with 1,334 square feet of retail, 3,860 square feet of office space” and parking for 15 vehicles. Next, to Harbor Ave:

The land-use application for 2775 Harbor Ave (map; the Harbor Ave building boom was also discussed at last night’s Alki Community Council meeting). The application notice (also taking comments through 1/30) describes this project as “a 5-story 13,101 sq. ft. office building with an 800 sq. ft. caretakers unit,” parking for 15 vehicles. No rendering publicly visible on the architects’ site at this point.

RobertSeattle January 18, 2008 (10:58 am)

Bummer – I thought the land at 2775 Harbor was open space.

Cami January 18, 2008 (11:44 am)

Say goodbye to “Comet Country”

m January 18, 2008 (11:51 am)

There doesn’t seem to be enough parking at either of these proposed buildings, especially the one on 44th.

jmland January 18, 2008 (12:19 pm)

I ran the numbers, and the parking counts for both projects meet the required minimum parking stalls as per the Seattle Land Use Code — each for the types of uses and the areas listed for each use.

The code requires 1 parking stall per 1,000 SF of office use, and 1 stall per 350 SF of retail (the first 2,500 SF is exempt).

For the 44th Avenue project, it occurs in an “urban village” overlay district. There are no minimum parking requirements for residential uses in urban villages.

Hainsworth January 18, 2008 (12:23 pm)

I love the deteriorating boat on this property, and another one further down Harbor. I’ll hate to see it go, along with the green that makes that part of the avenue especially nice to drive or walk on.

GenHillOne January 19, 2008 (10:26 am)

I’m intrigued by the Harbor Ave description – what do you suppose would warrant a caretaker’s unit? What will be there that needs to be watched or taken care of?

Jenny January 19, 2008 (11:28 am)

I’ve always wondered what cde software was all about. Except that I think it has something to do with bowling. (League stats software, I think.)

As for Harbor Ave.: An office building? Some new construction that’s NOT a condo? Interesting. I always thought W. Seattle needed more office space, so that we could have more decent jobs be located right here instead of just being another bedroom community with some retail.

jmland January 30, 2008 (7:12 pm)

To answer GenHillOne’s question, a caretaker’s unit is allowed in certain zones throughout the city. I worked on a project in an Industrial zone in Ballard that was allowed one 800 square foot caretaker’s unit on the roof of any building. I don’t have the Land Use Code in front of me, but I suspect they are also allowed in NC (neighborhood commercial), and C (commercial) zones.

I’m not sure about the history of caretaker’s units, but my sense is that it’s an antiquated carryover from the days when buildings had a live-in caretaker. These days, I believe it is used as a loophole to allow one living unit per building in zones that otherwise do not allow residences (like Industrial zones). I doubt that it is used very much (we did not end up incorporating a caretaker’s unit on our project), but I do know of some examples where an office building has a pretty sweet little residential unit perched on top, with a killer view.

Sorry I couldn’t provide more solid info on this topic, but if I find out more, I’ll include it here.

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