West Seattle, Washington
26 Saturday
(Newest site plan for proposed development at 5911 42nd SW; click image for full-size PDF version)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The big evergreen trees are staying.
That’s one of the messages the West Seattle Church of the Nazarene wants to share with the community about its six-townhouse development proposal, first reported here back on Monday – a plan that would require a “contract rezone” and therefore City Council approval.
We sat down with Pastor Shaun Mattson and associate pastor Terry Mattson Thursday afternoon to talk about it; they shared the updated “site plan” you see atop this story.
The somewhat-sprawling site to the south of the 42nd/Juneau church and its parsonage is zoned as three potential single-family-home lots but is known as “the park,” and used like one – even outdoor movies in summertime. While some of the plan includes keeping it in a park-like condition, the church leaders say that “doing nothing was not an option” – their church’s future depends on it.
While the plan is in the early stages of the relatively long public process, the idea is not a new one.
That site north of Morgan Junction at 5911 42nd SW (map), once suggested for possible city purchase as open space, now has a development proposal in the works. County records show the site is owned by the nearby West Seattle Church of the Nazarene, and according to Department of Planning and Development online files, it’s proposed for six townhouses on the west side of the parcel, across an alley from multifamily housing and business properties that front California SW.
There’s a twist: The 18,000-square-foot site is zoned as three single-family-home lots, so rezoning to LR-1 (lowrise 1, allowing three stories) is proposed to allow the townhomes, each of which would have a 2-car garage, according to the site plan on file. The project page on the DPD website describes the project as a “contract” rezone – meaning permission would be sought for a rezone just for this purpose – and mentions that the plan would include “… PUDA agreement to provide remainder of land as public open space.” (PUDA is short for Property Use and Development Agreement, explained here along with contract rezones.)
This is a brand-new proposal; the city page also mentions a “pre-application site visit” just this past Friday. Rezone proposals require City Council approval, so this would have a ways to go in public process before final approval. We have a message out to the church in hopes of finding out more, especially about the open-space component, and will update with whatever we find out.
Just received the West Seattle Junction Association‘s periodic newsletter and there are two things of note:
NEW WEBSITE: The Junction has overhauled its website and expanded its business directory – check it out at wsjunction.org (where you will also find information about next month’s Harvest Festival).
CONSTRUCTION CONFIRMATION: Back on Tuesday, we reported that the long-delayed Equity Residential seven-story, two-building apartment/retail project at California/Alaska/42nd is finally on the verge of starting major work. That’s confirmed in the Junction newsletter, which says the project will officially start the week of September 30th – one week from Monday – adding that Andersen Construction is the general contractor.
Just in case you aren’t a devoted reader of the city’s twice-weekly Land Use Information Bulletin – this week’s editions contain these half-dozen West Seattle items of note:
‘DETERMINATION OF NON-SIGNIFICANCE’ FOR DELRIDGE SEWER-OVERFLOW PROJECTS: While you’ve heard a lot about the county projects to reduce combined-sewer overflows at pump stations at Lowman Beach and alongside the Fauntleroy ferry dock, remember that the city is doing some work too. Its upcoming Delridge-area projects – described here – have been declared to be environmentally “non-significant.”
WESTSIDE SCHOOL’S NEW SITE: Key approvals are in on the land-use application for Westside School (WSB sponsor) to create its new campus on the Hillcrest Presbyterian site at 34th and 104th. (We have a message out to the school inquiring about the project timeline.)
THE WESTY SPORTS AND SPIRITS: Land-use approval is in for the sports bar/restaurant under construction at 7908 35th SW (here’s our previous coverage).
ALKI ROWHOUSES: An application has been filed to build a 2-unit structure and 3-unit structure, both described as “rowhouses,” at 3008 Alki Avenue SW (a lot that stretches to SW Stevens on its south side). The notice says comments will be accepted through October 18th.
FAUNTLEROY LOT-SPLITTING DECISION APPEALED: A city decision approving division of a lot in an “environmentally critical area” of Fauntleroy, in the 3900 block of SW Henderson is being challenged by a neighbor who contends the split could have environmental and view ramification if, as he expects, a house is built on the split-off lot. The city Hearing Examiner will hear the appeal on October 9th.
DESIGN REVIEW: As first reported here last week, the apartment/retail project at 4435 35th SW will return to the Southwest Design Review Board on October 10th; here’s the notice. The bulletin also mentions “streamlined design review” – no public meeting, but comments are being taken, as with all development projects – for a four-unit townhouse project at the corner of 41st and Oregon.
The terms “alley vacation” and “street vacation” come up often in development, and are difficult to explain, but vital to understand, since they involve selling publicly owned property to developers, with City Council approval required. You can read about the process here – but that might still leave you with questions, so, in hopes of expanding understanding, René Commons, who’s leading the recently relaunched Junction Neighborhood Organization, brought city-government experts to last night’s meeting, and we recorded their presentations on video. The main speakers you’ll see are Beverly Barnett, the SDOT manager who is point person for the review of these requests, and Michael Jenkins from the Seattle Design Commission, the citywide advisory group that has to sign off on street/alley vacations before SDOT and the council can render final judgment.
P.S. It was pointed out that the 4755 Fauntleroy/Whole Foods alley-vacation request – the mayor-opposed proposal that won’t go to the council any sooner than December – is still open for public comment – any proposed vacation is open for comment until it gets to the council; e-mail beverly.barnett@seattle.gov if you have something to say. Here’s our original February report on that part of the project (which was approved by the Design Commission in June after four reviews – the minutes of that meeting, as mentioned in this video of JuNO’s meeting, are here).
That trailer is one of several signs suggesting that major work is imminent at the Equity Residential development site at California/Alaska/42nd. The former retail buildings on the site have been vacant for more than a year, with their previous tenants told to clear out by the end of July last year so the project could get going – then various dates for demolition slipped by, and the company finally stopped commenting publicly. Some wondered if it would somehow lie inactive and empty for years, something like a reverse version of Spruce, the former “Hole” (now well under way a few blocks east). But more of its permits have just been issued, like this one issued Friday, and a source close to another area development says they’ve been notified demolition is expected to start in the next two weeks. Here’s another sign:
On Saturday, Seattle Fire crews were working inside the west building, at California/Alaska; they told us they were holding drills, which is not uncommon for buildings on the brink of demolition (for which permits were issued last fall). The project, in case you’ve lost track, started under former owners Conner Homes, which sold the site to Chicago-based Equity Residential for $11 million in December 2011, after getting design approval and an (underground) alley vacation; it’s planned for two 7-story buildings totaling about 200 apartments, with ground-level retail and an underground parking garage with ~265 spaces. (Equity has not responded to our repeated requests for comment on the project’s status.)
After three months of demolition and excavation at the 4730 California project site, the crane is going up today, as first reported here a week ago. Spectators included mom Lisa and daughter Annika, talking with construction superintendent Peter Davidson of Compass, the general contractor:
While much of the equipment for the project has been brought in from the alley, this had to come in from California SW, which is why it’s happening on a weekend morning:
The project’s high-profile spot – long home to the Petco store that has since moved to Capco Plaza at 41st/Alaska – has drawn spectators for weeks, often kids fascinated by the process, too young to be caught up in the debate over development and density:
Our photographer had to go through a safety briefing earlier in the week to get close enough to see the detail work required to make sure a high-flying project like this goes off safely:
This is the second crane in the area, after the one installed in June for “The Blake” about two blocks south at 5020 California SW. This project, meantime, is planned for seven stories and 93 residential units, including 15 ground-level live-work units, plus retail; it passed its final design review in November.
The crew expected this to take only a matter of hours – so the road should be clear this afternoon, long before it closes 6 am-6 pm tomorrow for this year’s West Seattle Car Show.
4:05 PM NOTE: We went back to The Junction to check on the crane’s progress and wound up staying through the lifting and placement of the horizontal section – an even-bigger spectacle – will add those photos when we can (check back!). But first, here’s video of the hoist, shared by Larry Murante (thank you!):
Even after that went up, two parts remained – including the cap, which required crew members to walk all the way out to the tip of the piece you see lifted in that clip.
ADDED: More photos, from the final stage of Saturday’s installation – perhaps the most dramatic:
Though the official notice won’t go out until next week, the city’s master schedule now shows October 10th as the date for the next Southwest Design Review Board meeting. One project is on the agenda so far: 4435 35th SW, a six-story mixed-use building proposed for ~160 apartments, about the same number of parking spaces, and ~16,000 square feet of commercial space. Its site (map) is on the west side of 35th SW, currently holding an empty lot and The Bridge (which is moving to under-renovation 6301 California SW). The 35th SW project has had two Early Design Guidance meetings over the span of four years – after one for the original proposal in 2009, development plans went on the back burner until this year, when a new proposal passed EDG in June. The revised design proposal isn’t available yet but should be at least a week before the next meeting, 6:30 pm October 10th, at the Senior Center of West Seattle (California/Oregon).
Our video from last night’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting shows two of the meeting’s central discussions. In order, here’s what and who you’ll see on the video:
*From the start, Elena Perez for Getting It Right for West Seattle, the group lobbying for changes in the 4755 Fauntleroy Way project, proposed for ~370 apartments, ~600 parking spaces, a Whole Foods Market, and other TBA retail, before its Mayor McGinn-opposed alley vacation comes to a City Council vote this winter.
*21:47 in, chair Amanda Kay Helmick starts the discussion of forming a West Seattle Transit Coalition, born from WWRHAH’s intense focus on Metro cuts and changes affecting the area (such as the eventual Highway 99 tunnel), so that the peninsula has a unified voice. They have drafted a letter and have been circulating it among community groups; they plan to “ask for the moon” of what West Seattle needs regarding traffic, rather than complaining about what’s missing now. The possibility of requiring development impact fees for transit funding was also brought up. Next step is likely an organizing meeting later this month.
Before these discussions, the meeting started with an in-depth discussion of the concept of organizing and producing Roxhill Park Day next year, with both a mega-work party and a neighborhood festival, funded with the assistance of a hoped-for city grant (applications due soon). You can find more background on the WWRHAH website.
Next month, WWRHAH is scheduled to return to its first-Tuesday meeting schedule; you can watch for announcements at wwrhah.org, which is also where WWRHAH secretary Joe Szilagyi‘s meeting minutes will be published when they’re ready (at which time we’ll add a link here too).
ADDED THURSDAY AFTERNOON: As promised, here’s the link to the newly published meeting minutes/notes on the WWRHAH site.
Following up on two items noted in this morning’s daily preview: Seattle City Councilmembers have just voted to approve two bills related to development: A six-month extension of restrictions on small-lot development, and an “emergency” bill setting minimum density requirements for neighborhood-commercial-zoned lots in pedestrian-oriented areas. Councilmember Richard Conlin, the sponsor for both, said it was a coincidence they turned up on the same council agenda, and also noted that the minimum-density rules were not likely to affect the three projects that inspired them, including the 4722 Fauntleroy Way one-story drugstore proposal (first reported here in July), because they were “vested” when they first started the official application/review process. In addition, he said he’s expecting proposed permanent rules for small-lot development to come to the council for review in November.
Judging by the number of people we see looking through the fence whenever we visit The Junction during the daytime, the 88-apartment, 14-live-work-unit 4730 California mixed-use project – aka the former Petco site – is quite the spectacle. The crane base is in now, almost three months after demolition/excavation began – our photo was taken before today’s concrete pour – so we asked the project team when the crane is going to arrive. The answer: One week from tomorrow – Saturday, September 14th. Assuming nothing happens to change the schedule, that means the crane will be up before the West Seattle Car Show, which – as noted here previously – is planned for the next day, Sunday, September 15th. 4730 California pis expected to be finished late next year.
There’s overdevelopment – and then there’s underdevelopment. The proposed one-story, 14,000 standalone pharmacy at 4722 Fauntleroy Way SW – first reported here in July – is considered by some to be a potential case of the latter, along with two similar projects we mentioned in that story, one in Wallingford, one in lower Queen Anne, since they are planned on sites where much bigger developments could be built. City Councilmember Richard Conlin has announced a proposal that would prohibit these types of projects in certain urban areas in the future:
Councilmember Richard Conlin introduced interim controls legislation today that sets a minimum density requirement for new buildings in pedestrian-oriented Neighborhood Commercial zones in Seattle’s urban villages and urban centers. Councilmember Conlin developed the legislation in response to neighborhood concerns about one-story, suburban-style projects proposed in various Seattle urban villages.
(WSB photo, July 25: Original house at right, under-construction house at left)
The city Department of Planning and Development has just announced that it is approving the revised boundaries for splitting what was once one home’s lot at 55th/Manning (map) into three. “Lot boundary adjustments” are not uncommon, but this one has been under a microscope since early this year, because of a challenge by residents who call their neighborhood Benchview. They appealed the city’s original approval of the lot split and went all the way to King County Superior Court, where they won a partial victory last month. They believed Judge Mariane Spearman‘s decision meant the site’s new owners could only build one new house on the lot. Shortly after the decision, the owners/developers filed documents for revised boundaries, and today, the DPD sent this letter saying those will be approved – read it here (or as a PDF here if you can’t see Scribd embeds):
Benchview residents had contended the city could choose to “protect the neighborhood” rather than consider the revised boundaries; DPD director Diane Sugimura contended, in both a letter earlier this week and the letter today, that her department was required to review them for consideration. We will be checking with the Benchview neighbors to see if they plan to challenge this new decision.
ADDED 5:17 PM: Benchview spokesperson Dave Allen cc’d us on his reply to the city – an excerpt follows:
One month after the “closing sale” for Admiralty House Antiques, with owner Fred Dau deciding to fully retire and sell the site (as he told us in this interview), we were asked if there’s any news about what’s happening there now. Here’s what we have found: The building already has a sale pending, according to the online listing ($1,050,000) for the 2,200-square-foot building on a 5,700-square-foot site, recorded as two lots, zoned NC2-40 (mixed-use retail and residential up to 40 feet). We don’t know the buyer’s identity, but city records show a development proposal already has been submitted for part of the site, proposing a 3-unit rowhouse, with its address changed to 4304 SW Walker (Admiralty House is 2141 California SW). The project page on the city website has this notation: “Existing retail building to remain w/ no work or changes.”
That’s the cover image for the “packet” put together by Nicholson Kovalchick Architects for their Junction Flats project at 4433 42nd SW (map), across from Hope Lutheran School/Church in The Junction. The city uploaded it today, in advance of the project’s next Southwest Design Review Board session, which (as first reported here last month) is set for 6:30 pm Thursday, August 29th, at the Senior Center of West Seattle. The project is currently described as four stories, 78 apartments, 2 live-work units, and 52 parking spaces, set for a site that currently holds three single-family homes. You can see the full packet for yourself by going here. The project’s previous SWDRB meeting, for Early Design Guidance, was in January; here’s the final city report.
Two of West Seattle’s in-progress mixed-use developments have just applied for their master use permits, which triggers a new comment period (through at least August 28th):
(Click image for larger view)
3210 CALIFORNIA: It hasn’t appeared in the city’s “land-use information bulletin” yet, but a spokesperson for the developers, Intracorp, tells WSB the master-use permit (MUP) application has been submitted for this five-story project with about 150 units, 168 parking spaces, and 4,200 square feet of commercial space. Its status is verified by the project page on the city website. That was facilitated by the project passing the Early Design Guidance phase of the Southwest Design Review Board process June 27th (here’s the city’s report on that meeting; our detailed notes are here). The image above is from the size/shape renderings shown at that meeting. This project still has at least one more SWDRB meeting ahead; no date announced yet, but the spokesperson believes it’ll be in October. Comments can be sent to michael.dorcy@seattle.gov.
And on the east edge of The Junction:
4745 40TH SW: This also recently passed Early Design Guidance, and has now applied for a MUP, while awaiting at least one more Design Review meeting. The project is listed in city files as eight stories, but part of the building will be shorter; units will total about 150, while parking spaces are projected around 116, and retail at about 1,000 square feet. It will be adjacent to a new city park to the north, which in turn is across the street from the west side of the 4755 Fauntleroy Way (aka Whole Foods) project. Here’s the city report on the July 11th meeting; for comments on the project, e-mail bruce.rips@seattle.gov.
Our latest check of West Seattle commercial-real-estate listings – which can be precursors to future development – shows two Triangle sites are new on the market:
4441 FAUNTLEROY WAY SW: The current Elliott Tire/Goodyear site has just been listed under the heading “West Seattle Development Site.” It’s zoned NC3-65; NC stands for “neighborhood commercial,” without a size limit for most uses, while 65 means up to 6 stories. (City records show a 6-story proposal for this site was canceled in early 2011.) Listing price: $2.8 million.
4151 FAUNTLEROY WAY SW: At the very tip of The Triangle, northwest corner of 35th/Fauntleroy, this strip mall has just been listed for $2.6 million. The marketing flyer linked to the listing calls it a “trophy property with a gateway location” and also reveals a bit of new information – a line item shows Zaw Pizza – organic take-it-and-bake-it – as a future tenant. We’ll be checking on that.
It seems to be something of a trend – get your development all or part of the way through the review process, then put it up for sale before starting construction. Newest one: The proposed three-story, 29-apartment, 29-parking-space project at 3829 California SW just went on the market for almost $1.6 million; it passed Design Review in June after 3 meetings. We also spotted a $3.3 million listing for 3100 SW Avalon Way, a non-existent address that appears to refer to one of the two 100-plus-apartment projects that are/were in the middle of Design Review (3078 went through Early Design Guidance in September; 3062 did the same in November; we’ll update this if and when we confirm WHICH one).
(3650 55th SW is the original address of the site in question; map is from King County Parcel Viewer)
A new development, so to speak, in the Benchview neighborhood clash between developers who bought an old house and want to add two new ones to its site, and the neighbors who say one additional home – already under construction northeast of the existing house – is plenty. You’ll recall that they went to court to challenge the city’s approval of three reshaped parcels for the site. They argued their case on Friday, July 19th (WSB coverage here), and King County Superior Court Judge Mariane Spearman issued her ruling the following Wednesday, reported here Thursday – upholding the city’s decision/process on two technical points, but rejecting the boundaries of the “lot boundary adjustment.”
While the City Attorney’s Office told us last week they hadn’t decided whether to appeal the ruling, we just got word from Department of Planning and Development spokesperson Bryan Stevens that the site’s owners have filed a new plan:
I just wanted to let you and your readers know that the applicant of the Benchview lot boundary adjustment (LBA) has submitted a formal revision to their original permit. Since the Judge ruled that the parcel encompassing the existing house was too small, the applicant is now revising their LBA to increase the size of that parcel and maintain a total of three parcels. The proposed revision slightly reduces the parcel size of the house under construction, which enlarges the adjacent parcel with the existing house on the corner.
The parcel sizes are listed on this new city page for the project; we’re still seeking further documents showing the proposed boundaries and will add to this story as we find out more.
After several busy months for the Southwest Design Review Board, their July 25th and August 15th meetings were canceled for lack of projects to review. But it looks like there will be a meeting on August 29th; today, the city penciled one project in for that date – the board’s second look at an apartment project called Junction Flats, 4433 42nd SW. The four-story, 80-unit, ~60-parking-space project’s Early Design Guidance review was back on January 10th; here’s the official city report. This next meeting could be its last, if the board approves its design. The meeting is tentatively set for 6:30 pm Thursday, August 29th, at the Senior Center of West Seattle (Oregon/California in The Junction).
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Right across Fauntleroy Way from the suddenly much-discussed “Whole Foods project” (4755 Fauntleroy Way), a new development proposal has just emerged: A freestanding one-story drugstore with a drive-thru window.
This is notable in the context of 4755 Fauntleroy across the street, because, for most of the year that project has been under review, it’s been described as intended for a drugstore as well as the Whole Foods Market and about 370 apartments.
The drugstore envisioned in renderings for 4755 originally was supposed to have a drive-thru window, but reviewers didn’t like the resulting traffic flow in the supposedly walk-through middle part of the project. So finally at a recent review meeting, architects announced the drive-thru was out. Then at a subsequent meeting, developers admitted that losing the drive-thru might have cost them the drugstore, too.
The potential pharmacy tenant was never signed, the 4755 Fauntleroy project team has repeatedly said, so we don’t know who they were negotiating with. This new proposal at 4722 Fauntleroy does not (yet) have a company name on the documents, but we’ve found clues to one possibility.
Here’s what we have found about the new proposal so far (which does NOT, we should make clear, involve any of the same property owners or development firms as the other side of the street):
A site plan was filed July 23rd for the proposal at 4722 Fauntleroy, the site that’s currently home to West Seattle Produce and Suite Arrangements. City records show the applicant to be Michigan-based The Velmeir Companies. It maps out a “single-tenant retail pharmacy building,” 14,500 square feet, roughly the same size as the nearby Trader Joe’s.
The prospective pharmacy’s name is not mentioned, but the client list on Velmeir’s website includes the drugstore chain CVS, which has locations in multiple states but currently not in ours, according to the corporate website. And we have found that this is one of at least four similar projects that Velmeir is pursuing in the Puget Sound metro area right now. There’s one in Burien’s Five Corners area; also one on lower Queen Anne, at the current site of Kidd Valley Burgers; this story mentions it’s now proposed for a one-story, 16,000-square-foot pharmacy. Then, yet another one is pending along North 45th St. in Wallingford (described as single-story retail). Neither of those three mentions the potential pharmacy by name, but yet another Velmeir proposal in Renton (with mentions CVS in a city document about the development.
The new West Seattle proposal at 4722 Fauntleroy site has two types of zoning, according to documents for this project – from four to eight stories – but again, the proposal on record so far lists a standalone single-story retail building, with 58 parking spaces, which the “site plan” sketch says would be twice what’s required. The drive-thru window is shown on what would be the south side of the new building, with separate entrance and exit driveways off Fauntleroy, and parking is shown north and east of the building.
We are following up with multiple sources including Velmeir; meantime, we have confirmed with the city that this project will require Design Review, as does anything in an NC zone over 4,000 square feet.
As mentioned in today’s West Seattle Friday calendar preview, a home-building project in West Seattle is creating a stir today. It’s more like “home-installing.” A North Seattle company called Greenfab built the 2,300-square-foot, 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom house in Utah, trucked it to Las Vegas for a show during which 7,000 people toured it, and then brought it here, where cranes are installing the home in five pieces on a lot in North Admiral.
Go here to see what it will look like – more classic than modern, built to a stringent sustainability standard – “LEED Platinum ready,” according to the official brochure. Greenfab’s Johnny Hartsfield says once it’s installed – the last piece might not be added until Saturday morning – there will be at least a month more work, and then it will go on sale, for a price likely around $785,000.
This is Greenfab’s first project in West Seattle, and might be the last one for a while, with its next few projects slated elsewhere in the city; Hartsfield explained that they acquired this site because of a relationship with its out-of-state (former) owner, who had contacted them about a custom project elsewhere. The previous home on this site was torn down more than a year ago. Greenfab welcomes visitors as this project proceeds today and even has an info tent set up across the street (50th SW, which is closed south of Waite because of the crane and truck activity). Meantime, we’ll be adding a few more photos – and you can see progress reports on Greenfab’s Facebook page; they’re also shooting a time-lapse of the installation and expect to have it done within a week or so.
(UPDATED FRIDAY MORNING with comment from City Attorney’s Office – scroll down)
(WSB photo taken tonight: Original house at right, under-construction house at left)
8:52 PM: King County Superior Court Judge Mariane Spearman‘s ruling is in, following last Friday’s hearing (WSB coverage here) on the Benchview neighborhood’s fight over boundaries for three potential home sites where one house had stood for decades. We’ve just downloaded the court documents, after getting e-mail with this link to the neighbors’ report on the ruling. While Judge Spearman ruled for the city on two technical points, she ruled against the big point the neighborhood had challenged – the configuration the city had approved for the “lot boundary adjustment” to create three building lots on the site at 55th and Manning, shown in this graphic enhanced by neighbor David Allen:
We’re going back through the court document for more details and will add to this followup.
ADDED 9:31 PM: Here’s the 13-page ruling (PDF); embedded, below:
Judge's ruling in Benchview neighborhood challenge to city-approved lot split
Do note, this case was NOT a lawsuit – it was a challenge brought under the Land Use Petition Act.
From the ruling – the two points on which Judge Spearman sided with the city: One, that it was proper for the city to say the “historic lot exception” applied here; though only one home sat on the corner for 60 years, the land technically was four lots, platted at 2500 square feet. The city had already ruled that one of those lots could not be considered separate because part of it “is needed to satisfy the current rear yard requirement for the existing house.” Two, that it was OK for the owner/developers’ application to have been treated as a Lot Boundary Adjustment case that did not require more public involvement.
The point on which the neighborhood won involves a deck whose presence, as the judge sees it, consolidates three of the four “lots” into one because it juts over the line, and therefore requires the city to change its calculations for the minimum allowable lot size. As a result, one of the three newly boundary-adjusted lots is too small, the judge ruled.
The question now is whether the city will challenge the judge’s ruling. We’ll be seeking comment tomorrow. We originally reported in January on the neighborhood’s concerns.
ADDED 1:23 AM: We asked Benchview’s Dave Allen for comment:
We are thrilled that Judge Spearman made a key ruling in favor of the Benchview neighborhood. By reversing the City’s approval of part of the lot boundary adjustment, the rest of the LBA falls apart and is nullified.
We trust the City will comply with the judge’s decision. The developer can submit a fresh LBA application. But according to City law, the house he is building on the property now disqualifies him from claiming three total lots. Now he only has two.
Two houses on these two lots has always been the fair and reasonable solution. Now it’s the law.
ADDED 10:03 AM FRIDAY: As promised, we contacted the City Attorney’s Office. From spokesperson Kimberly Mills: “We are considering the judge’s ruling. As always, the options include doing nothing (accepting the ruling), seeking reconsideration from the judge, or appealing to the Division One of the Court of Appeals. We have not yet resolved which option to pursue.”
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