The University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia College are presenting plans to retire the master building plans with the city in order to increase autonomy and cut down on costs associated with development applications.

In the current master plan, or planned unit development (PUD), the joint university campus must apply for every development they undertake including building and parking lot construction. This process costs the campus around $250,000 each for each permit and ties up city staff, campus representatives said.

In a statement, University of Washington Bothell Vice Chancellor Ana Karaman said there has been six master plan amendments processed so far, with 12 more to complete the total campus buildout.

“At approximately $250,000 per PUD amendment, and a six to eight month process, the institutions could save $3 million in public funds and tuition, and eight years in time for planning and permitting future development,” the statement said.

Elements within the new agreement have residents worried, including re-adjusting buffer zones for campus property abutting residential neighborhoods along 182 and 183 Places Northeast.

Under the current code, buildings must have at least a 30-foot buffer with vegetation between a campus building and a residential property line for buildings under 35 feet in height.

The buffer zone is increased by 30 feet for every 10 feet of height added to the building, maxing out at a 120-foot buffer for a building 65 feet or more.

The proposed code would allow buildings up to 65-feet high to be built with only a 30-foot buffer, with additional layers staggered back 30 feet once after the first 35 feet of height.

Campus representatives said this was necessary to allow greater flexibility in constructing student dormitories consistent with the rest of campus designs and the land space available to them. If they were to construct a dormitory with current regulations, it would end up long and thin, campus representatives said.

However, council members and around a dozen residents from abutting neighborhoods voiced their concerns at a Dec. 15 meeting.

Neighbor Janelle Lowen was worried about the destruction of natural tree groves bordering the 182 and 183 Places Northeast communities, as well as sharing a property line only 30 feet away from a dormitory.

“The whole neighborhood will have a terrible time adjusting to the ugliness of it all, plus the much reduced worth of our homes,” she said. “I’m scared and shocked. I don’t understand the unmitigated rush toward a destruction of trees, fresh air, natural water control, quiet space and healthy Northwest ambience.”

Tammy Urquhart lives in the neighborhood and began an emotional appeal to the council before having a neighbor finish reading her written statement.

“I needed a sanctuary for my mom who had just been diagnosed with what we believe to be terminal cancer, and my son who had been diagnosed with significant developmental delays,” she said. “I feel that my home and everything that it provides us is in dire jeopardy.”

Urquhart said she moved into her house wary of the campus’s proximity, but chose to purchase it after reading the buffer commitments in the current PUD.

“My son is worried about losing his neighborhood. He is worried about losing his sanctuary which has been so critical to his amazing progress,” she said.

City council members seemed to hear neighbors’ concerns.

“If that was my backyard, I’d feel like I was in a fishbowl,” said councilman Andy Rheaume. “I really do sympathize with the residents that are neighboring there, and I hope there’s some sort of compromise that we can work out between the residents and the college to make it a little bit more appetizing instead of having a six-story building in your backyard.”

Councilwoman Tris Samberg echoed similar concerns about the buffer zones.

“I think that we need to make sure that those promises made back when this PUD was originally approved, those promises made, are kept,” she said.

The University of Washington Bothell has been expanding rapidly since it was founded in 1990.

Since 2010, enrollment has increased from 2,880 students to nearly 4,560 students in 2014, with an increasing number choosing to live on-campus, prompting the university to expand parking and housing.

Other proposed changes to the PUD included increasing the amount of impervious surface allowed on campus, or surface which water cannot soak through including concrete, asphalt and roofs.

The 127-acre campus is only allowed 35 acres of these surfaces. Sixty-three acres are protected wetlands and cannot be developed, so the campus is requesting to increase the amount of impermeable surfaces to around 48 acres within the remaining developable 64 acres.

While neighbors are concerned, Karaman said the campus will be working towards having a low impact on the community.

“We care about the local community and neighbors and will continue to maintain the city approved setbacks, buffers and height restrictions,” the statement said.