Bothell City Council may be looking at some alterations to its redevelopment plans after yet another public hearing was held on the design scheme May 5.
Along with other officials, Councilman Joshua Freed said the biggest point of contention regarding the project continues to be the so-called transition zones between planned mix-used developments and existing neighborhoods. Both building height and residential density have become issues.
The affected neighborhoods mostly surround former school-district property along Northeast Bothell Way, which the city recently purchased.
Regarding density, Councilman Patrick Ewing said the city’s call for so-called “form-based” building is creating confusion and controversy.
Essentially, according to Ewing, form-based zoning spells out height, setback and other building requirements. But in the opinion of some, the rules don’t say enough on the topic of residential density. Ewing contends that for neighbors, density questions are serious ones. He said living next door to a complex with eight people is a lot different from living next door to a complex with twice that many people. The added residents mean added noise, added traffic and so on.
Ewing stated council has not really deliberated the density question, but he for one wants to see stricter rules than those currently proposed.
Councilman Del Spivey said legislators likely will take up at least the height issue at a future meeting. That may have happened at council’s May 11 session, which took place after Reporter newspaper deadlines for this issue.
In other matters before council:
• Legislators are looking at what members advertise as steps to make both new municipal buildings and other developments in the city a whole lot greener.
At the May 5 session, council adopted legislation requiring any new municipal building of more than 1,000 square feet be certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver or better. That means buildings must meet or exceed certain energy efficiency requirements and so on.
At the same time, Spivey and others added council is studying ways to encourage new private developments to meet certain green building standards. Spivey talked about the city providing incentives such as expedited building permits.
“I don’t know that it’s going to be 100-percent smooth, but we’ll get there,” he added.
Freed talked about using planned unit developments that don’t increase overall residential densities but do increase the amount of green space left in tact. A home builder himself, Freed also wants to promote amenities such as rain gardens and bio-filtration systems. He said such features can add greatly to a property’s aesthetics and marketability.
In the end, council continued this discussion until its July 7 meeting, when members will receive more public and staff input.
