Northgate Rezone Draft EIS Comments (my personal comments)

Here are the comments that I made at the Northgate Rezone Draft EIS Public Hearing tonight.

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to all of our comments and for answering our questions. y name is Renee and I live in the Pinehurst neighborhood. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to make a statement tonight.

First off, I think that an upzone and increased density in the Northgate Urban Core is an excellent idea and I support this process. It is needed to increase housing in the transit corridor and to add to the pedestrian orientation and walkability of our neighborhood. Density in urban cores is clearly the right thing to do from an environmental perspective both in preventing urban sprawl and in reducing dependence on cars.

The linking of a rezone with affordable housing is also an excellent goal. In this, I hope that the City can find a way to make the incentive zoning work such that developers will include affordable housing in their projects rather than paying a buy out and that we will retain and have a net gain of affordable housing in the Northgate Urban Core. Affordable housing should be available in dense, transit accessible areas where residents can more easily choose to live without the additional expense of cars.

I have four concerns:

1. Parcel E which lies outside the Northgate Urban Core should be excluded from this analysis. We can revisit this at a later date, perhaps as part of the upcoming neighborhood plan updates.

2. Transition between the proposed rezone area and the adjacent single family neighborhood along the north edge of this proposed rezone should be stepped. Perhaps more creative zoning ideas such as cottage housing could also be considered for these edge areas.

3. Neighbors in Pinehurst would like to see the pedestrian-oriented transportation infrastructure addressed before auto-oriented transportation infrastructure. In order to be a sustainable community, we need safe ways to walk. We need to implement the Northgate Coordinated Transportation Investment Plan, especially those projects near the areas that would be upzoned. One of the first projects that needs to be implemented is the proposed sustainable street design on NE 115th between 5th Ave NE and Pinehurst Way Way NE.

4. While the areas that are currently being proposed for rezone are a great first step, there are other areas of opportunity that are not included here that should also be considered for rezone. The Northgate Mall has an enormous surface parking lot. Let’s rezone that for housing. Also, the business park south of the south lot is another wonderful opportunity for high-rise housing and mixed use development. In ways, it is a much better location for housing due to it’s proximity to the potential light rail station site.

Thank you so much for your consideration.