FoS joins Little Saigon and rest of local community in opposing proposed Goodwill site redevelopment

Yes, we here at Friends of Seattle usually support development, but not if it means destroying a community. The Pike-Pine neighborhood on Capitol Hill is grappling with the adverse forces of development. As are Little Saigon and the surrounding neighborhoods of Goodwill on Rainier and Dearborn. Goodwill is in talks with a developer to redevelop the expansive site into a mixed use development. Besides the worthy goal of new offices and commercial space for Goodwill, the developer's proposal is dominated by 600 apartments, two spaces for big box retailers (likely Target and Lowe's), and an appallingly large (room for over 2,000 cars!) parking garage.

VIEW FROM DEARBORN ST ON THE SOUTH END


VIEW FROM WELLER ST ON THE NORTH SIDE:

Friends of Seattle publicly supports the efforts of the Dearborn Street Coalition for Livable Neighborhoods, spearheaded by VAEDA and other group, to dramatically modify the developer's existing proposal. We are concerned by the amount of parking, the scale of the retail spaces, and the inadequate public benefits the developer is offering for the city to vacate the public right-of-way on the site (the streets S Lane St, Dearborn Pl S, and Corwin Pl S).

Before the development receives approval from the city Department of Planning and Development, the City Council would have to modify the Seattle Comprehensive Plan to allow the site's zoning to be changed from light industrial to mixed use commercial. Precisely this amendment is due for a vote this month. Before the amendments go to the whole Council, they must pass through Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck's Urban Planning and Development Committee.

At a public meeting last Tuesday, November 28th, Urban Planning Committee members (Steinbrueck, Rasmussen, and Conlin), along with Councilmember David Della, held a public hearing on the proposed amendments. See the video here. The Northwest Asian Weekly has a good synopsis here.

Friends of Seattle has several concerns with the project:

1) Little Saigon does not yet have a neighborhood-specific design overlay to guide new developments
2) The site is within the area currently under review as part of the mayor's Livable South Downtown strategy. Amending the Comp Plan now would lead to piece-meal development, instead of making comprehensive changes to the land use codes in the area at one time so that there is a single strategic framework for development in the area. This sort of ad-hoc planning could lead to developments out of sync with city and local priorities.
3) The proposed size of the parking garage would hurt our city's goals of reducing dependence on the automobile.
4) The proposed size of the retail spaces is out of scale with the surrounding Little Saigon commercial district, which could harm the locally-owned businesses which make the neighborhood livable and unique.
5) There are inadequate public benefits from the developer in exchange for the city to vacate the public right-of-way on the site (the streets S Lane St, Dearborn Pl S, and Corwin Pl S).
6) The architectural design is bulky, dull, and fails to contribute any new character to the neighborhood.

UPDATE: Here is the Beacon Hill News and South District Journal's take on the public hearing.