Seattle Press on Line - Eastlake Plan Aims to Preserve Cobbles and Affordable Houses

Eastlake Plan Aims to Preserve Cobbles and Affordable Houses

Oct 22, 1998 -- The Neighborhood plan for Eastlake, one of Seattle's oldest communities, was presented to the the City Council Neighborhoods Committee Monday night. (a report on the hearing will be published in The Seattle Press on November 4).

Eastlake was platted into small lots in the 1880's. Seward School and the streetcar line were both built in 1893. Several streets are still paved with cobblestones---one of the historical charms the plan hopes to retain.

It's one of the smallest neighborhoods designated by the city as a distinct entity with its own planning process: 300 acres with 3,500 residents. Many residents work in Eastlake too. A variety of maritime, commercial and neighborhood businesses employ 3,000 people. Seventy-five per cent of the residents are renters - one of the city's highest proportions. The Northwest's largest floating home community is in Eastlake.

A majority of the people who have expressed their views in the planning process want to retain the neighborhood's small scale and diversity, enhance the natural assets such as views and shoreline, and also make sure that a wide variety of people can continue to live there.

Eastlake got some advance opportunities for planning when the City decided in 1994 to rip up much of Eastlake Avenue to install new sewer lines.

"It forced us to think about what we wanted, and gave us a chance to see what could be done and how neighborhood planning could work," explained Chris Leman, a consultant to the 1994 Transportation plan and the 1998 Eastlake Neighborhood plan.
The results are quite impressive: three landscaped medians and left turn lanes on Eastlake; two major public art projects, "Dreamboats" and "Cornerstones" and a two block landscaped walkway on Fairview Ave. E.

Many elements in the plan are aimed at strengthening Eastlake Avenue as a pedestrian-friendly "main street." In addition, three "green streets" are recommended in the plan (on Franklin and two sections of Fairview E) where auto traffic would be deliberately slowed or discouraged, while walking and biking would be encouraged, and landscaping would be enhanced.

Other goals include making I-5 quieter and less polluting of lake union; developing more open space, enhancing views, establishing building facade guidelines, and repairing and maintaining the remaining cobblestone streets.

The basic conflict that Eastlake planners (and those in most other neighborhoods) have to face is how to grow in population without losing the close-knit neighborhood atmosphere and the unique and traditional "look" of the area.

During the planning process in Eastlake, a strong consensus has developed that Eastlake looks the way it does and functions the way it does because of the economic diversity of the population. Store clerks, shipyard welders, lawyers and software engineers live in the same block. There's a lot of pedestrian and bicycle traffic. People walk to work or walk to the store, or walk along the waterfront.
Forty-four percent of the 402 people filling out a 1996 Eastlake Tomorrow questionnaire put a high priority on "maintaining a broad range of rental units." Less than 5 percent were opposed.

So, one of the core recommendations of the plan, and one that is running into conflict with the City, is to direct some city housing funds to preserve and expand the stock of affordable housing.
Recently, several moderate rent apartment buildings have been lost to luxury development, and skyrocketing real estate prices will bring more such pressure in the future.

But when Olympic Court Apartments came on the market recently at the height of the hot real estate market, afforable housing advocates lost a bidding war because city funding formulas did not allow it to offer enough per unit to match private offers.

"We know real estate prices are high. That's what's driving out moderate income residents," Leman said. The plan recommends the set-aside of at least $1 million a year for projects like Olympic Court, and re-writing of the limits on how much can be paid per unit.

Leman said another rule that hurts neighborhood efforts to preserve affordable housing is a ceiling on the total cost of a project, even if private money is used and the City's share is relatively small.

All neighborhood planners face the complex problems of how to involve residents and business owners in the planning process and make sure that all points of view get heard, and see that ideas advance by consensus rather than by a narrow majority.

Eastlake seems to have directly involved well over ten percent of the 3,500 residents in the planning process through a wide range of outreach techniques.

In two and one-half years of planning, Eastlake Tommorow published four newsletters, an Options Guide, and a Validation Brochure. A web site was established: http://www.oo.net/et, which has the full text of the plan.

Hundreds of public meetings, workshops, and committee meetings were held. A four page survey was conducted which received over 400 responses, and several other surveys were conducted as well.
Planners also reached out to property owners and other "stakeholders" who don't live in the the community, but have vital interests at stake in the planning process. Over 400 such stakeholders have been contacted and encouraged to take part in the planning process.

"If you live or own a business or property in Eastlake," Leman said, "You'd have to really close your eyes and ears to not know that a neighborhood plan is in progress. Whatever your views on the plan, it is not too late to comment to the City Council. They may act on the plan by the end of the year."

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