A false alarm over a potential 24-town-house development in North
Seattle’s Pinehurst neighborhood has alerted neighbors to a pending
larger problem for Seattle. In November, Kohary Construction filed
initial paperwork with the city to divide up adjacent parcels of land
for a large town-house development. Neighbors—still seething over
one of Kohary’s previous projects—immediately began calling and
writing the city, hoping to head off what one neighbor describes as
another “uninspired, crammed together”
development.
“What he’s developing is dreadful,” says Lorna Mrachek, vice
president of the Pinehurst Community Council, referring to Kohary’s
last project. Mrachek says Kohary’s previous development gobbled up
affordable housing, took a bite out of the neighborhood’s parking and
green space, and had an overall detrimental effect on Pinehurst’s
aesthetic. However, it appears the neighbors’ anger is premature.
Kohary’s owner, Miklos Kohary, says he initially planned to develop
the sites, but has since decided to leave the apartments on
the
properties intact for at least the next three years.
An immediate brawl over Kohary’s plans may have been averted, but a
larger battle is still looming. The city’s design-review process
supposedly allows neighborhood residents to provide input on the design
of larger developments. However, developers can use a
loophole—referred to as “piecemealing”—to avoid design
review and build dozens of town houses without input from
neighbors.
The Seattle Department of Planning and Development is aware of the
piecemealing process—where developers purchase adjacent lots and
build what are technically “separate” projects to avoid design
review—but hasn’t taken steps to stop it [“Townhome Invasion,”
Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, July 19, 2007]. However, at least one prominent
architect in town thinks litigation might get DPD to take a closer look
at the policy.
“I think that [city] leadership has decided they don’t want to piss
off the development industry. They’re just letting [piecemealing]
happen,” says David Foster, a local architect and member of Southwest
Seattle’s design-review board. Foster believes a lawsuit may force the
city to curb the practice of piecemealing. While Foster says he’s not
aware of anyone filing suit over “piecemealing” yet, he believes
outrage over the process is growing. “If people weren’t pissed off
[about these developments], maybe it wouldn’t be a problem,” he says.
“But everybody seems to be.”
Indeed, City Council Member Tom Rasmussen, vice-chair of the
council’s land-use committee, acknowledges that there are a number of
loopholes being used, allowing developers to build large projects
without design review. Currently, the land-use committee and DPD are
both looking for ways to deal with piecemealing and should have
proposals out later this year. “This has gone on way too long,”
Rasmussen says.
