By Johnson, on October 1st, 2012
(This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.)
35th Ave NE Neighborhood Walk
Saturday, October 6th, 9-11AM
Back in August, the 35th Ave NE Committee toured six neighborhoods throughout Seattle and Kirkland to see what we thought worked well and not so well. We took with us the knowledge gleaned from the 7-part Coffee Talk series and looked at what makes other neighborhoods great. This Saturday, October 6th, from 9AM-11AM, we’ll walk down 35th Ave NE to inventory business-types, discuss what works, what doesn’t work as well, and where we think are high priority locations.
All are welcome to join us during this walk. We may also have to stop in some of our local purveyors of edible goodness as part of our business-type inventory. If you plan on joining us, please come dressed appropriately for a 1 mile-ish walk, bring a camera and note pad to document your thoughts, and come a willingness to discuss your thoughts respectfully with others.
See you Saturday!
By Johnson, on October 1st, 2012
(This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.)
Over the past 7 months, we have been super lucky to have had presentations on a variety of land use planning concepts by a host of brilliant and local planning professionals as part of the Coffee Talk series. The Coffee Talks were sponsored by the Community Planning Assistance Team (CPAT), which is part of the Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association.
The final (seventh) of these Coffee Talks was presented on August 23rd by Bill LaPatra with Mithun. Bill’s presentation neatly wrapped a bow around the previous six Coffee Talks and brought many of the concepts together. His presentation touched on the benefits to businesses, walkability, transportation, and livability from land use planning. He also touched on how increased density and how it can be done well so it complements, as opposed to competes, with local character and desired outcomes. There are trade-offs though that come along with these benefits.
If you missed, the last Coffee Talk, a video is below along with a PDF version of Bill LaPatra’s presentation for your viewing pleasure. If you missed any of the previous Coffee Talks, you can link to and watch them all HERE. As always, the video is of terrible quality…my apologies.
Coffee Talk 7: The Trade Offs of Land Use Planning from Wedgwood Community Council on Vimeo.
By Johnson, on August 20th, 2012
(This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.)
 Coffee Talk 7: The Trade Offs of Land Use Planning
Thursday, August 23rd, 7-8:30PM
Wedgwood Presbyterian Church
Some say that the only constant in life is change. If this is true, change is sure to come to 35th Ave NE. Thanks to the Community Planning Assistance Team (CPAT) from the Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association, for the past six months we have been hosting land use planning presentation on various concepts related to improving 35th Ave NE. We learned about the conditions necessary for businesses to thrive, improving walkability, architectural design standards and principles, successful streetscape features and placemaking, the benefits of density, and incentivizing successful development.
However, through the discussion of some of these concepts it is clear that changes to 35th Ave NE could result in unanticipated impacts to the surrounding community. These impacts are often those things that are considered trade offs in development. This Thursday evening, at our FINAL Coffee Talk, Bill LaPatra with Mithun discusses some of those trade offs that come along with land use planning and ultimately a more successful commercial corridor.
As always, a special thanks to Top Pot Doughnuts for providing delicious goodness for these events.
By Johnson, on August 17th, 2012
(This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.)
About 10-15 years ago, the City of Kirkland began the process of revitalizing their downtown. The City developed a strategic plan to identify those things the City could do themselves and those things the City wanted to encourage private development to accomplish. Some of the City’s targeted improvements included improved transit, creating public gathering places, and improving traffic circulation. However, with all of these potential improvements, the City still required private development to come in and bring the types of projects and amenities that were important for improving the vitality and success of the downtown core experience. To do this, the City in part turned to incentives to encourage these things.
 Gathering place created at a focal intersection in exchange for a 'bonus floor' as part of a new development in Kirkland. While downtown Kirkland may not be the same scale and type of commercial corridor that we may aspire 35th Ave NE to become, the principal of using incentives to achieve those things important to the community may be something for us as a community to consider. In order for a development to occur, the financial reality of development is that it must “pencil out” (e.g., result in a reasonable return on investment to the developer). In this capitalist environment, economics generally wins out.
The question in these capitalist conditions is what is the appropriate “give and take” relationship in order to achieve not only a successful project economically for the developer, but also a successful project for the community. At our most recent Coffee Talk at the end of July, Ellen Miller-Wolfe, the Economic Development Director for the City of Kirkland shared some of the projects and methods they’ve used to encourage successful developments. Some of those incentives Kirkland has offered developers include additional height (a bonus floor) and reduced setbacks to incentivize such things as residential uses within the business core or including shared public parking. Now, the City is trying to incentivize specific types of retail uses including a grocery store downtown and movie theater.
 Safer pedestrian environment created as part of a new development in Kirkland. As we move forward with the 35th Ave NE neighborhood planning,we might ask ourselves,
What are those things we most want along 35th Ave NE and what are we willing to give up in order to get them?
One place we can begin to look to for those things of most value to the community are those business types and features called out in the Wedgwood Vision Plan community survey results. Another place to look may include those things that other neighborhoods have done within their commercial corridors that we may want to replicate. The 35th Ave NE Steering Committee has begun to tour other communities and are getting ideas.
Our FINAL Coffee Talk is next Thursday, August 23rd, at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church from 7-8:30PM. Join us to learn about the trade offs of land use planning. For more on Incentivizing Successful Development, relive the magic of Coffee Talk 6 and Ellen Miller-Wolfe’s fantastic presentation on what Kirkland has done.
Coffee Talk 6: Financial Realities of Development. Incentivizing Successful Development from Wedgwood Community Council on Vimeo.
By Johnson, on August 15th, 2012
(This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.)
The 35th Ave NE Steering Committee (35th Committee) has been a sponge throughout the Coffee Talk series. From learning what makes safe, walkable commercial corridors to the conditions necessary for our local businesses to survive and thrive, the 35th Committee has been learning about what can be done. Recently, the 35th Committee went on a field trip to three commercial corridors that have interesting things going on and provide a variety of ideas to consider bringing to 35th Ave NE. Below is a review of our field trip and a brief discussion of what each commercial corridor had to offer.
 Mixed-use development using terracing and setbacks to reduce sense of scale from the street. Kirkland
Downtown Kirkland is a rapidly changing community with a variety of housing types and densities intermixed within both new and older commercial developments. The City has the benefit of having Lake Washington and beautiful views which to plan around. However, the growth of Kirkland over the past 10 years provided us an opportunity to see how new and old development can coexist together, how developers have used architecture to soften the scale and bulk through setbacks, terracing, and variable ground floor heights. We also were able to see how recent development incorporated placemaking, streetscape features, and gathering places into their projects.
 A mixed-use development in Madrona enhances the corner and uses streetscape features well to create a gathering place. Madrona
For such a geographically small commercial corridor with zoning (NC-30) similar to that around 35th Ave NE and NE 75th Street, Madrona packs a punch. Madrona is not considered an “Urban Village” within the City’s Comprehensive Plan, yet it has managed to create a successful commercial corridor that appears to serve the surrounding neighborhood well. There are numerous eateries that function as destinations from the nearby single-family neighborhoods and a couple of key services (e.g., school, library, parks, deli/market, salons, coffee shop) which accommodate many of the other daily needs of nearby residents. The result is a small, neighborhood commercial corridor that has successfully incorporated a moderate degree of new development over the past 15-20 years while maintaining its character. My personal take home lesson from this neighborhood is that business types really do matter in the success and vitality of a commercial corridor.
Wallingford
Our field trip transitioned from a non-Urban Village in Madrona to Wallingford, an Urban Village with codified growth targets. While we weren’t able to walk the whole commercial corridor, we did take a long look at a relatively new mixed-use building at NE 45th St and Bagley Ave N. This building uses a variety of architectural techniques to soften the bulk and scale of the building, similar to what was seen in Kirkland, while also transitioning to the single-family residences to the south. This is one of the projects touched on by Catherine Benotto during the Coffee Talk 5: Density and its Benefits talk, whose firm Weber Thompson designed. Parking for this building is off of Bagley Ave N, south of ground-floor residences that open onto Bagley. My personal take home message from this neighborhood is that transitional zoning is not required, although good design is, in order to achieve a respectful and thoughtful transition transition to adjacent single-family residences.
View Larger Map
This coming Saturday, the 35th Committee will go on another field trip to the Greenwood/Phinney, Queen Anne, and California (West Seattle) commercial corridors.
Next Thursday, August 23rd, will be the final Coffee Talk of the 7-part series open to everyone. The topic of this final Coffee Talk will be on the trade offs of land use planning. Please join us from 7-8:30PM at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church.
By Johnson, on July 23rd, 2012
(This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.)
Coffee Talk 6: Financial Realities of Development. Incentivizing Successful Development – Wedgwood Presbyterian Church, Thursday, July 26th, 7-8:30PM (free doughnuts!)
Density. It’s a four letter word to some and can strike fear in predominantly single-family neighbors like ours along 35th Ave NE despite its many different forms and means of measurement. While at the Seattle City Light’s formal hearing last week on their plans to dispose of (sell) their 5 surplussed substations throughout NE Seattle, a frequent comment was something like this, “Whatever you do, I don’t want more density.”
Yet there are many benefits that density can bring to residential communities like ours, most of which were articulated in the Wedgwood neighborhood’s Vision Plan. Catherine Benotto, with the architecture and planning firm Weber Thompson, shared some of the benefits from increased density during our last Coffee Talk, which include increased neighborhood services, increased availability to transit (less driving!), increased walkability, more diverse retail, and more.
The fact is increased density is going to occur along 35th Ave NE based on the current zoning. The question is how to encourage the types of development that support a more walkable neighborhood with the strong retail corridor that includes more restaurants, hardware store, and book shop like the community has said it wants?
Our upcoming Coffee Talk on Thursday, July 26th at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church from 7-8:30PM, will feature just this. Ellen Miller-Wolfe, the Kirkland Director of Economic Development, will speak on the “Financial Realities of Development. Incentivizing Successful Development.” As always, the Coffee Talk is sponsored by our phenomenal neighbor, Top Pot Doughnuts.
Here is a terrible quality video of Coffee Talk 5: The Benefits of Density, featuring Catherine Benotto, for your viewing pleasure.
Coffee Talk 5: ”Density and its Benefits” from Wedgwood Community Council on Vimeo.
By valarie, on June 22nd, 2012
The latest in Wedgwood’s series of land-use-planning Coffee Talks was held on Thursday evening, June 21st, on the topic of Density and its Benefits. What is “density?” One definition is the number of people who live within a given land area. Another definition, from an architectural point of view, is the amount of land area used up by a building.
Continue reading A perspective: density and its benefits
By Johnson, on June 17th, 2012
(This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.)
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The old JCC Building at
35th and 86th. |
Coffee Talk 5: Density and its Benefits
Thursday, June 21st, 7-8:30PM
Temple Beth Shalom (6800 35th Ave NE)
For some along 35th Ave NE, the thought of a 4-story, mixed-use building at the intersection of NE 86th Street, created anxiety. This isn’t uncommon for predominantly residential neighborhoods, like those along 35th Ave NE. In fact, some came together to oppose the project despite the property’s Neighborhood Commercial-40 (NC40) zoning which allows this scale of development. Years on, the Jasper Apartment building is nearly complete (certificate of occupancy expected in July) and the first mixed-use residential building along 35th Ave NE (in Ravenna/Bryant or Wedgwood) is now a part of the landscape.
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New Jasper Apartments at
35th and 86th. |
On Thursday, June 21st, Catherine Benotto with Weber Thompson Architects will discuss the benefits to communities that comes from increased density. Increased residents by way of greater density provides tangible benefits that the community has identified as important values. Its important for us as a community to recognize these benefits and their roots if we are to take the fear of the “D word” away. This isn’t to say that there aren’t real trade offs that come along with land use planning and increased density, which will be discussed during Coffee Talk 7, but there are many benefits as well.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the final two Coffee Talks after this:
By Johnson, on June 6th, 2012
(This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.)
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| Brice Maryman of SvR Design |
What creates those great, vibrant ‘places’ where people congregate, socialize, and feel welcomed? Turns out…a lot of things.
In the latest of our ongoing Coffee Talk series, we were led on an visual tour by Brice Maryman with SvR Design as he shared various design concepts and conditions that lead to great place making. Creating that sense of place is an important step in establishing a well used commercial corridor that attracts shoppers and businesses while being desirable to walk through.
The conditions necessary for great places differ depending upon the community. For those that came to the latest Coffee Talk, lots of characteristics were identified of great places and not-so-great places. Here’s what we came up with:
- Places to sit
- People converge, interact, and create happenstance community
- Place for commerce
- There’s a reason to be there (a draw)
- There are center and edge spaces
- Approachable and inclusive to everyone
- Evokes emotion and meaning
- It communicates shared experiences and community
- Sense of familiarity and stirs memories
- Appropriate scale
- A void space ties together destinations
- Dynamic, interactive, and fun
- Becomes symbolic or iconic
- Becomes a focal point
What are the elements of not-so-good places?
- Uncomprehensible
- Undefined edges
- Lacks focal point
- Featureless
- Barriers to entry
- Not an appropriate scale
- Monochromatic and boring
- Exclusive
- Sense of fake-ness
In addition to this visual tour of place making, Brice discussed recent projects his firm has completed that incorporate place making into streetscape design. You can read Valarie’s perspective of the latest Coffee Talk here.
As always, we’ve got the Coffee Talk in true-to-form poor quality for all to watch and relive the magic of the night. Note that the location of the upcoming Coffee Talks may be changing due to scheduling conflicts at Messiah Lutheran on Thursday nights.
By valarie, on May 25th, 2012
 What features create “a sense of place?” At the Coffee Talk on Thursday evening, May 24, we considered why some places attract people more than others. As we looked at pictures of places which we recognized, we considered why, for example, the fountain at Seattle Center is such a magnet and always has crowds of people around it. The fountain appeals to the senses (the sight and sound of the water, the feel of the spray on your face), it has movement, and it is accessible – in fact, you can get right into the water if you wish. In contrast, city streets which have too much pavement, buildings with blank walls and no color are lifeless, boring and oppressive.
We want Wedgwood’s commercial corridor to be attractive and walkable, with interesting storefronts. As more development takes place along 35th Ave NE, what influence can we have to bring about thoughtful, beautiful, interactive, and sustainable design in streetscapes and buildings?
Continue reading Coffee Talk recap: successful place-making
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