No “corruption,” “cronyism” or “favoritism”

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On February 16 at the City Council meeting, Town Center resident Michael Rutt spoke. He said he was “angry” and said he was dealing with  “corrupt people” and subject to “favoritism” and “cronyism” with respect to the E zone of the Town Center.

The E zone is a small area in the SE Quadrant involving the Lutheran Church and four residences that were zoned at the current R-1 (one unit per acre). This E zone has come under withering criticism by John Galvin and Rutt over the past two years because a Planning Commissioner, Stan Bump, lives in the E zone. Galvin and Rutt repeated have charged he received special consideration for this zoning. A previous column discusses this.

The charges are without merit. Below is a cryptic analysis of Rutt’s allegations.

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Council nixes steroid Town Center Plan

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The City Council last night (Feb. 16) voted 5-2 against the plan by some landowners in the SE Quadrant to add a Docket Request in increase the commercial density in their quadrant to 300,000 sf from 90,000 sf and to add about 300 residential units to their allocation.

They back-peddled from their request that the entire Town Center be upzoned so that they would get their “proportionate” increase after this column read their Docket request closely and discovered what they were truly asking for was 2 million sf in commercial zoning throughout the entire Town Center and a 28% increase in residential zoning, or an additional 540 units across the entire Town Center.

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Galvin supported 45,000 sf for his quadrant, praised plan

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John Galvin, one of the landowners in the Town Center’s Southeast Quadrant who is asking for a 2 million square feet upzoning for the entire Town Center and 300,000 sf in his quadrant, supported the “preferred alternative” approved by the 2007 City Council–which provided for 45,000 sf of commercial space in his quadrant.

Galvin also praised the five year process that led to the Preferred Alternative.

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Council to decide on 2m sf Town Center request Feb. 16

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The City Council is scheduled to decide this Tuesday, February 16, on whether to grant a Docket Application to amend the Comprehensive Plan to provide for 2 million square feet of commercial space and a 20% increase in residential zoning for the new Town Center.

The two posts that follow this one explain all that needs to be explained.

No further Town Center upzoning needed

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The Planning Commission will hand over to the City Council on Feb. 9 the recommended regulations to implement the Town Center Plan adopted by the Council in 2008. The Plan calls for development of 600,000 sf of commercial space and 2,000 residential units.

The Town Center straddles 228th Ave. with the geographic center at SE 4th and 228th. The TC is in four quadrants, two on each side of 228th. The Eastside is assigned 180,000 sf of commercial (office/retail) and the Westside has 320,000 sf of which 90,000 sf is immediately adjacent City Hall and the new Library–forming a cluster next to the developing Sammamish Commons. The other Westside commercial-retail, amounting to 230,000 sf is clustered on SE 4th at about 220th to form the “core” commercial/retail center, on the north side of Sammamish Commons.

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