Hearing: Vulcan / UW South Lake Union Spot Zone

The Lake Union Opportunity Alliance (LUOA) has alerted us to a City Council hearing concerning a spot zone proposed for the South Lake Union area, We copy their announcement to their members here --

Dear Fellow South Lake Union Stakeholders,

Update on Vulcan/UW Phase III –The City is sponsoring a ‘Text Amendment’ for Vulcan and UW to build a new R & D facility on the block bounded by Mercer, Dexter, Republican and 8th Avenue.  LUOA is very much for a UW R & D facility on this block, but one built within the rules and codes as is their operating facility is across 8th Avenue. But they want to build it to 125’ in height (with 15’ of ventilating equipment on most of the roof making it 140’ in some places), whereas the current zoning is for 65’ in height (with a 20’ increase for R & D facilities like this to 85’).  This represents an increase of 47% in height over what the 85’ the code allows and 92% over the underlying, 65’ high zoning.  No significant bonuses are being offer for that increase that is totally out of line with current zoning and the surrounding neighborhood.

LUOA’s Position -  LUOA is very much for this UW R & D facility in South Lake Union on this block, but built according the rules, codes and regulations.  As proposed, it does not follow the rules, and LUOA is opposing it on those grounds.  See the six key points and supporting data on our web page: http://www.luoa.org for the details.

YOUR ACTION AND HELP IS NEEDED NOW.   There will be a public hearing on this on November 12th starting at 5:30pm in City Hall, the 2nd Floor Council Chambers.  You can enter City Hall from west side of 5th Avenue, between Cherry and James Streets.   All six members of the LUOA board will be there to make public comments and cover the six points.  If any of you feel so inclined, it would be important for you to come and comment on any part of this issue you feel appropriate. 

If you can’t come to the public hearing or  want to reinforce any message you give, you can send an email to the Chair of this important committee, Sally Clark, at Sally.clark@seattle.gov  Numbers count so if you can please make your feelings know to the decision makers.

If you have questions please send them to: Contact@luoa.org and we’ll try to answer them.

One of our board members, Kevin McCarthy, has also recently begun blogging on the SLU area, and you can follow (and comment on) his posts at www.seattlepi.com. Look for the area called "In South Lake Union", and Kevin usually posts on Tuesday's. Here are two different posts related to the UR Phase III proposal:

Did Vulcan Forge a Divine Deal with the City?
http://blog.seattlepi.com/insouthlakeunion/archives/182511.asp

Blocks, Blockheadedness, and Accidental Upzoning
http://blog.seattlepi.com/insouthlakeunion/archives/183238.asp

We look forward to seeing you on the 12th of November!

The Lake Union Opportunity Alliance Board of Directors