The Floating Homes Association board learned of a troubling development on the 2466 Westlake dock at their meeting in January. The Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) had denied a permit to rebuild a houseboat. The homeowners wanted to build on a cement float with a larger second story and an underwater basement. So what were the issues?
Wanting more space after their daughter Lucy arrived last year, Mark and Heather Lakefish (see Arrested Remodel) hired an architect and a well-known and oft used environmental consultant. The analysis by their environmental consultant was that since the existing log float already extended about 15 feet down, a design of cement extending 12 feet underwater would not affect the environmental footprint of the structure, and might arguably improve it in that the new float would be shallower and provide less habitat for predators of migrating salmon.
The DPD, however, ruled that the basement must be unheated and limited to a maximum of six feet deep. Given that projects like this have been approved around the lake for years, the Lakefishes appealed.
Marty Greer, a neighbor of the Lakefishes and Vice President of the FHA, suggested they come to the February Board meeting. They did so, and brought their attorney, Pat Schneider, to help explain their situation.
Schneider pointed out a number of issues. There was the apparent departure from policy, which was alarming enough, but there were other oddities as well. Without citation, DPD assumes a typical float depth of 4 to 6 feet.
The FHA's attorney, Peter Eglick, was asked to look at the decision. He agreed it raised a lot of questions. He, too, was struck by the lack of supporting evidence or law for some of the conditions imposed on the project. In addition, he pointed out that if the State Shorelines Hearing Board denied the Lakefish appeal, then the decision would become precedent, applying subsequently to similar projects.
A call to Seattle City Council Land Use Chair Sally Clark's office about this did not turn up any pending legislation on the issue, except to note that the city's Shorelines Master Program (SMP) was due to be revised in the next few years. When Sally Clark's legislative aide called the DPD, he was reminded that most of our existing floats are exempt from needing a Shoreline Development permit, because the project costs for installing floatation is usually under the $2,500 threshold currently given in the SMP .
Peter Eglick said he needed more information. So about a week after the board meeting, he and several board members met around coffee at Louisa's on Eastlake with three of the people responsible for most of the floatation work on houseboats, contractor Sid McFarland, Greg Johnston and diver Chuck Murray. Chuck works with both Sid and Greg from time to time, and says he's been under maybe 85%-90% of the houseboats on the lake. Chuck and Greg, in fact, did the survey for the Lakefish permit application. Overall, they said, our floats extend much deeper than the "typical" 4 to 6 feet cited in the decision. What with some floats having two layers of logs or more and with barrels and Styrofoam accumulated over many years, a more usual depth is probably twice that, or 8 to 12 feet. Sometimes, they agreed, the floats go down much deeper.
At the very least, then, there is some dispute over the facts upon which the decision is based. This, and the decision's lack of citation, gives the Lakefishes hope that DPD will simply withdraw the decision and try again. This would be highly unusual, though. The more likely result is that the decision will land in front of the State Shorelines Hearings Board on June 4.
As of this writing, with the situation still evolving, the FHA is waiting on events.