Townhouses: Good, Bad and Ugly

06/06/2008

No public notice. High fences. Awkward garages. These are some of the complaints Seattle city officials are getting about burgeoning town houses. Now the city plans to overhaul rules governing them. KUOW's Amy Radil joined city officials on a tour of townhouse highs and lows.

TOM EANES IS A SEATTLE ARCHITECT AND PLANNING COMMISSIONER. WHEN IT COMES TO UGLY TOWNHOUSES, HE DOESN’T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN.

EANES: "The worst designs I've seen are actually in Greenwood but that's a little bit out of our way."

WE GO TO A LARGE DEVELOPMENT IN GREENLAKE INSTEAD. EANES POINTS OUT THE UNIFORMITY: THE HIGH–FENCED YARDS, THE SHADOWY PARKING COURTS, THE LACK OF WINDOWS. SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER SALLY CLARK SAYS MANY OF THE CRITICISMS OF DENSITY ARE REALLY CRITICISMS OF BAD DESIGN.

CLARK: "But the design itself really leads people to say, 'Good Lord, look at that canyon of fencing, I can't see any of my neighbors. Look at this dead zone that's supposed to be a parking court but doesn't serve to be parking anything.'"

CLARK SAYS IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY. AS PLANNING COMMITTEE CHAIR, CLARK WILL HEAD UP THE CITY COUNCIL'S OVERHAUL OF ZONING REGULATIONS FOR 'MULTIFAMILY' HOUSING THIS SUMMER. SHE SAYS THE TRICK WILL BE TO CREATE INCENTIVES WHILE STILL KEEPING TOWNHOUSES AFFORDABLE.

CLARK: "It's in many ways not the fault of the developer, the developer is working within a market system and working within a regulatory system and, yeah, they're going to figure out what works."

NEXT UP IS THE GOOD EXAMPLE OF TOWNHOUSE DESIGN. EANES SAYS THESE UNITS IN RAVENNA WEREN'T THAT MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE, BUT THERE'S A GREATER FEELING OF OPENNESS. THE FENCES ARE WROUGHT IRON. THE BACK YARDS FACE ONE ANOTHER AND ARE NICELY LANDSCAPED. AND THE SPACE BETWEEN GARAGES IS WIDER, AND PAVED WITH BRICK.

EANES: "Kids could play in here if they were riding a little tricycle or something."

THE QUESTION IS HOW TO ENCOURAGE – OR REQUIRE – MORE TOWNHOUSES LIKE THESE. MAYOR GREG NICKELS HAS STARTED THE ZONING OVERHAUL BY FORWARDING HIS PROPOSAL TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION. THE DOCUMENT ISN'T PUBLIC YET, BUT EANES HAS THIS ASSESSMENT.

EANES: "I don't think it really addresses the issue satisfactorily at all. And I think the Planning Commission will take a stance against the Executive’s proposal for townhouses and propose something quite different."

EVEN IF THE REGULATIONS ARE CHANGED, THE SHEER COST OF BUILDING IN SEATTLE MAKES INNOVATION DIFFICULT.

THE CITY OF PORTLAND RECENTLY HELD A COMPETITION FOR NEW TOWNHOUSE DESIGNS AROUND COURTYARDS, AND ONE WINNER WAS THE SEATTLE FIRM ZAI, INCORPORATED. THEIR WINNING DESIGN FEATURED PRIVATE AND SHARED GREEN SPACE, WITH PARKING OFF IN ONE CORNER. SHIRLEY TOMITA IS A PARTNER IN ZAI. SHE SAYS THEY'D HOPED TO BUILD THE PROJECT IN SEATTLE.

TOMITA: "We really couldn't find a property that was affordable, as well as large enough to accommodate the number of units for the project to pencil out."

THEY'RE NOW PLANNING TO BUILD THEIR TOWNHOUSE DEVELOPMENT ON WHIDBEY ISLAND. MEANWHILE TOMORROW ON CAPITOL HILL, COUNCIL MEMBER SALLY CLARK IS HOSTING A FORUM ENTITLED, 'TOWNHOMES: CAN THE PATIENT BE SAVED?'

AMY RADIL, KUOW NEWS.

℗ Copyright 2008, KUOW News