As promised, the Magnolia Neighborhood Planning Council has filed suit against the city of Seattle in King County Superior Court, challenging its plan to redevelop the former Fort Lawton Army Reserve Base for housing. Earlier this month we reported the group was raising money to retain an attorney.
The Planning Council alleges that in designating the reserve base for housing, the city did not follow state — or its own — environmental regulations. They also allege that the city’s plan conflicts with the Discovery Park master plan.
The city’s proposal calls for a new mixed-income neighborhood, with up to 216 units of housing on the 34-acre site. An estimated 144 to 161 single-family houses and duplex townhomes would be built, as well as a 55-unit apartment building. Eighty-five units would be set aside for homeless families and single seniors. Six self-help home ownership units would be developed by Habitat for Humanity.
The city’s law department is reviewing the case and did not comment on the lawsuit.
The redevelopment plan was passed last month by the council and submitted Monday to the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Vote Gregoire // Oct 18, 2008 at 6:50 pm
We need this housing to help UP men like Mr Kingbird!!!!!!!!!!!!
2 Monica // Oct 19, 2008 at 9:56 am
this makes me sick. a classic case of NIMBY. Mangnolia is the kind of place where people will donate their $5 to the Mission for 10 thanksgiving meals but when is comes to sharing their own neighborhood they sue the city. Lack of compassion is clear. Homeless people will sleep in Discovery Park whether or not there is housing. but it’s the neighborhood planning council who will decide if it’s cold and wet or warm and dry. and just think…if the economy goes belly up as predicted…maybe those snooty Magnolians will be sparing for a place in the park soon themselves.
3 Vote Gregoire // Oct 19, 2008 at 10:02 am
They just dont want to share their neighborhood with people like Mr Kingbird.
4 Vote Gregoire // Oct 19, 2008 at 10:03 am
Homeless Sex offender NIMBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 Robin Budd // Oct 19, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Please, Monica, stop screaming NIMBY long enough to listen for a moment. Some of us believe in the sanctity of Discovery Park, as a park. You have entirely missed the point of the lawsuit. The point is to prevent property that should rightfully be part of Discovery Park from being developed as high-density housing, not just for the homeless, but for anyone. In fact, the majority of the housing proposed for the site is market-rate.
The Discovery Park Master Plan states that the Army Reserve area is a non-park use of land, inside the park, and it should be acquired for the park. The City has dismissed this plan while advancing its agenda of forcing high-density housing in every place it can. High-density is the City’s pat answer to growth management, and in the same way that a child with a hammer thinks that everything is a nail, the City applies the solution of high-density willy-nilly. This is not urban planning at its best. The City should honor the Discovery Park Master Plan and the wisdom of those who drafted it. In a passage that is absolutely prescient, it says:
“In the years to come, there will be almost irresistible pressure to carve out areas of the park, in order to provide sites for various civic structures….The pressures for those sites may constitute the greatest single threat to the Park. They must be resisted with resolution.”
As density increases, so too will the need for parks and natural wildlife areas. We have an incredible opportunity to realize the Discovery Park Master Plan by adding the Fort Lawton property, most of which is buffer zone for heron habitat, to the Park. By failing to heed the desire of Magnolia residents and labeling any opposition as NIMBY-ism, city officials alienate citizens and come across as disingenuous at best.
Most Magnolia residents would welcome an honest discussion with the City about how to accommodate the homeless here in Magnolia. But that is a separate issue. The issue relevant to this discussion is that the Fort Lawton land should not be developed for housing, of any type, end of story.
Best Regards,
Robin Budd, Seattle
http://www.fortlawton.org
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