LYNNWOOD — The city center is open for business.
Developers can start turning in applications for mid-rise or mixed-use buildings to create a new urban downtown, following City Council action Monday to put in place new rules that will take effect this month.
There are projects waiting in the wings, but nothing is official just yet, said David Kleitsch, the city’s economic development director.
“We are moving forward,” Kleitsch said.
The Council approved a zoning map and a bundle of ordinances after a passionate debate about how to protect future parks and plazas from development.
The Council inserted development regulations to protect four potential park and plaza sites. Developers who want to redevelop any of the four locations will have to negotiate with the city about how those sites will be protected.
The city center area is roughly 300 acres located northwest of Interstate 5, south of 194th Street SW and east of 44th Avenue W. as well as properties immediately west of 44th Avenue W.
In a 4-3 vote, the Council decided to evenly apply zoning regulations throughout the city center area. The Council made an exception for an area north of 196th Street, east of 36th Avenue W. and west of 33rd Avenue W., designating it as a “study area.”
The regulations also require ground-level retail shops in any new buildings along 198th Street, primarily between 44th Avenue and just east of 40th Avenue, as part of a new promenade.
Council President Loren Simmonds as well Council members Ed dos Remedios, Jim Smith and Ruth Ross voted for the zoning and development regulations.
Council members Ted Hikel, Mark Smith and Lisa Utter dissented.
The Council has been wrestling with the city center parks decision since February. The key question was whether the city should use a different zoning designation to “shield” potential park sites or surrounding areas from future development.
The majority on Monday said the city needs to treat land owners fairly by applying the zoning throughout the city center area. If the city wants to buy park land, it should buy it fast because land values keep climbing every year, said dos Remedios.
“If the city is interested in buying property for green sites, then we need to get in motion as well,” said dos Remedios. “We have an opportunity. We need to take that opportunity.”
The development regulations are not enough to protect the park and plaza sites that are critical to the city center’s success, Hikel said.
“In land planning matters, zoning controls,” Hikel said. “With mixed-use, high-rise zoning now in place, the city will have to pay for the land, the existing buildings, moving costs for existing businesses and any submitted future development plans on city center property it wishes to purchase.
“The Council majority has made a few landowners very rich at the expense of the plan that called for parks and plazas.”
During the debate, Hikel and Mark Smith tried to persuade their peers to approve city center zoning in only the areas that did not contain a future park or plaza site. The move would have left the existing zoning — which doesn’t permit high-rise buildings — in three larger areas.
The city needed more time to draft a master park plan and figure out a strategy to raise money to buy park land, they said.
Looking forward, the public and private sector will have to work together to make city center a success, said planning commission chair Patrick Decker.
“We have been trying to build trust and hopefully we will continue to move forward on that.”
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