The owners of 20 acres of prime Edmonds waterfront real estate continued their march toward redevelopment this week with two radically different announcements.
First, the property owners formalized a $144,800 contract with LMN Architects – the firm that participated in July’s 33-member work group – that will keep LMN involved in a public redevelopment process through at least October.
Second, and more unexpectedly, Al Dykes, the owner of the Waterfront Antique Mall property, unveiled a design contest for community members that promises $15,000 for individuals and student groups who come up with the best redevelopment concepts.
Together, the three property owners – Dykes, the McNaughton Group and the Port of Edmonds – are planning to ask the city to rewrite its development rulebook for the waterfront sometime in the coming months.
New codes will help set the tone for Edmonds for the next 50 to 70 years, Port director Chris Keuss has said. The new codes would also likely raise current height restrictions.
Cash prizes could help set the tone for the discussion, Dykes said this week.
“In the past when issues have been discussed in the community, I have been disappointed in how politicized things get,” said Dykes, who suggested a vocal minority has dominated redevelopment issues in the past. “This is an effort to involve the broader community so that they can themselves be involved in the process in a broader way.”
The goal with the design contest is to educate the public about the trade-offs between new development rules, which would allow for more progressive development, and inaction – which would likely keep the property as is for the foreseeable future, Dykes said.
While all three property owners are helping pay LMN’s contract, Dykes will support the design contest himself.
The cash is part of a broader effort that also includes a new Web site unveiled this week – Edmonds2030.com – and a 40-foot recreation vehicle that Dykes has parked on the old Safeway property.
The public needs to get involved, as without public pressure, the City Council might block redevelopment as it has in the past, he said.
Involving the public is also what the other property owners are hoping to do with LMN, Port director Keuss said.
As part of the new contract, LMN will develop three different proposals for the property, and then present them to the 33-member work group, which will reconvene sometime in early September to review the plans.
LMN will then incorporate that feedback, and host a series of public events showcasing all three proposals during late-September and early-October, Keuss said.
In the next few weeks, the Port will also set up a storefront at Harbor Square where it will showcase current documents about the redevelopment effort, he said.
“We understand that this is a very important project for the whole community,” he said. “We are doing things that probably have never been done before in trying to involve the whole community in this process.”
That is Dykes’ intention, too.
Although Dykes has dedicated $15,000 in prize money, there aren’t yet rules for how the winners will be decided, said Roger Harman, a commercial real estate appraiser who is helping Dykes’ publicity efforts.
The money will be split into three different prizes, Harman said. One $5,000 prize will go to the best idea from any individual, group or organization. One $5,000 prize will go to the best idea coming from Edmonds Community College, and one $5,000 prize will go to the best idea coming from an area high school.
The process for selecting a winner hasn’t been decided, though. The citizens themselves will likely be tasked with choosing a winner, Harman said.
“That is the easy part,” he said. “The hard part is getting good, cogent, insightful and visionary input for everybody to choose from.”
The idea is that the designs will be posted on Edmonds2030.com, where registered users can post comments and rate plans. The site will display all ideas, but sort the plans in order of most popular to least, he said.
News about the redevelopment process will also be posted online, and Dykes intends to keep a low profile generally.
“We are trying to do everything we can to open the doorway,” Harman said. “We don’t know whether the citizens are going to pick up on it or not. If they do, though, they’ve got a forum that belongs to them that they will control.”
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