With this year’s election season entering its final three weeks, candidates Joe Hauth and Catherine Stanford are both aiming to fill the seat being vacated by councilman Roger Olstad. And both have ideas about how to accommodate density and new growth within the city of Lake Forest Park.
Hauth is focused on keeping Lake Forest Park “family-friendly” and a “great place to raise kids.” Part of accomplishing this, he said, is by addressing housing and development pressures in a proactive way that involves engaging neighborhoods in regional issues.
“There are some pretty stiff discussions that are going to be going on and have been going on about how Lake Forest Park should accommodate increased development pressures,” Hauth said. “There will be discussions about what we want Lake Forest Park to look like.”
Stanford has observed meetings with the owner of the Towne Centre property, Madison Marquett, and believes it is critical to have an open dialogue as the process for redeveloping Towne Centre moves forward.
“An initial proposal actually identified how to provide housing on the upper lot and not a lot in the way of enhancing the commercial part,” she said. She would like to continue discussion about guidelines that would allow for a mixed-use development with commercial use on the ground floor and three floors above, possibly for residential housing purposes.
“l understand what it takes to make things pencil out,” she said. “We need to keep energy going with (Towne Centre) and continue that dialogue.”
Hauth supports the city’s guidelines for Towne Centre redevelopment, especially the incentives for using environmental practices. He said he believes in working closely with developers so that they may fully understand development guidelines.
In addition to retail space, Hauth said there is room in the city for more diverse housing options as well but added that the type of additional housing may be specific to neighborhoods within the city.
“We are a city but we do have different neighborhoods with different characteristics so perhaps we should have a conversation with neighborhoods and ask what would you like to see and how would you like to accomplish it?” he said.
Stanford supports cottage housing as “an appropriate lens to begin looking at some (housing) issues” and said the city needs to do a better job of educating people about cottage housing.
“I think there are a number of reasons for us to take a look at (cottage housing) as a tool and approach the idea carefully,” she said. “I think it’s important to think about where it’s located. Ideally we would want it near transportation.”
Hauth and Stanford both want to make it easier for non-motorists to travel in Lake Forest Park if elected to the City Council.
Stanford supports improving streets for sidewalks, along 178th Street in particular. Hauth is concerned about an increase in traffic in Lake Forest Park and is interested in the potential of using traffic calming devices as well as looking at ways to connect arterials.
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