Neighbors oppose cottage homes

A Seattle architect wants to squeeze five cottages with parking for eight cars on land that currently holds one home on Fremont Avenue in Shoreline.

But neighbors say that’s too much density for their residential neighborhood and have written the city in opposition to the development.

The city is accepting public comment on the proposed development until Sept. 20.

Todd Kilburn of Sandler Architects has applied for a conditional use permit to build the high density cottage home project that would put five homes and two eight-car garages on 18,000 square feet of land in an area that is currently zoned low-density residential.

The city allows this kind of development in higher density areas under its cottage development ordinance. But for the development to happen in low density residential areas, as on Fremont Avenue, a conditional use permit must be obtained from the city.

The city was one of the first in the state to adopt a cottage home ordinance in 2000 and the concept has received national attention and awards. But it has also received criticism, and the city is looking at refining its code this spring, said Paul Cohen, a project manager for the city.

The cottage-home ordinance allows very small compact single family homes to be built in a colony with shared open space. It limits the size of a cottage home to 1,000 square feet, with the main floor no more than 800 square feet. If the main floor is less than 650 square feet, the density of development may be increased.

“Cottage housing is an attempt to address problems that have come up with infill development required by the county’s growth management act,” said Shoreline planning and development director Tim Stewart.

King County has assigned Shoreline a housing target that says the city must produce about 100 new dwelling units a year for the next 20 years. Because Shoreline doesn’t have a lot of open space, the only place for development to occur is on infill land.

But what’s often been the case is that developers build huge homes on small lots that loom over neighboring homes and are out of scale for the neighborhoods they are in, Stewart said.

So the city looked for a compromise that allows for higher density on infill land, but gives the city some oversight on the design and size of the homes built there, in order to protect the character of the neighborhood, he said.

But neighbors say this cottage housing project is out of character with their neighborhood and want the permit denied.

“In our neighborhood there are 16 single residence homes. If the developer puts in five homes where once only two homes are allowed, it will change the whole character of the neighborhood,” said Mike Widman, who lives across the street from the site. “To do this the developer would have to cut down over 70 percent of the trees on this heavily wooded lot.”

Other cottage homes in Shoreline were sold for around $200,000 a home. But neighbors say at the meeting the developer had with them, he shared his plans to rent the units rather than sell them.

“This offers him a back door way of establishing multi-family rental units in an area where it’s not allowed,” Widman said, adding he is concerned about the value of homes in the neighborhood and worries that the rental homes could quickly become slums.

Carolyn Morris lives next door to the project site and said “a big issue we feel strongly about is that this is an over concentration in our neighborhood. They’ve put a number of cottage home projects in Shoreline, and they are on arterials, near some commercial areas.

“We are totally a residential side street,” she said. “The code does not allow apartment houses here, and these cottage homes are the same in terms of density.”