Old downtown not necessarily historic, critics say

Published 6:59 pm Friday, February 29, 2008

Downtown Edmonds’ heart is its quaint feel, its art galleries and its restaurants. Its soul is the waterfront, says one of its most prominent proprietors.

Downtown’s history, though? According to Joan Longstaff, a longtime resident and realtor and a past president of the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce, history isn’t really the draw.

Longstaff is one of the loudest critics of a proposal which could change design standards for downtown’s retail core, and rename it the “Heritage Center of Edmonds.”

The city’s planning board was set to consider the plan Feb. 27, after the Enterprise deadline. If approved by the planning board, the Heritage Center concept would be forwarded to the Edmonds City Council.

“I don’t think anybody comes down here to our business area for our historic buildings,” Longstaff said from outside the former Powers House she owns at 542 Main St., the oldest building in the retail core. “This area should be retail and retail friendly.”

Formally called the “BD1” district, the downtown retail core is composed of buildings along Main Street, from Third Avenue to Sixth Avenue, and along Fifth Avenue from Maple Street to nearly Bell Street.

The area is small, but it sets the flavor for downtown, said Rob Chave, Edmonds’ development services director.

A 2004 survey of historic buildings in Edmonds listed 11 in the retail core, including Longstaff’s building which was built in 1890, the former “Leyda Building” where Starbucks now is which was built in 1924, and the Edmonds Theater which was built in 1920.

Historic districts are a new idea in Edmonds, so Chave understands the property’s owners caution, but he believes there is value in pressing on.

The design standards would create a set of guidelines for any new developments or remodels in the retail core to help ensure the district’s character remains the same, he said.

“The zoning standards are still the same. Uses still haven’t changed. There aren’t any changes in parking,” Chave said. “This just provides a little more specificity in the design standards that would apply to all the buildings in that area.”

Bob Gregg, the developer who is nearing completion on a total renovation of Old Milltown — the circa 1900 Yost Garage, which is also on the city’s historic buildings list — calls himself a “firm believer” in updated design standards.

Gregg sat on a panel which helped create and implement similar standards in Seattle’s Greenlake area. The area has been rejuvenated, he told the planning board during a Feb. 13 public hearing.

But others, like Longstaff, are concerned about the effort.

For one thing, the effort to rename the district feels like a dangerous rhetorical play, said Chris Fleck, who owns Puget Sound Tax Services as well as the ZuKafe building in the retail core.

The area does not seem historic, and its buildings are not beautiful, Fleck said.

“I cannot think of anything that is worth saving,” he said. “There are not any architectural masterpieces.”

Longstaff believes her building is. A former blacksmith’s home, it offers unique history and a unique flavor and Edmonds can benefit from that, she said.

But that benefit doesn’t belong in the retail core, she said. It sits too far from the sidewalk, and doesn’t invite shoppers into the art gallery it now hosts.

Longstaff wants to move her building from Main Street to Fourth Avenue, where it be more in character, and could help the effort to create an Arts Corridor.

“This building is a joy,” she said. “But it is not the highest and best use of the land.”

The address at 524 Main St. should have an inviting retail space, preferably one with ground level 12-foot high glass windows and clever window displays.

“I do not want to take down a house and put up a big box,” she said Feb. 26. “But I do want to create something that is retail friendly and will actually contribute to the community.”

Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com