Developer George Choi wants to build a 12-story building on Aurora Avenue North. The only potential problem is that the city’s maximum building height is currently six floors.
But due to a proposal for form-based code and zoning changes at the South Aurora Triangle, where Choi’s property is located, he could be in luck.
“It is waiting time right now,” said Choi, whose proposed development is called “Shoreline Commons.”
Anticipating spending $42 million on the development, Choi, together with five other investors, hopes to build three buildings with a plaza located in the middle of the structures.
One building would be purely residential with as many as 100 units, a second building would be used for commercial purposes and a third would house a bank. Choi hopes the residential building can be built 130 feet high, or 12 stories high, which would allow “views of the beautiful Olympic Peninsula,” he said.
At the end of January, the Shoreline City Council approved docketing a staff-initiated amendment for the South Aurora Triangle, which is bound by North 145th Street on the south, Aurora Avenue North on the east and the Interurban Trail on the Northwest. There are about three dozen parcels located within the South Aurora Triangle.
“Docketing means it’s put on the Planning Commission calendar for a hearing at some point,” said Tovar, adding that both zoning and Comprehensive Plan changes would be considered together. “It is possible the council could eventually modify or deny the proposal.”
With the council’s go-ahead, Tovar can now start developing text for proposed changes as well as move forward on SEPA compliance and public process. He expects a public hearing to be set by June.
Proposed amendments would only be approved by the council after a public process. The council approves a docket of proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendments once a year.
If approved, form-based code would regulate land use in broad parameters, removing traditional limits on individual unit size and density of residential uses, with design flexibility and variety from parcel to parcel, according to city documents.
The proposal for code and zoning changes to the South Aurora Triangle surfaced after Choi expressed interest in building a 12-story high structure, said Tovar.
“Mr. Choi raised the question at the end of last year,” said Tovar, “and rather than look at his parcel in isolation, we looked at the entire area.”
Allowing developments that are 12 stories high is practical in the sense that it would no more than double the existing maximum height, he said.
“A height that is twice the number of floors (currently allowed) is probably the high end of where the community would feel comfortable,” Tovar said.
Other developers also have approached city staff with ideas to develop the area, but Choi is “definitely in the lead,” said economic development manager Tom Boydell, adding that it’s speculative to be the first in the market.
The investor group with which Choi is involved is primarily comprised of Asians, which reflects the growing and diverse Asian population in Shoreline, said Boydell. The development proposed by Choi has financial assistance coming from Korea and other areas, like Southern California, he said, which makes it unique.
“This is one of our tests in doing form based code and trying to describe the appropriate building envelope and features that we would like to see,” said Boydell.
One feature Boydell hopes to see included in plans for the Shoreline Commons is pedestrian corridors to allow people to easily connect to the Interurban Trail, “so the new buildings don’t become a barrier to accessing the trail.”
The South Aurora Triangle was selected as an optimal site for the proposal for various reasons: it abuts commercial land uses on two sides and is separated from low density residential uses on the third side by a segment of the Interurban Trail. Also, the area is located on the first mile of the renovated Aurora Corridor, and the Interurban Trail bridges link the South Aurora Triangle with the rest of the bicycle and pedestrian trail system, according to city documents.
The key question is whether there is really a market for this type of development in the city, said Tovar. The proposal may result in raising expectations and increasing land costs, which could effectively inhibit development, he said.
“We want to go slow and look at this as a pilot,” said Tovar.
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