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IMAGES COURTESY OF CITY OF TACOMA

VIEWPOINTS. Hilltop is shown now, lower, and with increased height limits above. Yellow represents the first through third floors, orange represents fourth and blue represents fifth and sixth.

Increased height Tacoma’s future?

By John Larson

Downtown Tacoma has seen a building boom over the past decade, with developers investing in new office buildings and condominium towers. The commercial districts scattered around the city, in contrast, have seen little of this action.

The city of Tacoma began designating these areas as mixed-use centers in 1993. Three years later it is creating zoning regulations for these centers, of which there are now 17.

Donna Stenger, a planner with the city, has had many conversations on height limits with architects, developers and neighborhood groups.

With the exception of Stadium District, height limits are 45 feet in mixed-use centers. Stenger said developers would like to see a higher limit before they move forward with future projects.

She used an example of a developer purchasing an old, three-story building and demolishing it. With a 45-foot cap, their new building could only be four stories – not enough to justify their investment, Stenger explained.

Structured parking is another concern for developers, she explained. In the Tacoma market, developers cannot charge as high a rate for parking as they can in Seattle – meaning covered parking likely would require more floors of retail or housing above to make a project here pencil out for the investors.

At one point local developer Prium was interested in purchasing the former Browne’s Star Grill property along MLK. The city purchased the parcel in hopes of bringing in a developer who would revitalize Hilltop with a mixed-use project. Prium eventually backed away. Stenger said the 45-foot height limit is one reason they lost interest.

VISIONS OF THE FUTURE ON HILLTOP

Stenger and Brian Boudet, a planner with the city, gave a presentation at a recent meeting of Upper Tacoma Business District. The mixed-use center here runs along Martin Luther King, Jr. Way from Sixth Avenue to South 15th Street. The area for proposed height increases would be along the MLK corridor between South 11th Street and the alley behind ‘J’ Street.

They showed a three-dimensional production of Hilltop that illustrated how higher buildings along Martin Luther King, Jr. Way might look from a variety of angles, including street level and aerial views. The design firm that created it also did one for Proctor District.

Boudet said allowing for taller buildings could benefit the area, “but we don’t want them so tall that they create a canyon effect.”

There are different visions of the neighborhood from different groups, with some wanting a 35-foot cap while others favor buildings as tall as 100 feet, Boudet explained.

The overall vision is to concentrate growth in the core of this mixed-use district.

The majority of buildings in all the mixed-use areas in Tacoma are one or two stories tall, he noted.

Stenger has also heard these varying opinions. For the purpose of the presentation, “65 feet is what we are bringing to you,” she said.

Felix Flannigan is executive director of Martin Luther King Housing Development Association, a non-profit organization that is building a mixed-use project in the neighborhood.

He inquired about zoning codes for Stadium District, where taller heights are allowed. This is due in part to apartment buildings that already existed before the city established the mixed-use designations.

Flannigan said a cap at 65 feet would deter for-profit developers. “You need to have the window open wide enough to allow developers to have choices,” he said. “We need that more than any other neighborhood in the city.”

SHADOWS OF DOUBT IN PROCTOR

City staff gave a presentation at the North End Neighborhood Council meeting May 5.

Peter Huffman, director of the city’s Planning Department, told the audience that height limits is the biggest issue they face in considering zoning changes to the mixed-use centers.

He said that developers tell him that a 45-foot height limit makes many projects economically unfeasible.

Boudet gave a presentation on Proctor District. Proposed height increases would occur in an area 200 feet from the center line of the street on both sides of Proctor Street and North 26th Street. Where adjacent to houses, such as behind Metropolitan Market, floors would have to be set back 10 feet for every 10 feet of distance from houses, a measure intended to reduce shadows.

Minimum density requirements could be waived for projects that have retail on the first floor.

Reducing the amount of parking required is another possibility. Ideally, parking would be behind buildings.

Several neighborhood council board members offered their thoughts. Stan Smith said residents feared “living in the shadow” from tall buildings.

Erik Bjornson said he did not want to see more of the type of structures that have been built in the neighborhood more recently. “Anything after 1960 in Proctor is a strip mall,” he said. “We don’t want Proctor to look like 38th Street or Westgate.”

Huffman stressed that the issue is in the process when the public can offer input and nothing has been decided yet.

“This is not complete by any means,” he said. “None of these are problems. They are all challenges and opportunities.”

Stenger said once the public input is gathered, city staff will present it to Tacoma Planning Commission. They will then consider possible zoning changes. In June they are scheduled to release a report for public review and hold a public hearing in July. In late summer the commission will make recommendations to Tacoma City Council, which will vote on the matter in the fall.

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