By Peggy Sturdivant

Some of the people crowded into the west corner of Ballard Bauhaus looked like they didn’t know what had hit them when it came to the small print of City of Seattle Land Use code. Others looked worn down by years of attempting to close loopholes dating back to 2010, but they were there too.

Magnolia resident, a UW Capital Project Planner and 25-year Architect David Moehring was delighted to have 30 people show up to discuss a land use application. A project with 19 new dwellings on a 17,800 square foot lot has touched a nerve.

Opposition to a project is often framed as single-family against multi-family. The neighbors who strained to hear Moerhing, and one another, were a cross-section of Ballard Hub residents. There were townhouse residents, apartment dwellers, and yes, the increasingly rare single-family homeowner in the Ballard Urban Village overlay.

“It’s not about the density,” one attendee said. “That ship has sailed. It’s about not having any say about design or short plats until it’s too late.”

If this proposed development was on just any old corner it might not have become a magnet for so many on a Thursday night. The mostly “new blood” neighbors came to find out what they can do to modify the proposed new construction that includes the Baker St. House. At the northwest corner of NW 60th & 20th NW is a beautiful Victorian known as the Baker St. House. The house is on the City of Seattle’s Historic Site list, built in 1888 and first purchased by saloonkeeper Henry Schmidt. The house is not slated for demolition; rather it will be relocated to north end of its lot so as to clear the way for three-lot combination of row houses and townhouses. Between 60th and 61st the entire west side of 20th NW is historically significant based on Ballard Historical Society’s Department of Neighborhood grant study. There are also significant trees on at least two of the three properties.

The corner property was acquired by an entity doing business as Baker Street LLC in January. They have just acquired the two single-family homes west of the corner lot as of May 2017. Based on the combined lot size for the zoning (Lowrise One), the allowable number of new dwellings should be eleven. Using the subdivided lot method Baker Street LLC plans to construct 19 dwellings (for a total of 20 including the Victorian).

Nobody present spoke in support of a developer potentially subdividing in order to bypass the code that doesn’t allow structures behind row houses, certainly not townhouses that can be staggered to have structures in the front and back of a lot. As for how this land use action could be approved, Moehring admitted, “It’s rarely challenged.”

Alerted by a Ballard resident Moehring and his wife have volunteered their own time to contact local residents, conduct meetings and organize an appeal, “Simply driven by our background in architecture to keep Seattle a wonderful mix of homes and nature.” They distributed information to nearby residents, in part because without explanation the Land Use Action: Notice to Subdivide will just seem like another fait accompli.

Instead it was packed at Bauhuas and whether a Google employee or a server able to buy their home in 1992 the attendees committed organize in order to explore options for downscaling the Baker Street LLC project. Eventually those who live within 300 feet of the project will be notified but as with so much of the density under Streamlined Design Review, that ship will probably have sailed already.

From significant trees, to the simple fact that 19 new dwellings seems a bit much where there are now three, every concern was heartfelt. If it was going to be affordable housing it might be a different story but what others see clearly is that a developer is trying to maximize on a return that doesn’t benefit anyone but them.

For more information contact UrbanBalance@activist.com. Next meeting is scheduled for June 1 at Amazing Grace Church.