Condominium developers in this city's bustling downtown are required to build dining room floors with washable hard surfaces -- easy to clean when kids spill juice or cereal.
In a neighborhood of glassy seafoam-green high-rises, a quarter of new apartments must be designed for families with multiple bedrooms and outdoor play areas that parents can see.
David Lam Park
Zoom Joshua Trujillo / P-I
David Lam Park, which borders Yaletown, helps make high-rise living more family friendly in Vancouver, B.C.
Cited as a model for Seattle's efforts to create lively urban neighborhoods, Vancouver's downtown population has nearly doubled in the past two decades. The first new downtown elementary school in 50 years opened last fall.
But it's not just the shimmering, skinny buildings touted by Mayor Greg Nickels and others pushing to raise building heights in downtown Seattle that have made our Canadian counterpart's urban lifestyle so popular.
Vancouver requires developers to fund a broader range of public amenities in its downtown neighborhoods -- community centers, art, playgrounds, school sites, waterfront promenades, lush flower gardens flanking stair-stepped water fountains.
Comparing the 2 cities
Planners have specific guidelines for making condos family friendly, preserving views, landscaping sidewalks and maximizing sunny spots when designing downtown plazas.
Even some who support Nickels' efforts to raise building heights and give downtown developers more flexibility worry that Seattle hasn't focused enough attention on other ingredients that go into creating great downtown neighborhoods.
"It hasn't been well thought out," said Phillip Wohlstetter, a past president of Allied Arts of Seattle, which advocates for urban design in concert with quality of life.
"In principle it's a great idea, but we need to talk about what kind of place we're going to have at the end of the day. How many parks are we going to have? What kind of shops will be there? Are we going to have blank plazas with paper blowing around or Italian plazas with lots of life?"
There are substantial differences between Seattle and Vancouver, where the government exercises broader authority in controlling land use, and private property rights are not so revered.
But Seattle City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck believes there are lessons to learn. He hired top Vancouver planners Larry Beasley and Ray Spaxman to evaluate the mayor's proposed zoning changes.
Too often, Beasley said, cities try to attract downtown residents by focusing narrowly on a housing strategy.
What's needed is a living strategy -- identifying all the things that people and families want and need when deciding where they want to settle, he said.
"Seattle is too good to get this wrong," said Beasley, who will offer specific recommendations to the City Council on Monday. "There are many other aspects of a great community than just the private development."
More height, more space
Nickels' plan would substantially raise building heights in parts of downtown, including the Denny Triangle, the office core and a sliver of Belltown. It grew from neighborhood plans in which downtown condo dwellers said they wanted more residents, livelier streets and better amenities.
In places where the city wants to encourage residential development, those buildings could rise to 400 feet.
Office towers in commercial areas could be built to 600 or 700 feet.
Residential developers wanting to build taller would be required to use environmentally friendly principles and contribute financially to an incentive program for the first time. Three quarters of the money would be used to build low-income housing, with the rest going toward open space, day cares or historic preservation.
The mayor's office is considering setting the fee at roughly $10 a square foot.
Several downtown neighborhoods in Vancouver have a similar blanket development charge. But landowners who benefit from zoning changes that make their property more valuable also pay a negotiated fee that can reach nearly $30 a square foot.
Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said the downtown zoning changes are part of a larger strategy to create dense and livable center city neighborhoods.
"When people say there's too much focus on the height issue, they're missing the broader picture of what's happening," he said. "What we're doing is implementing these strategies piece by piece."
For instance, Nickels unveiled plans this week to start charging developers building in Seattle's urban center fees to pay for parks and open space. While the amount has not been set, it could range from $1 to $2 a square foot.
Over the next two decades, the money could add 12 acres of parks, plazas or sculpture gardens to the current inventory of 81 acres in the center of Seattle, officials said.
That includes downtown, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Lower Queen Anne, Pioneer Square, the International District and South Lake Union.
The city's goal is to create 1 acre of open space per 1,000 households plus 1 acre per 10,000 jobs. By comparison, Vancouver planners require developers to provide 2.75 acres of parks for every 1,000 new residents they add.
Over the next year, the Nickels administration also plans to work on development fees that would help cover the cost of transportation improvements as urban centers grow, Ceis said. Improving downtown's streetscape guidelines and looking for ways to attract families are also priorities, he said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235217_vancouver04.html
