Thursday, January 24, 2008

Do we want "tall buildings" in Redmond?


Today's Seattle Times article about some residents in Kirkland resisting tall buildings, brings attention to our land use plans for Overlake and Downtown Urban Centers. (On the left is Redmond's first "skyscraper", the downtown 6-story Cleveland Building condos.)

Kirkland has a lot at stake in their decisions about building heights. They are blessed with the beauty of Lake Washington views from hillside neighborhoods, lakeside parks, waterfront businesses, and their harbor charm. Yes, Kirkland must cope with GOOGLE moving into downtown with their 640 parking spaces. But GOOGLE is no Microsoft.

At present, most everyone in Redmond agrees that Overlake Urban Center is "no spring chicken". Actually, the only views we might have in Overlake would come from building tall buildings!

A quick look at the approved Overlake Urban Center plan map gives a concise summary on how Overlake will grow. Months of planning took place. Citizens participated in design and visual preferences conferences. Planning commissioners, led by Tom Hinman and staffer Jame Jonas jjonas@redmond.gov , worked tirelessly to build a thorough, indexed planning document; everything you'd want on the Overlake Urban Center plan is here.

So what was decided about building height, design and visual preferences? Take a look at the links above, but in short, it looks like the city will take "baby steps" in the "build-up". The premier Group Health site will be built on rolling topography where a proposed 12 story building will blend with the land. Concerns for building heights over 5 stories centered around adequate lighting, view preservation, and enclosed courtyards.

In one sense, scenic waterfront and territorial views in Overlake are rare so building-up is less challenging than Kirkland. Equally fortunate, Overlake is ideally located next to Microsoft! Workers will have easy access to their employer and many may walk or ride bicycles! Thus, building high density with taller buildings (and underground parking lots) in Overlake is a natural.

Two other amenties exist for the area: 1) access to 520 and future high capacity transit and 2) the international cultural flavor of the center. If you want to eat international cuisine, some of the best is right here.

As long as we follow Mayor John Marchione's lead to "take small steps" as we build "up", I think we are on the right track for a visually appealing and functional Overlake. Don't you?

And then, there's our downtown! I've heard about shorter heights there -- up to 6 stories?

1 comment:

  1. Ths staff member working on the Overlake plan is Jayme Jonas, not Amy...

    ReplyDelete

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