"Redmond is growing faster than many of us imagine, especially in the Overlake Urban Center. A 14-acre Urban Village coined "Seritage" will transform Sears Plaza into office space, a hotel, residential, commercial, retail and a large park. High rise buildings are a possibility. Click this link to discover the magnitude of this village: https://www.redmond.gov/595/Seritage
· The buildings will reach 9 stories and include both commercial space, hotel and
residential units.
·
When built, the project
will generate over 13,000 vehicular trips a day. Currently planned, the
developer-funded road improvements are minimal, in fact
the traffic study states traffic will improve when the project is
completed. The cities of Redmond and Bellevue will bear the burden of road
improvements as part of their infrastructure plans)
·
There will be 2,300
parking stalls (vs. around 1,000 today).
·
There is an already
approved project next door (KCC Limited Edition) that will result in 885 homes,
173,000 square feet of office, 28,000 square feet of retail, an 80-room hotel.
Adding new, larger project to the area will likely multiply the impacts of this
development.
If any of the design assumptions on the project
are not correct, it is likely that the traffic gridlock in the area will intensify.
The best way to influence the project is to get informed and provide comments
to the city either at the meeting or via email. After all, there are 10,000 of
us in Overlake today (in Bellevue and Redmond both) and many have a perspective
on proposed development and its impacts.
As an aside - the city has already had two
meetings for this project in 2017 (total of eleven residents showed up), and it
took quite some effort by the Council to get this third meeting set up. If the
community does not take part in a discussion, we may wake up one day to a row
of high rises and traffic jams to rival Seattle.
If any of the design assumptions on the project
are not correct, it is likely that the traffic gridlock in the area will intensify.
The best way to influence the project is to get informed and provide comments
to the city either at the meeting or via email. After all, there are 10,000 of
us in Overlake today (in Bellevue and Redmond both) and many have a perspective
on proposed development and its impacts.
As an aside - the city has already had two
meetings for this project in 2017 (total of eleven residents showed up), and it
took quite some effort by the Council to get this third meeting set up. If the
community does not take part in a discussion, we may wake up one day to a row
of high rises and traffic jams to rival Seattle.
Please attend the meeting
on Thursday, March 8th 6:00 PM at
new Redmond Community Center, 6505 176TH
Ave NE, Redmond. To know more about the project, check out http://www.redmond.gov/seritage or reach out to David Lee at dlee@redmond.gov."
-- Eugene Zakhareyev, 11/2017
Redmond resident and property owner
-- Eugene Zakhareyev, 11/2017
Redmond resident and property owner
Past city council candidate
I was at a community center meeting at VALA last year when Jane Wither, a member of the One Redmond Foundation stated over time the largest population in Redmond will shift from the Downtown to Overlake. She indicated it's possible developers might be incented to raise the height of their buildings if they agreed to house a performance center, art gallery, etc. 12 stories anyone?!
ReplyDeleteDisappointed. I'll vote against every sitting councilmember and the Mayor until things change. I've had enough and want to take back my city.
ReplyDelete148th Ave NE through the Overlake area, already well known for its heavy traffic congestion during commuting hours, will become the Eastside's version of Mercer Street in Seattle.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a chance to attend these meetings or to provide any input, please emphasize the need to add (or at least preserve existing) traffic lanes in these areas. The LAST thing we need to do is what Seattle is doing (road diets) - removing general-purpose lanes to add transit-only or bicycle lanes.
The light rail station is driving this bus as this is near the ST2 terminus, hopefully that will reduce the amount of traffic with cars.
ReplyDeleteIt is absolutely inappropriate to put a building 8 or 9 stories tall in this location. I can only support a smaller, more intimate development. And, traffic congestion caused by inadequate infrastructure should be addressed and paid for primarily by the developer, not the citizens of Bellevue/Redmond. Congestion affects our quality of life. Our City Council should be protecting us from this way-too-big development. What are they thinking?
ReplyDeleteRedmond approves every plan no matter the height or impact. I saw only a handful of people went to the public hearings. Why should people bother to show up when the city just does not care what voters think?
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing we can do. The East Bellevue development train has left the station.
ReplyDelete