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Thursday, March 16, 2006

Downtown ZZZZoning News

Posted by on March 16 at 17:46 PM

Peter Steinbrueck plans to roll out a compromise version of his downtown height and density proposal, an amended version of Mayor Nickels’s plan to raise building heights and density downtown. Steinbrueck’s latest proposal would reportedly increase the amount developers must pay toward affordable housing, put some limits on above-ground parking, and possibly lower maximum building heights in the Denny Triangle, where Steinbrueck has said the mayor’s plan allows buildings that are out of scale with the surrounding neighborhood. According to city council member Tom Rasmussen - who hurriedly flipped over a copy of Steinbrueck’s proposal, which had been sitting in plain view on his desk, when I asked if he’d seen it - the latest version would require developers to pay some amount between $15 and $20 a square foot into an affordable housing fund (the mayor’s plan called for a $10 bonus; Steinbrueck’s, $20) and would allow more flexibility for above-ground parking than Steinbrueck’s initial proposal. Some council members who had been skeptical about Steinbrueck’s controversial plan seemed prepared to support whatever Steinbrueck and Nickels come up with; Council member Jan Drago told me that if Nickels and Steinbrueck reach a compromise, “I’m there.” As of late Thursday afternoon,negotiations were still underway.