Fighting the good fight
When Seattle’s building boom erupted in 2013, the City was flooded with proposals that would literally take downtown density to new heights. The key thing missing was healthy and functional design.
Facing major impacts, Escala Condominium residents challenged plans for two adjacent towers, fighting to preserve adequate daylight and workable transportation designs.
Guided by the principle that urban design should serve all stakeholders, they went on to establish the Downtown Residents Alliance to advance livability issues.
Seven years later, John Sosnowy, Chair of Escala’s Development Strategy Committee and one of DRA’s founders, reflects on lessons learned challenging unhealthy design and seeking change to Seattle’s Design Review.
What did you expect from Design Review when you began the process?
A level playing field and honest review. We realized early-on there would ultimately be towers built across our alley and thought this was fine if they included setbacks far enough to be healthy for residents of both buildings. We also wanted their ground floor designs for loading, deliveries and waste to be truly functional and not disable the shared alley and surrounding streets.
What was your biggest surprise?
Finding Design Review doesn’t seriously challenge poor plans and minimizes public input. More disheartening, SDCI stands behind this “sham” process from start to finish. That reality comes through loud and clear when you appeal a project to the Hearing Examiner and find yourself on one side of the table with the developer and city attorneys sitting on the other, pooling their virtually unlimited resources against you.
How have you advocated for change?
Prior to Escala’s involvement there’d been few organized, reasonably funded challenges to the “system.” Our approach was to contest poor, non-functional, unhealthy design by organizing neighbors and providing expert analysis and best practices we hoped would convince the City and developers to improve designs. When this failed, we’ve pursued every possible legal option available to us.
What’s your philosophy?
Never, never, never give up! Even if the deck is stacked, do your best and hope ultimately there will be some reasonable changes to these projects and to the process that is currently controlled by politics with little public input.
Do you think you’ve made a difference?
There are positive signs. First, we raised awareness and public support for our efforts. We did this by tracking and commenting on applications for other towers in our neighborhood. We found concerned citizens in other condos who faced the same situations and who joined us in “fighting City Hall.” We know the lack of transparency and unresponsiveness in Design Review and SDCI won’t change if left unchallenged.
We also started the Downtown Residents Alliance [DRA] Blog to keep readers up to date with ongoing issues. If unhealthy buildings and gridlock prevail, the downtown core will cease to be a desirable place to live unless ill-conceived projects are mitigated.
What’s your biggest disappointment?
The fact that after six years, neither of the proposed towers directly across our alley has made any significant improvements to their designs. They continue to try to get approval through legal maneuvering and political shenanigans instead of doing what is right and necessary.
Have you had any successes?
Yes, after six years neither of the proposed towers across our alley has yet broken ground for construction. And we were successful in passing a Tower Separation Bill in DOC2 that would allow developers to build taller towers than zoning allows if they setback more from the alley. But ultimately, our goal is fundamental change to Design Review to make it fairer and more transparent. We also want to see building and transportation codes brought up-to-date. In this regard, SDCI just issued a long delayed Director’s Rule revising alley, waste and loading berth requirements. It’s something we’ve been lobbying for a long time and while it wasn’t everything that we wanted and needed, it’s a start.
Of what are you most proud?
When people tell me, both inside and outside City Hall, that Escala has set the “gold Standard” for citizen involvement in Design Review . . . and that we have done it in a very professional manner.
What’s your advice to others trying to make a difference in neighborhood development?
Think bigger than your own building and your own unit. Think about what you’d like downtown to look like 20 years from now . . . and lobby for changes that will help get us there.
