The neighborhood named after the first covered shopping center is coming out from under Northgate Mall’s shadow.

A draft environmental impact statement released last week looks into up-zoning parts of Northgate to allow buildings of up to 125 feet. The areas proposed for rezoning are now zoned for up to 65 feet with some nearby areas up to 85 feet.

More than a mall, soon

The city already raised heights and has invested money to help stimulate development in Northgate. Some growth regulation has been cut and a new library, community center and the coming park have spurred private development interest over the past few years.

But city planners say the up-zone is needed to help the city reach density targets for Northgate, one of six Urban Centers earmarked for more growth as the city’s population climbs.

The EIS looks at a 98-acre portion of Northgate south of the Pinehurst neighborhood. It also explores a more targeted rezone of corridors around the north end of the mall and around the new city park planned at Fifth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 112th Street near Target.

The broad version looks at raising building heights to up to 125 feet, and the targeted version proposed maximums of 85 feet. Most of the area now has a height limit of 65 feet. (A portion west of the freeway is zoned to 85 feet but is not proposed for up-zoning.)

The study also discusses incentive zoning to let developers build bigger if they include more affordable housing or pay into affordable housing funds, and possibly for including more open space.

The study area extends along Northgate Way and is generally bounded on the north by 114th Street, on the east by 12th Avenue Northeast (including a parcel along Pinehurst Way Northeast and 115th Street), on the south by Northeast 107th Street (excluding the mall), and on the west by Meridian Avenue North and Burke Avenue North.

The broad alternative proposes up-zoning each zone about one step up from its current level. On average, the area would see up-zones of about 20 additional feet. But the parcel at the corner of First Avenue Northeast and Northeast Northgate Way would increase from 60 to 125 feet.

Under the more targeted rezone option, which affects 49 acres, properties west of the freeway and east of Roosevelt Way Northeast would not be rezoned. The area next to the proposed park would be the only lowrise-zoned area that would be rezoned. The maximum height of any of the rezoned areas would be 85 feet.

A public hearing on the draft EIS will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. May 28 at the Northgate Community center at 10548 Fifth Ave. N.E. The city will take comments on the EIS until June 2.

This entry was posted by Shawna Gamache on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Planning, Zoning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.