May 17, 1999

Team planning county's first TOD

By RAGAN WILLIS
Journal Staff Reporter

Transportation oriented development, or TOD, has been little more than land-use lingo tossed around by developers and city planners -- until now.

Langly Properties is about to give TOD a face to put with the name.

The firm was recently awarded the Overlake Park and Ride Transit Oriented Development project in Redmond. The development will marry 250-units of multi-family housing, a transit center and structured parking on a five-acre site owned by King County.

Langly Properties and the county haven't wrapped up negotiations yet, largely due to the development's complex financing structure and because it's a pilot project with huge public interest, according to Langly Properties Vice President Bill Angle.

But Langly Properties is carefully laying the groundwork for the first of King County's 13 planned TODs.

"This is an important project and we are thinking it through carefully to ensure it is truly a transportation-oriented development, not just housing and parking," Angle said.

Angle said he couldn't accomplish that goal alone, which is why his design team, which so far includes Hewitt Architects, Baugh Construction and Walsh Construction, are critical in the process.

Three apartment buildings will sit above a two-level parking garage at the Overlake park-and-ride lot.

Combining its own expertise in mixed-use housing with transportation studies conducted by Transpo and Metro, Langly came up with a design that Angle believes will be a good blend of residential and commuter use.

Three buildings will house the residential component: two four-story structures and one five-story complex with a daycare center available for tenants and the public. All units will be designated affordable housing for tenants earning 60 percent of median income. As an added incentive to ride the bus, each tenant will get a free annual bus pass.

Although the entire complex will meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, 20 percent of the units will be specifically designed for persons with disabilities.

Langly Properties is working with the King County Housing Authority to finance the housing through a combination of tax credits and tax-exempt affordable housing bonds.

Beneath each apartment building will be a two-level parking garage accommodating about 530 vehicles -- 200 more vehicles than the existing surface lot.

Angle said the trick to the design was preventing clashes between tenant and commuter demands. After all, creating a pleasant living space with a line of buses, cars and people moving through the site presents unique challenges.

Protecting residents from diesel exhaust, noise and vibration is critical, for instance, as well as orchestrating a parking plan that fits the demand schedules of both commuters and tenants.

Angle is confident that his firm, teammates and consultants are moving in the right direction to resolve any potential menaces.

Langly will bring aboard acoustical and mechanical engineers to mitigate noise, vibration and exhaust. Plus, the firm has designed what Angle calls a sophisticated parking management plan, based largely on common sense.

Key to that system was making all parking slots available to both tenants and commuters.

Originally, the top parking level was designated for tenants only due to its proximity to the residential area, leaving the lower level for commuters. However, as the project evolved, it became clear to the county and Langly that the best use of the garage would come from a less delineated plan.

"Most commuters will use the garage during the daytime, and most tenants will need it in the evening after work and on the weekends," Angle said. "Because commuters and residents will be using the garage at different times, it made sense to have the entire structure accessible to all users. That way we will have maximal utilization of the garage."

The layout of the existing transit center where buses load and unload passengers will remain the same, although the area will be rebuilt to accommodate a large water-retention vault.

Officials from King County and the city of Redmond say they are looking forward to the finished project.

"The Overlake project will be a good example of what can be done at park and rides," said Ron Posthuma, manager of King County's Transportation Oriented Development Program. "It fits in with the city of Redmond's sub-area plan, which calls for more housing, and will serve a major transit function."

The city of Redmond is currently reviewing the Overlake Neighborhood Plan, which covers the Overlake Park and Ride. The plan contains zoning changes necessary to build housing on the site, which originally caused some developers to shy away from bidding on the project, according to county staff.

However, city planners are optimistic the plan will be approved without a hitch. In fact, the Overlake Park and Ride development addresses a major concern in the Overlake plan: more affordable housing.

But will folks really want to live in a park and ride lot?

Yes, indeed, Angle said.

"There is a huge, crying demand for affordable housing here," he said. "After all, there are no new, nice apartment complexes available at an affordable rate in East King County."

Angle noted that multi-family housing built above structured parking isn't uncommon. In Seattle, for instance, most new apartment buildings include parking garages. Plus, people, buses and cars are abundant outside city apartments nearly 24 hours a day, and haven't proved problematic for most residents, he said.

He said affordability, convenience and amenities such as the free bus passes overcome any perceived disadvantages.

King County is also planning park and ride TOD projects in downtown Renton, at Northgate in conjunction with the mall expansion, in Burien and Shoreline.

Posthuma said the county is in the process of identifying eight more TOD sites as part of a marketing plan under way. The Convention Place station in downtown Seattle and the University District are likely contenders, he said.

While the Overlake project will set a precedent for future TODs, Posthuma said that each will have unique characteristics, and not all of them will include affordable housing.

"Affordable housing is difficult in Seattle unless you force it in," he said. "At Convention Place, for example, the TOD may include residential towers, skyscraper-type stuff. You don't get a lot of affordable housing in high rises."

Angle said Langly plans to develop more TOD projects in the future.

"They're hard, complex projects to take on, but we hope to get a fair share of them," he said.