-Jonathan

This Monday, members of the City Planning department held a meeting for the Vuecrest neighborhood to discuss the changes being considered as part of the Downtown Livability Initiative. Emil King (Planning Manager) and Dan Stroh (Planning Director) spoke with about 15 members of the Vuecrest community, extending well past the 6:30 planned conclusion. My notes: . The Advisory Committee process is winding down, with the possibility that this week's meeting will be its last. Community members have the opportunity to comment at Wednesday's meeting and via email at DowntownLivability@bellevuewa.gov . Next it will be sent to the City Council, who will pass it on to the Planning Commission and Planning Department for further study. Planning Commission meetings are open to the public and comments are welcome. http://www.ci.bellevue.wa.us/planning_commission.htm . The current rules of the City of Bellevue Planning process only allows for the consideration of the views from "significant public spaces," not from private property. However the economic impact of blocked views, shadows, etc. may be taken into consideration as part of the changes being studied. . According to the Planning department, the Fortin Group is able to build approximately 2.5 million square feet on their properties under current zoning (I mentioned 2 million in earlier email). They confirmed that the proposal to increase density through a higher FAR has been formally withdrawn. . Dozens of "bonuses" are under consideration, offering height and other consideration for features like wider sidewalks, open space, enhanced parking, and fountains. These would add to the "base height", not to exceed the maximum height. The representatives from the Planning Department didn't know what the current base height was in our area. The prioritization and value of these bonuses will be determined by the Planning Commission. . The maximum height can currently be exceeded by 15' (or 10%, whichever is greater) for architectural features. There was a request made to ensure that all modeling takes all bonuses and other additions to height and density into account. . Current transportation planning does not take into account a full build out of the northwest part of downtown. This may need to be taken up with the Transportation Department, along with existing safety and traffic flow issues. The siting of the bus layover spot on 10th should also be addressed here. . There were a wide range of concerns from Vuecrest residents expressed at this meeting, including shadows, congestion, crime, privacy, parking, vagrancy, vermin, and views. As noted in my last email, the next (and possibly final) meeting of the Downtown Livability Committee will be held tomorrow(6/18) from 6:30-9:30pm at City Hall. The packet for this meeting includes minutes from the last meeting and extensive notes from last week's Open House: http://www.bellevuewa.gov/pdf/PCD/06-18-2014_Packet__-_Web.pdf -Jonathan Jonathan Kagle President Vuecrest Community Association www.vuecrest.net