As we prepare for the Housing Opportunities in Mixed Use Areas (HOMA) virtual presentation on September 8th and the Planning Commission meeting on September 10th when HOMA will be on the agenda, you can see the impacts of similar changes to zoning in the Pinnacle North project, for which a Notice of Decision (link to 251 page pdf) was posted recently in the August 28 Weekly Permit Bulletin. It is likely that people will feel more impacts from the ways HOMA adds height to Neighborhood Centers, but HOMA could also dramatically change the feel of new buildings being added to Downtown Bellevue, and we have an opportunity here to make our near-term growth more livable, with more community amenities – we shouldn’t pass that up!
Although Pinnacle North originally submitted its plans in 2021, it was revised in response to the incentives created in the 2023 Interim Official Control (IOC) ordinance,* and extended in 2024. The IOCs created a temporary sweetener to build taller since large projects were stalling due to high interest rates, and in some cases this also increased the number of affordable housing units that are planned (Pinnacle North is only one of four multi-tower projects that is leveraging the IOC incentives). It applied to most Downtown areas shown on the second map here (not perimeter overlay A-1 [immediately adjacent to Vuecrest and including the Polynesia] or the DT-OB district [Old Bellevue], but otherwise all of Downtown).
Some implications of the IOC for this project:
Buildings are allowed to be 25′ taller than would otherwise be the maximum, and the increased floor area ratio (FAR) may allow an actual addition of more than two stories because the buildings aren’t hitting the cap on maximum sqft.
The two buildings where the affordable units will go are increasing their number of units by 99% and 96%, and the other buildings will be larger too.
Buildings are now tall enough that the tower rules with greater setbacks would normally apply, so they had to ask for a variance that would allow the edge of a balcony on one building to be 32′ from the windows of the opposite building, and 33′ for another set of buildings. There is a 60′ requirement that is supposed to apply where privacy might be an issue, but these are 40 and 41′ apart if you do not count the balconies.
The averaged floor plate area of the floors above 80′ exceeds the maximum allowed, though only slightly.
The only amenity they’re counting toward the amenity point requirement is the plaza space, which includes a water feature. On page 240, you can see the list of other potential amenities that are not being provided, such as childcare, enhanced streetscape, active recreation areas and dog runs, street corner canopies, sustainability certification such as LEED, public art, and community meeting rooms/non-profit space.
The IOC gives an advantage to large projects with multiple types of zoning/building types. If all three buildings in the first phase (with the affordable units) had maximized their usage of the affordable housing bonus, they would only be able to have about 60 units of affordable housing. By using part of the potential incentives for the other buildings too, they will be able to put 85 units in two buildings, and extra height for market rate units is being added at the 25th and 26th floor to the tall towers (where different zoning rules apply), which presumably is more profitable than putting the bonus space in the 14 story buildings.
In addition to the changes in building height, lot coverage, etc. that were foreseen when the IOC was written, the Pinnacle North project asked for variances for tower floor area and spacing between buildings. The project was given bonus floor area in exchange for increasing the number of affordable units and creating a permanent dedication for affordability, and perhaps because plans were already in motion for one design, they just added extra floors to some buildings rather than redesigning the ground level. This particular project didn’t maximize the potential for added square footage or lot coverage allowed under the IOC, so while the buildings already feel a bit crowded together, it theoretically would have been possible for them to have smaller plazas and larger footprints.
In deliberating about HOMA, we should think about how changes will affect future residents. Should we keep tower spacing at 60′ or would 32′ from one balcony to the windows opposite be ok from a privacy standpoint? Is it better to add more housing by adding lot coverage/building footprints and allowing buildings to be closer together, by allowing towers to go taller, or can we rely on the increased zoned capacity in the surrounding neighborhoods? How much taller should the Neighborhood Centers be allowed to build? It is hard to add density without lowering the individual experience somewhat, but hopefully we can take a thoughtful approach so that Bellevue standards are maintained and the outcomes are positive for those future residents.
There will also be opportunities with the HOMA process to define the community amenities we’d like to see, and specify the rules for how much of a certain type of amenity can be used to meet the total point requirements. We have the chance to incentivize more vibrant streetscapes by defining the incentives for sidewalk widths, coverings, pedestrian experience in through-block connections, adjacent plazas, etc., whether that’s calculated based on points or building height or just a baseline requirement. We should probably make adequate dog relief areas a requirement, and perhaps add shared vehicle parking and change how the bicycle parking requirement is defined.
A fourth draft of the HOMA rules has been published, and I still need to spend more time looking at it before I can give you my take on how it handles these trade-offs. I just hope that you’ll consider attending the virtual info session or the Planning Commission meeting this week, and please contribute your thoughts about what makes dwellings in these mixed use areas most livable.
Monday, September 8th: Housing Opportunities in Mixed Use Areas (HOMA) public information session 6:30-7:45 – virtual only (link)
Wednesday, September 10th: Planning Commission, 6:30pm (link) – register starting at noon if you want to comment at the beginning of the meeting.
Here are some excerpts from the Notice of Decision pdf for background:
As described on page 80, “The variance applications are permitted to reconcile the inconsistencies with the LUC requirements for floor plate reduction [Ed note: above a certain height] and tower separation to the City Council’s recent actions to incentivize affordable housing production in Downtown Bellevue through the IOC for Affordable Housing. The IOC included provisions for waiving dimensional requirements in chapter 20.25A LUC that could inhibit or restrain the maximization of density in the Perimeter Overlay areas where building height and Floor Area Ratio are significantly lower than the rest of Downtown. The IOC grants up to 50% additional Floor Area Ratio above the Base Floor Area for projects that meet the criteria related to the provision of affordable housing units. The Pinnacle North project is only proposing to increase the Floor Area Ratio by 1.58, which is below the 2.25 FAR allowed through the IOC.
Page 38: Although the applicant submitted a complete permit application on March 22, 2021, the applicant revised the Pinnacle North project after the City Council adopted the IOC in order compliance with the components of the IOC prior to the IOC expiration date of September 18, 2024, as set by Ordinance 6785. Consequently, the Pinnacle North project is vested to the provisions of the IOC, and the provisions of the IOC are available to this project.
*Page 40: The City Council adopted the IOC to incentivize the production of affordable housing in Downtown Bellevue through three ordinances: • Ordinance 6736, adopted on May 8, 2023; and • Ordinance 6760, adopted on October 23, 2023 which extended the expiration date of the IOC to May 17, 2024, or until it is repealed/replaced; and • Ordinance 6785, adopted on April 23, 2024, which extended the expiration date of the IOC to September 18, 2024 (See attachment “Ordinance 6785”).
Total Net SF of affordable housing: 61,767 SF (affordable at 80 percent of the average median income (AMI), and designated for affordable housing throughout the life of the project)
Total affordable units: 85 Total bonus market rate residential units: 316
The mix of unit sizes is shown on page 39.
Page 72: The total housing units for Pinnacle North also increased from 1241 units to 1613 units
Leave a Reply