The developer intends to build a three-story office building with adjacent surface parking. This project has already received city approval. Studies show there will be significantly greater traffic impacts for an office building than for mixed-use.
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Q. Why do mixed-use buildings have to be greater than three stories?
In order to have street level retail and to achieve continuous streets, the parking must go inside the building (structured parking). At three stories and lower, parking must be provided in a street-level surface parking lot in order to make a mixed-use building economically viable. (back to top)
Q. What is a “mixed-use” building?
A building that contains retail establishments, office or commercial space, and housing.
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Q. What is "market-rate" housing?
That which can be sold in today’s market, without being subsidized for low-income or the elderly. This could include housing for a wide range of income levels.
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Q. Why is urban density important?
The State’s Growth Management Act has more than a dozen goals, one of which is to halt urban sprawl by concentrating housing in cities where infrastructure and services already exist. Urban density uses less land: to accommodate 120 units of housing downtown requires 1.4 acres (a five story project with structured parking); in the South Capitol neighborhood it would take 11 acres; in a suburban area 39 acres; and in rural areas 284 acres.
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Q. Do the original Wilder & White or Olmstead plans show Heritage Park extending across the isthmus to the waterfront?
No. Their original drawings clearly show full blocks of development between Fifth Avenue and the shores of Budd Inlet. This is due to the fact they were urban designers and understood the importance of an urban edge to urban open spaces.
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Q. What is a "continuous street"?
One with no surface parking lots. Architects and city planners realize that people prefer to stroll, window shop, dine, gather, etc. on continuous streets.
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