Builders Rush for Permits as Council Argues Standards

While developers rushed to apply for permits under existing building standards, a three-way split on the City Council this week prevented the immediate adoption of new standards intended to moderate the impact of intense apartment construction.

The dispute pits three members of the council who favor immediate adoption against Mayor Betty Ainsworth, who opposes the standards as insufficient, and newly elected member Ginny McGinnis Lambert, who said she wanted more time to decide.

Four votes of the five-member council are required to pass the standards as an urgency measure, which would take effect immediately. If adopted as a regular ordinance at the council’s next meeting April 28, the measure would not become effective until May 28.

In the interim, warned developer Batta Vuicich, the city will be flooded with applications to build 3,000 low-quality apartment units.

‘Not Adequate’

Ainsworth, who opposes rapid development, nonetheless voted against the standards Tuesday, saying that the proposed lower height limit--2 1/2 stories or 24 feet to the ceiling of the top apartment--would lower buildings by only three feet and “simply is not adequate.”

Residents seeking lower limits have complained that bulky buildings erected next to single-family homes overshadow their lots and intrude on the privacy of their back yards.

Councilman Steve Andersen defended the proposed height limit as a compromise, noted the flood of building-permit applications and declared that Ainsworth would be personally responsible for every three-story building that is built under existing standards before the code changes take effect.

Ainsworth retorted that Andersen could approve a two-story or 20-foot height limit--the maximum height originally recommended by the Planning Commission--which she favors, if he wants the rest of the changes so badly.

Other Requirements

Other changes include a reduction in density and new requirements for recreational space, landscaping and front yard setbacks.

The proposed changes are the result of a six-month study by the Planning Commission and intense lobbying by developers, residents and tenants.

They have the support of Andersen, Councilman Chuck Bookhammer and Councilman David York, as well as the politically active Vuicich, who chaired a developer’s organization that lobbied to soften proposals recommended by the Planning Commission.

In a memo to council members, City Manager Kenneth Jue reported that Vuicich recommended the adoption of the code changes as an urgency ordinance taking effect immediately “to prevent what he sees as a flood of low-quality immediate buildings.”

At the Tuesday meeting, Assistant City Manager Harry Reeves, who supervises the Planning Department, predicted that applications for 2,000 to 2,500 units designed according to existing standards would be filed by May 28 if developers sustain the pace of recent permit filings.

Vote Delayed

The council’s discussions on the changes came at a regular meeting Monday and another session Tuesday originally scheduled only to swear in Lambert.

Ainsworth deferred a vote on the code changes at Monday’s meeting, saying she could not support them, and urged the others to delay a vote until Tuesday when newly elected Councilwoman Ginny Lambert would take office.

But on Tuesday, Lambert abstained, saying she was concerned that the standards are too strict for small lots and that she needed more time to study the issue. She said she might be able to vote on the measure at the council’s next regular meeting April 28. If she favors it, her vote could become the fourth needed for the measure to take effect immediately.

With the council vote pending, developers are wasting no time. In only three days--Friday, Monday and Tuesday--building-permit applications were filed for 23 apartments with a total of 398 units and an estimated construction cost of $18 million.

One hastily put-together application--widely known at City Hall--illustrated the dilemmas facing some property owners, developers and city officials.

Devalue Property

Lea Wall, a retired Hughes Aircraft welder, bitterly complained to the council at Monday’s meeting that the new standards would diminish the value of her 50-by-140-foot lot at 12516 Cranbrook Ave.--property that she “punched the time clock a lot of times” to pay for.

Developer Bob Marsella, who attends most council meetings, heard the story and talked with Wall afterward. On Tuesday, he paid her $115,000 for the lot, he said. He got a set of already-drawn plans for a three-story, eight-unit apartment from architect Bruno Bernauer and applied for a building permit before the close of business the same day, he said. Only six units would be permitted under the new regulations.

During a break at the Tuesday meeting--with the deal complete--Wall was smiling. “It is all happening so fast,” she said.

But Ainsworth was not pleased.

After the meeting, she sought out Marsella, questioned him about the details of the arrangement and then berated him when she found he filed an application to build a three-story building.