Comments on: TOD on MLK

By: What Does TOD Look Like? | hugeasscity

What Does TOD Look Like? | hugeasscity — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:33:35 +0000

[...] The critical factor: zoning. The maximum building height in the Columbia City station area is only 40 feet (four stories). From the zoning map (pdf), I’d guesstimate that at least half of the property in the station area is zoned lowrise or single family. This low-density zoning cripples the TOD opportunity. And the situation at the other four Southeast Seattle stations is similar, though 65 feet is allowed in some cases. [...]

By: Paul Krugman Joins Team Density | hugeasscity

Paul Krugman Joins Team Density | hugeasscity — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:10:02 +0000

[...] Krugman’s description of the Berlin neighborhood consisting mainly of four and five story apartments further congeals a thought that’s been knocking around my head lately: that ultimately the sustainable urban form of the future will be midrise. In this spicy essay on localism, James Howard Kunstler quips that “skyscrapers are an endangered species,” basically because they are too energy intensive. Midrise (4 to 6 stories) is relatively cheap to build, doesn’t necessarily need elevators, has an agreeable urban form, and can achieve high density (if there are enough of them). Maybe I should shut up about upzoning for taller buildings… [...]

By: Cale

Cale — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:31:11 +0000

Cow @ #3

I most definitely prefer 6-story for neighborhoods outside of downtown. This more human scale style of building has worked for centuries in Europe and I think it works especially well in these predominantly residential neighborhoods. I’d rather see more 6 story buildings spread out over a larger area than just a few towers casting shadows and looming over everything.

Downtowns on the other hand…

Actually, there is one station in particular where I think height would be good,and that is the Mt. Baker station where a bunch of strip malls currently stand. The area is isolated enough from the single families to the east and west, and close enough to downtown that a much taller height would feel right there. Especially right around McCellan and Rainier.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:57:23 +0000

again, no vision from the City. Hate to be a negative nanny, but the City’s inability to put all the necessary planning and design pieces together to ensure high quality, dense development has again been demonstrated in its station area planning.

By: Cow

Cow — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:04:15 +0000

TransLink (in Vancouver) just announced that the next SkyTrain line–being built further out into the suburbs and connecting with one of the current lines–will be funded, in large part, by selling the land next to the line to developers.

TOD works really well here; if you’re riding SkyTrain, you can see where stations are by watching for clusters of skyscrapers surrounded by single-family homes. (It’s evening out a bit more over time, but a lot of this is still fairly new.) I’m excited to see it coming to Seattle, and I too wish the height limits would be raised for this.

By: Dan Staley

Dan Staley — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:40:21 +0000

Aurora, CO has different street standards, too, in its TOD zones. Context-sensitive design.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:52:57 +0000

Are any of the station area overlays in effect yet? I would hope that would increase the height or FAR allowed.