The initial submittal for Logan Six in 2022 included a street modification request. Final line of item 1: “The site is narrow, and without these modifications, the project would not be able to be built.”  Council could have questioned the scale of the project on the record.

At last night’s council meeting, a Council Member told the audience that the State of Washington forced Renton to approve the Logan Six development with only one parking spot per unit.

This was not correct, for at least two reasons:

Reason 1: The parking standards for this project are very clearly captured in Renton’s zoning code, and the Council put them there as I described in this blog entry here.

While the State of Washington did implement parking regulations in 2020 that could potentially supersede a city’s parking regulations, the state standards specify a minimum standard of one spot per BEDROOM, as opposed to the lesser standard of one spot per unit that Renton has imposed on Logan Six.  Here’s the State law on this topic. (Presumably the 0.75 spots per unit applies to studio “no-bedroom” units)

Reason 2: the Council probably had an easy opportunity to stop this project after the first submittal in 2022 if they had wanted to.  In the initial submittal for the project, the applicants provided a letter making it absolutely clear that they were concerned the site might be too small for the project.

In the relatively brief two page letter, the applicant says they need a Street Modification because of their overly narrow site.   Then they say three times that without this modification, they could not build the project.  Here are some excerpts:

“STREET MODIFICATION NARRATIVE

This narrative is provided to request and justify a street modification on the Logan 6 project. The applicant is requesting a street modification to retain existing improvements with. 1.5 feet of Right of Way dedication on Logan Avenue N, and to retain the existing curb-curb. pavement with, with a 0.5’ curb, 8-foot planting strip, 8-foot sidewalk, and 2-foot clear space for. 3rd and 4th Avenues N…..

The site is narrow, and without. these modifications, the project would not be able to be built….

The modification also allows for the project to be built at all, given the narrowness of the site….

The shown modification is required for the building to be done without incurring additional. costs. The site is narrow and if much more were given, the project would likely not pencil….”

Any of Renton’s eight elected officials could have questioned the requested modification, on the record, and consequently questioned whether the project may be too large and dense for the site.   Even the rules governing quasi-judicial hearings do not bar Council members from asking questions about a project, on the record.  Since the developer said three times they were concerned the project would not fit on the site, this would have been an opportune time to scale it to a better size.

Instead, Council did not ask any questions and City Staff appear to have approved the modification request, enabling the project to go forward.

So no, the State did not require this project to take its present form, pushing the street boundaries set for the zone with consequent minimal parking. That appears to be just a story.