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North Renton residents were protesting on Logan Ave yesterday. They’ll be doing it again today, starting at 3:30 PM.
North Renton residents have taken the unusual step of organizing protests after being denied an opportunity to work with Renton City Council on their concerns over two years.
Because of Renton City Council’s last minute change to their Hearing Appeals process, residents feel like they’ve never had a proper opportunity to discuss their concerns with the council, and may never get one. The residents consequently asked the Council this past Monday night to implement a moratorium to buy some time for Council and the community to work together on the North Renton concerns, but the Council rejected the motion in a 5 to 1 vote.
Residents feel the planned 100-unit Logan Six apartment project is oversized for its site, has inadequate parking, and should be using the Logan Ave arterial for access as opposed to residential side streets. For over two years City Council had said they were going to review the project on appeal if the residents had concerns following the Hearing Examiner’s review, but then the Council changed their minds on the eve of the Hearing Examiner’s review.
Everyone is currently awaiting the Hearing Examiner’s decision, due for release any day.
Residents are also concerned about parking standards for future projects in this neighborhood. Parking requirements have been sharply reduced in recent years to encourage more people to ride transit, but transit options keep getting delayed, often by years at a time.
I would like to enter my support for a housing development on the old rail right-of-way along Logan Avenue near the Renton Stadium.
The other day I saw protesters against this project. I am very disappointed to see protesters against any development in Renton but especially disappointed to see a group protesting housing development.
My children in their 30s can not afford to purchase a house anywhere in the reasonable commute locations of the greater Seattle area. Apartments are also absurdly expensive. These types of protests against development are anti-family, anti-employment, and disparately impact younger persons, both the adults and their children, or desire to have children. This anti-generation activism must end, it is a form of discrimination.
I cannot fathom this opposition. Our elected officials need to lead, guide, and be outspoken proponents of development of all types. Renton should make sure the city is not impeding development with excessive zoning or building requirements.It is unconscionable to accept the poor judgment of opponents of development when it so adversely affects the affordability of housing or the creation of jobs.
Please distribute my comments to the council,
Rowland Martin
Renton
Rowland,
The north Renton neighbors are not protesting housing development in North Renton. The demonstrators you saw have very specific issues about the proposed joint commercial and residential development of this site on Logan, which they’ve raised to the Planning Commission, Council and the developer at public meetings, which have not been addressed.
North Renton residents and neighbors to the proposed site have raised these questions for years now, to no avail. At this juncture in the site’s development planning and approval some have chosen public demonstration.
Thanks for your comment Rowland. Many of us agree with you that we need more housing in Renton, so that our children can afford to stay here and so the many hard working people that keep our community going (like teachers, for instance) can afford a place to live.
My understanding from speaking with the protesters is that they are not objecting to having a residential development on this property, but rather the shortage of parking for the number of bedrooms being built, and the access off of the neighborhood streets instead of Logan Avenue. Some also feel the project is too tall at nearly 100 feet, considering it’s across the street from one and two story houses.
Since there are many people in the neighborhood, I’m sure there are a variety of viewpoints, so I’ll leet them comment further about this.
Yes, thank you Rowland. I would have to agree with Randy that the protests are not against the development itself, we all agree more housing options are needed and increased density will come with that. The residents are asking for traffic mitigation via moving the entrance/exit of the complex to Logan, instead of on the neighborhood side streets. Also have requested that the City of Renton require the building to provide adequate parking spaces for the number of units due to the fact street parking is already jammed-up by homeowners. That is all, just some cooperation from the city to help manage growth for better outcomes for all.
I appreciate your passion towards housing, and wonder what your reaction is to the Renton School District proposal to demolish 32-single family homes, along with businesses and a mixed-use development that was set to be built just north of the high school. This is also a downtown area that is zoned for high density housing, but the Renton High School is enacting eminent domain on the home owners, renters and businesses in order to tear down all the housing structures in order to add an additional ball field to the school grounds. There are multiple informative articles for reference available on this blog.
I’m one of the many picketers Roland. For more than 1.5 years we’ve been speaking at City Council Meetings, meeting with the City, submitting letters and petitions, and we even met with the developer. As we said to him – we were all set up for failure, by the City, with this proposed development.
We are not opposed to growth, including more housing. We know it’s a necessity. What we are opposed to is the disregard to the neighborhood; adding 100 plus cars to N 3rd and N 4th (proposed entrance & exit), not enough parking, and potentially major issues as it relates to two 15 foot easements Boeing has on the property.
We’re also dumbfounded, as mentioned above by another person responding to your post, that the argument the City Council keeps making is ‘we need more housing’. Yet they are demolishing 32 homes and businesses for the expansion of Renton High School. How does that even make sense.
Again, we agree – we need more housing. We also need the city to be thoughtful about where they place these new developments. This proposed development is a square peg in a round hole and the list of challenges is extremely long. (You might want to read the Hearing Examiner’s response.)