Seattle Press on Line - Salmon Bay Moratorium Worries Seaview Avenue Homeowners

Ballard

Salmon Bay Moratorium Worries Seaview Avenue Homeowners

By Wallis Bolz

Jun 17, 1999 -- When City Council decided to stop a proposed housing and commercial development on Salmon Bay just west of the Ballard Locks, you could hear jaws drop homeowner by Seaview Avenue homeowner. In April, Councilmember Richard Conlin persuaded his fellow Councilmembers to pass Ordinance 119453, which established a moratorium on building permits along Seaview Avenue Northwest. The ordinance is intended to block development of the Dahmen property, west of Pescatore restaurant, while City Council figures out how to make the moratorium permanent.

The moratorium followed the listing of the Cedar River Chinook salmon run as threatened, and the significance of the Dahmen property to the city lies in the tidelands below its bluffs. Salmon smolts spend a year or so in estuaries, the area where stream meets ocean, putting on more than half of their eventual weight before heading out to sea. The degradation of estuarial habitat around Shilshole and Salmon Bay is evident; it's a hard edge of houses, condominiums, docks and pilings with little or no vegetation in the tideland beneath, simply mud and barnacled rock. Chuck Nafziger of Groundswell, NW described the city's stake in salmon recovery thus, "You can throw all the money you want up the river--fish-friendly dams, habitat restoration, hatcheries--if you don't have the estuaries, you don't make it." Groundswell, NW would like to restore estuarial habitat on the Dahmen property and the park across the locks to the south.

The Ballard neighborhood plan had identified the Dahmen property as a priority habitat acquisition, but last year the City Council backed off from the acquisition when they learned of the Dahmens' intent to develop the property. In February, however, Councilmembers Donaldson, McIver and Conlin sent a letter to the Dahmens indicating that the Council had changed its mind.

Bob Allison, proprietor of Allison Yacht and a member of the Seaview Neighborhood Association, said the moratorium, coupled with a second ordinance passed at the end of May, has made Seaview property owners uneasy. The second ordinance, 119481, amends the city's existing SEPA ordinance and charges the director of the Department of Design, Construction and Land Use (DCLU) with oversight in shoreline areas identified as wildlife habitat and travel corridors. If building projects threaten shoreline habitat, the director may condition or deny the permit, whether or not the project meets existing code regulations as described in the city's SEPA Overview Policy.

The moratorium is limited to Seaview Avenue, but the ordinance is a citywide measure, affecting all who live or work above water.

"For Seaview homeowners," said Allison, "it's not clear what is permitted and what isn't. In this new scheme, all activity on Seaview is at the discretion of the director of DCLU. Is remodeling new construction?" Allison said property owners on Seaview are worried about the extent to which such restrictions on shoreline development might affect their property values.

And he wonders why Councilmembers Conlin and Pageler have gone to extraordinary measures to kill the Dahmen project. In addition to DCLU, four agencies plus the Muckleshoot Indian tribe have to sign off on any building permit at the Locks.

In the opinion of Davidya Kasperzyck, a member of Groundswell, NW, "the Council didn't feel confident that DCLU would kill the project at EIS.

"I was heartened by the Council action. They're doing the right thing. This site is a symbolic but real poster child for the city to stake a claim in salmon recovery. It's absolutely appropriate."

The City Council passed both ordinances as emergency measures, which requires a public hearing within 90 days. The hearing will be held Thursday, June 17, at 9:30 a.m. in Council Chambers. Written comments may be sent to Councilmember Richard Conlin, Municipal Building, 11th floor, 600 Fourth Avenue, Seattle WA; fax 206) 684-8587; email richard.conlin@ci.seattle.wa.us.

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steve urkle	Feb 28, 2005	resident	odd jobs
I think the salmon need a habitat to live in but making the home owners be restricted from building is rediculous.