Downtown Bellevue TOD Trumps View From City Hall
The Bellevue City Council voted this week not to pursue protecting the view of Mount Rainier from City Hall. The question is important because the city is rezoning parts of Downtown to allow the development of taller buildings, some of which could block the view of the mountain from City Hall.
For example, PMF Investments' development calls for four towers as tall as 20 stories and a shorter building on the site of the Sheraton at 100 112th Ave NE, next to the planned East Main rail station. Protecting the view would require PMF to scrap two of the towers, lowering density in a prime TOD area, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports. With only one vote to study protection, the council decided the prospect of development is more important than that particular view. [PSBJ]