Residents criticize Center Street condo project to hearing examiner

 


La Conner Town hearing examiner David Lowell was an active listener last Thursday, March 31.

He heard an hour and a half of testimony during a public hearing for a conditional use permit (CUP) for a proposed three-story condominium building on Center and Fourth streets while posing numerous follow-up questions to those testifying in the much-anticipated Zoom session. Over 20 people attended.

In the end, Lowell proved to be a patient arbiter.

He said the record would remain open another five business days prior to his ruling on issuing a town conditional use permit to KSA Investments for the complex in a commercial zone abutting a single-family neighborhood.

If approved, the 20-unit building featuring 14 long-term and six short-term condominiums would be built on the north side of storefronts on Morris Street on property that for decades was home to a full-service gas station and a fuel storage and distribution site.


A garage was demolished and removed in January, after KSA’s principals, Kate and Brandon Atkinson purchased the property.

The project has now been the subject of two public forums. Previously labeled an apartment building, Atkinson now stated the 14 second and third floor units would be one-bedroom condominiums. He said the six first floor units will also be condos but “will not be for sale at this point.”

He envisioned renters “might come for a couple of weeks or they might come for a month.”

Work could begin in August and the building be completed by the end of 2023, a consultant said.

The town planning commission unanimously recommended the CUP be rejected at its March 15 meeting. Referencing municipal code mandates, commissioners cited concerns over the scale of the project and potential negative impacts on the neighborhood.


The commission did not agree with the staff report filed by town planner Michael Davolio recommending approval.

Davolio re-stated before Lowell his view that the project meets town code requirements and that the CUP should be approved.

The town makes no distinctions between single-family and multi-family zoning. It also allows 50% residential use of commercial structures.

“It’s clear that the town will want to re-examine its codes,” Davolio said Thursday. “But at this time, the applicants are allowed to do this under the code at the time of the application.


Frank Liddell, who lives on Center Street directly across from the property, told Lowell the building neither strategically meets La Conner’s housing needs nor is it compatible with the neighborhood.

“None of these will be family units,” Liddell said. “We should be bringing families into this community. That should be priority number one. We don’t need a high-rise three-story apartment complex,”

Neighbors Gary and Heike Nelson, who reside at Fourth and Morris streets, were also against it.

“I’m not a NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard),” Heike Nelson stressed. “I don’t care much about the brewery they’re putting in across the street from me. But I’ll live with it. I’m in a commercial zone.”

She noted that conditional use permits do not automatically gain approval and listed a host of specific traffic, parking, landscaping, and building size and height red flag issues in the proposal.

“This project,” she said, “is 50% larger than anything you’d be able to do on any other commercial lot in La Conner.

“Ultimately,” she added, “I don’t see how you can approve a conditional use permit like this when you can’t show it won’t have a negative impact on the neighborhood. I could go on forever. It’s just going to be too much.”

Gary Nelson noted the obstructed view looking south for Center Street residents.

“The view they have now is of the hill in La Conner, the trees, and some nice houses,” he said. “That view will be blocked by a three-story building.”

He voiced concerns the La Conner Fire Department might face should it have to respond to a fire at the building.

“The town only has a 35-foot ladder,” he said. “They can’t access the roof with their present equipment.”

Resident Maggie Wilder suggested the applicants seek a rezone of the property from commercial to residential use.

“Why not ask for a rezone,” she asked, “if the intent is providing housing? The sheer scale of this project is going to negatively impact this neighborhood. What it is, is a motel without supervision?”

The Atkinsons and project architect Charlie Morgan defended the project.

Brandon Atkinson said efforts have been made to address residents’ concerns as they have surfaced, including those related to setbacks, parking, noise and landscaping.

“A lot of people are frustrated by this,” he acknowledged, “but a lot of people need housing in La Conner. We believe there’s a need for this project and we’re excited about it.”

Atkinson, who maintains a dental practice on Maple Avenue, said La Conner designer Bo Miller had previously drawn plans for a three-story mixed-use residential and commercial building on the property.

“This,” he said, “wasn’t a brainchild of ours.”

Upon questioning from Lowell, Atkinson said he and his wife had undertaken a prior condo construction project in Sedro-Woolley. The couple purchased the Center Street property last fall.

“As Michael (Davolio) mentioned,” said Atkinson, “this is commercially zoned property. To do something residential, we need a conditional use permit. There’s not a huge commercial need in La Conner. So, we felt like we should make it more residential.”

Kate Atkinson, a designer whose parents grew up in La Conner, said the building would be an attractive addition to the town.

“It will look beautiful,” she insisted. “It will make things look better. The vacant, run-down shed looked horrible.”

Morgan noted that the Washington State Housing Authority encourages development of former fuel station properties as a means of cleaning up and removing potentially contaminated soils from those sites for public and subsidized housing.

“A state agency,” he said, “is saying that developing the site of a former gas station is a bonus.”

Center Street resident Debbie Aldrich, however, sees the project representing less a bonus and more about what it could take away from the flavor of the neighborhood.

“This is a quiet neighborhood,” she said, “where people are walking, and kids are playing and riding their bikes. They’re trying to shoehorn in a project that’s too big. It needs to fit. I’m not against having a conditional use permit for something that fits, (but) there’s a lot of issues with this.”

While there is debate over whether the project as designed is too large, on one point all parties are agreed.

The decision rendered by Lowell will be a big one.

It is appealable to the Skagit County Superior Court.

 

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