There are more powerful actions they can take but neighbors opposing a proposed sixth floor on the mixed-use development being planned for the old QFC block of Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E got their say Wednesday night. Several neighbors supporting the plan and increased housing options on the busy commercial street on the edge of Capitol HIll’s single family-style house core also spoke up.

Around thirty residents voiced their opinions on the proposed mixed-use development as planners from the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection took notes and coordinated the brisk Wednesday evening meeting.

While many criticized the idea of a six-story building rising above 15th Ave E, there were also plenty of attendees during the virtual meeting who expressed support for increasing housing density amid the city’s ongoing housing and affordability crisis.

“I live less than a mile from this proposed project. I think this is a great project. It should be approved as proposed,” said one. “This project is located in, and will add to an already existing business area.”

Capitol Hill developer Hunters Capital — whose mixed-use development up the street replacing the old Hilltop Service Station will wrap up construction later this year — is requesting a departure from area zoning for its QFC project to allow an extra sixth story of height.

Hunters and Runberg Architecture Group say their preferred “S” design would meet requirements for preserving the E Republican canopy, provide space for a larger 15th Ave E plaza to break up the retail facade and provide additional corner retail space, allow for a north podium deck, make room for a “pedestrian through block” breezeway on the south end of the project next to the old firehouse building, keep the back alley from becoming too tightly crowded, and allow for residential use of the alley.

The “S” design would create 170 new apartment units in a six-story building, with about 10,000 square feet of retail space, and underground parking for 99 vehicles.

To do it and preserve a prized European hornbeam tree while also transitionitioning the project to the adjacent lower areas surrounding to the north, the developers say they need a departure from area zoning to allow the extra sixth story of height.

CHS reported here on the pushback from a group of neighbors to the proposal that triggered Wednesday meeting where additional feedback and public comment can be gathered before the city decides on the plan.

Many of the speakers opposed to the sixth floor questioned the necessity of granting the developers extra height to save the prized “tier 2” European hornbeam tree. Some suggested the tree could be preserved with a viable development topping out at five stories. Others questioned the value of the European hornbeam in the first place.

One longtime neighbor from behind the former QFC spoke up for longtime residents and the idea that nearby single-family homeowners knew what they were getting into when they purchased their properties in the 1980s and 1990s.

“Well, the fact of the matter is, we did not buy into this,” the man said. “The city, through multiple rezonings over the years that we’ve lived here, has changed the zoning on 15th Ave E and left our houses alone.” The impact of this proposal on the neighborhood will be “colossal,” the neighbor said.

Those supporting the plan didn’t have a lot to say about the hornbeam but spoke optimistically about helping to address Seattle’s housing crisis and excitement about new units in the area, as well as new commercial space. One attendee said this type of mixed-use development is perfect for Capitol Hill due to walkability and solid transit.

An important voice in the discussion didn’t participate Wednesday night but submitted written comment on the project. Jeff Pelletier​​​​, who lives in the neighborhood, developed a mixed-use building on the street where his architecture and design firm Board & Vellum is headquartered, and has helped lead past efforts to create community design standards for the 15th Ave neighborhood, says he supports the project as planned at six stories.

“The city’s new tree protection code, as determined by legal review, allows for an additional story if a tree is protected in a way that this project is doing,” Pelletier writes. “The code’s impact determined the development capacity of this site and allowed for additional units over what would have occurred in a five story building.”

“Similar to any public comment having no bearing on how much parking is provided on a project, the tree code has created a situation where public concern over a sixth story is being misdirected at the property owner exercising their legal right to develop a property consistent with city code when it should be directed at the city who wrote the code,” the architect continues. “The city needs to be consistent in the enforcement of their rules.”

The results of Wednesday night’s session are now in the hands of a SDCI land use planner who will work with the developers as they prepare for the next step of the public process as the project moves to the recommendation stage of design review. What feedback gets incorporated in the next proposal will remain to be seen. Neighbors will also have a chance to speak up when that meeting is scheduled later this year. We are still a long time before the empty QFC and the building home to a collection of businesses including a Rudy’s Barbershop, local favorite ShopRite, and a handful of apartments are demolished to make way.

There is also a more disruptive path.

City decisions on the land use proposal for the QFC block project can be appealed to the Seattle Hearing Examiner. Those battles can be costly and time consuming affairs. In one recent example of a project delayed by years, CHS reported here on the Hearing Examiner’s denial of a Save Madison Valley appeal against permitting the neighborhood’s mixed-use PCC project, a move that finally ended the neighborhood group’s argument that the development’s environmental review didn’t adequately address climate change. It’s possible the examiner might eventually have to rule on European hornbeam trees and sixth floors above 15th Ave E.

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