Developers, property owners press Bellevue Planning Commission to loosen BelRed street grid; staff urges targeted retention of key segments

More than a dozen property owners, developers and designers told the Bellevue Planning Commission on April 22 that a rigid, car‑oriented street grid mapped in the BelRed Look Forward LUCA is blocking redevelopment and should be loosened in favor of pedestrian and shared‑use connections.

Leila Kadimi, a land‑use attorney, said the draft code "continues to require a rigid street grid dating back to 2009 that city transportation staff have already said is not necessary to meet transportation needs," and urged the commission to require the code to rely on block limits and "flexible pedestrian and bike connectivity, not mandatory 50 and 60 foot roadways." Diana Leo, vice president of government affairs for the Bellevue Chamber, said the Chamber’s transportation analysis shows the grid "adds costs, reduces developable land, and does not deliver transportation value" in a light‑rail served transit‑oriented district.

Property owners described site‑level impacts. Derek Bottles said his family’s parcel is about 50,500 square feet "on paper," but only about 22,400 square feet may be developable after accounting for critical areas; he estimated a new mapped local street could remove roughly 4,000 square feet of buildable land—"basically, in our case, a new street grid would take 18% of the usable land." Jesse Clausen, representing O’Brien Auto Group, raised nexus and proportionality concerns, saying owners are being asked to build public streets without offsets.

City staff framed the issue as a balance between preserving future public access and avoiding unnecessary burdens on constrained sites. Christina Gullins, code and policy planner manager, said the 2009 grid has some clear benefits—"a system of roughly 300‑foot square blocks...excellent for walkability"—but also noted many grid segments do not align with parcel boundaries or topography. She described a draft approach that pares back the grid in challenging places, retains green streets and defined segments where local access is critical, and allows a range of private corridor typologies for master‑planned or large sites.

Staff described private corridor options that could substitute for public streets under strict conditions: flex access corridors, active transportation access corridors, enhanced shared use paths (14–20 feet, usable as plazas with design enhancements), and service corridors for back‑of‑house access. Nick Whipple, code and policy director, emphasized minimum conditions for any substitution: "swapping out public streets cannot be by right" and proposals must demonstrate emergency‑vehicle access, ADA compliance, avoidance of adverse neighborhood impacts and review by relevant city teams (transportation, fire and others).

Commissioners pressed staff on what landowners receive in return when required to provide streets that did not physically exist before and on how the LUCA addresses nexus and proportionality. Staff said where the city maintains a public street or green street the land area will be credited in FAR calculations so owners are not penalized for dedicating land, and that the LUCA increases allowable capacity across BelRed—including higher heights and FARs—so the code uplift is a citywide tradeoff to unlock development.

The LUCA presentation highlighted the stakes: staff said the update would add capacity to accommodate roughly 7,900 additional housing units and 14,200 jobs by 2044. The commission did not take any final votes on code language; staff will return May 27 with additional LUCA topics and expects a public hearing in July.

What’s next: staff asked the commission whether it supports offering a private‑street substitution option and whether the commission recommends changes to the proposed conditions and criteria. The commission moved the conversation toward finding compromise language that preserves public benefit while allowing project‑level flexibility; staff will return with refined options at the next study session.