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Council reviews Terrace Station 5 zoning map amendment and development agreement for 65‑unit building
Summary
City staff presented a proposal to rezone two lots near Van Ry Boulevard and a development agreement that would allow a six‑story, 65‑unit multifamily building (Terrace Station 5) with a 25% parking reduction tied to transportation demand measures; council set the item for further review and a vote next week.
City staff on July 9 asked the Mountlake Terrace City Council to review a zoning map amendment and a development agreement for Terrace Station 5, a proposed multifamily project that would add up to 65 units on a southern lot near Van Ry Boulevard.
Sarah, the city's senior planner, said the rezone would align the lots with the comprehensive plan and move several existing zones to neighborhood mixed use and gateway mixed use. "It is proposed to be a multifamily residential building with 65 units, maxing out at 6 stories," she said, and staff explained the development agreement would borrow town‑center standards for dimensional and design requirements because the city has not yet implemented citywide neighborhood mixed‑use regulations.
Sarah also described parking and open‑space requirements included in the draft agreement. The agreement proposes a 25% parking reduction in exchange for transportation demand management (TDM) measures such as transit or van‑pool incentives; with that reduction staff said the project would provide 26 parking spaces. She said the project would provide roughly 100 square feet of usable open space per studio or one‑bedroom unit — about 6,500 square feet in total — and would include frontage improvements, a required traffic‑impact analysis, utility‑box art wraps and one or more public artworks in shared open space. Staff said a land use application is expected by July of next year, permits the following year, substantial construction progress by July 2031 and the agreement would terminate in July 2036.
Several council members pressed staff on parking, the TDM program and pedestrian access. Council member Sanmore asked staff to "level set" on the parking rules and the TDM justification; Sarah replied the 25% reduction “comes from elsewhere in our code” where the city has previously allowed similar reductions near transit, and that TDM measures could include ORCA cards or carpool systems. Council members also asked about whether an easement would provide an actual pathway for pedestrians; Sarah said the easement would be privately owned and maintained but "the public has the right to use that land" and that it must be ADA‑accessible, with details to be resolved in development review.
Staff noted that some state laws reduce allowable local parking requirements within a half‑mile of a major transit stop; staff said Mountlake Terrace is below the population threshold that would mandate compliance, but the city can voluntarily apply reduced parking standards where appropriate. Sarah said the planning commission will hold a public hearing July 13 and staff recommended the council accept the proposed zoning map amendment and development agreement and vote on the items at the council meeting next week.
The council did not take a final vote July 9 and scheduled further review and a vote for the July 16 meeting.
