Proposal limits use of Seattle land zoned industrial

To quell land speculation in industrial areas and preserve manufacturing jobs, the city of Seattle might reduce how much office and retail space can be built on land set aside for industrial use.

In a Wednesday announcement, Mayor Greg Nickels said his plan would provide job and business opportunities "by ensuring that industrial land is safeguarded for industrial and manufacturing uses by putting strict new limits on the amounts of office and retail space allowed in industrially zoned areas."

Local elected officials and labor leaders have raised alarm over real-estate investments in the Sodo neighborhood, where developer Henry Liebman has bought 40 acres — hedging that the area's blue-collar jobs eventually will make way for software-engineering firms and high-end stores. The speculation is driving up land values and rents.

Nickels, whose proposal is subject to City Council approval, said the city's 120,000 industrial jobs need protection, especially since many are family-wage jobs that pay about $55,500 a year. Twelve percent of the city, or 5,142 acres, is zoned for industrial use.

The mayor's recommendations include dramatically reducing the amount of office space allowed on land zoned as "industrial general" from 100,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet per site. Retail space would be limited to 10,000 square feet as well, compared with the current maximum of 75,000 square feet.

Liebman doesn't think this would cause "a giant reduction in land value."

Liebman, who runs the investment company American Life, said the proposal does not specifically define how industrial areas can be used for research and development. He has considered a software campus for his property.

Labor leaders approve

Alan Justad, spokesman for the city's Department of Planning and Development, said the city is working on other legislation that would restrict research and development to work that requires a laboratory setting rather than work that could be done in a cubicle in a downtown office building.

Other cities are even more restrictive, according to Seattle's planning department: Portland limits office and retail use to 3,000 square feet in its most intensely industrial areas and Vancouver, B.C., has a limit of 2,530 square feet for offices and 10,764 for retail.

The mayor provided an exemption for Starbucks, which would be allowed to expand its headquarters in the Duwamish industrial area.

Labor leaders praised Nickels' proposal as a safeguard for manufacturing jobs.

"The need to maintain our industrial base, to maintain our family-wage jobs — that has been threatened by commercial speculation that could lead us to a point that this isn't the Seattle we grew up with," said David Freiboth, executive secretary-treasurer for the King County Labor Council.

North Bay plan affected?

The zoning proposal could potentially affect a Port of Seattle plan to build an office and industrial complex on the 57-acre North Bay property between Queen Anne and Magnolia.

The City Council recently rejected the Port's plan, saying it contained too much office space and too little industrial space.

While Nickels said Wednesday his proposed rules would apply to the North Bay development, Port spokesman David Schaefer said, "We still are hopeful about doing something that would allow us to do some other kinds of development on the property."

Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck, who chairs the land-use committee, said, "The mayor's proposal is very much a move in the right direction. ... The council has long been concerned about industrial land and erosion of the industrial base in Seattle."

He intends to work on a "fuller set of strategies" that includes changes to the city's comprehensive plan, economic-development strategies and ways to protect industrial areas from encroachment.

Steinbrueck is planning a public forum to discuss the issue Sept. 20.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com