Residents fear Lawton proposal is "too urban"

A newly released city plan to redevelop the soon-to-be-closed Fort Lawton in Seattle calls for building a 200-home subdivision of market-rate and affordable housing on about 18 acres.

At a final community meeting Saturday at Fort Lawton, those living near the Army Reserve base said they didn't oppose housing for the homeless, but they worried that the total number of homes proposed and the percentage of units for the formerly homeless were both too high for their quiet, remote enclave next to Discovery Park.

About 40 percent of the proposed units — a 55-unit building for seniors and 15 duplexes for 30 families — would be set aside for the formerly homeless. Six town homes would be allotted to Habitat for Humanity. The rest would be market-rate town homes and single-family houses starting at about $500,000.

"We don't want to be urban," resident Lisa Schade told city officials. "The character you're imposing on us is urban."

The controversy over how to reuse Fort Lawton, nestled in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood, is part of a grand debate playing out across the nation in hundreds of communities as the U.S. military continues to consolidate bases under a process begun in the 1980s. In its fifth and final wave of closures, the military will close about 180 installations by 2011.

The arguments over the property in Magnolia are reminiscent of the debate more than 30 years ago after the federal government declared the Naval Station Puget Sound at Sand Point surplus and the city took steps to create Magnuson Park.

Putting homeless housing on the old Sand Point property was controversial then, as it is now at Fort Lawton. Such housing requires tenants to pay 30 percent of their income in rent. The tenants are also monitored by case managers.

Still, assurances haven't stopped communities elsewhere from filing lawsuits to stop base reuse plans that include housing for formerly homeless people. Even though the City Council will begin reviewing the plan next month and submit it to the federal government this fall, experienced developers say it'll likely be 2014 before the first home is ready for occupancy — assuming the process goes smoothly.

Most valuable property

Fort Lawton was once expansive, covering much of what today is Discovery Park, the largest in the city's park system.

The base was established around 1900 after business leaders amassed more than 700 acres and gave them to the Army in hopes that a large base would boost the local economy.

But Fort Lawton never became a major military hub, and over time, the federal government gave parts of it back to the city to establish Discovery Park.

Fort Lawton is now confined to about 46 acres, of which the federal government plans to retain about 15 acres.

Unlike in previous rounds of base closings, this time the military wants to be paid fair market value rather than give away all the land for public use.

"This is the highest-value property the Army Reserve has" among its installations being closed nationwide, Scott McKean, base transition coordinator at Fort Lawton, said.

For that reason, it's unlikely the military would simply transfer all the land to the city for park space or other public uses at no cost, officials say.

While the military could sell the property to a developer who puts in the highest bid, federal law requires that local agencies serving the homeless be given a chance to apply for the property.

According to a draft city report, there's a large need for permanent housing for the homeless in Seattle and King County: 144 homes for families and 2,020 beds for individuals in 2007.

"Two-thirds of the people I speak to favor this because they're aware of the vast numbers of homeless people in the community, and they want to see Magnolia do its share," says resident Susanne Kromberg.

In trying to balance permanent housing for the formerly homeless with getting top dollar for the market-rate homes, the city suggests putting the priciest houses far away from the homeless housing. The priciest houses would be along 36th Avenue West, facing an existing neighborhood.

Sidewalks and streets would connect the new subdivision with the existing neighborhood. But the traffic generated by the new subdivision would be routed through Texas Way and 37th Avenue West.

Neighbors living near the base are skeptical that the units will blend in with their houses.

"I haven't seen nice-looking town homes in a long time," said Ken Hobbs in an interview last week. Hobbs moved into his house in 1992. "When you're talking about affordability, I don't see them being done right."

Success in other areas

In 1994, Denver residents feared that portions of the former Lowry Air Force Base would turn into "something like the projects," said Kathleen Ruby, a resident of Mayfair Park, a neighborhood west of Lowry.

Initially, about 200 out of 867 units were set aside for homeless housing.

"What we didn't want was for there to be some component of Lowry that was the 'homeless area,' " Ruby said. "So when you're driving through the area, you're not going 'oh, that's the homeless housing.' "

After years of litigation, the courts ordered 70 homeless housing units to be dispersed among two apartment complexes — with the units for the formerly homeless to account for about one-third of the total units.

Ruby said many neighbors' fears have proved unsubstantiated. "It ended up being a fantastic development," she said.

Even in Seattle, on the former naval station at Sand Point, homeless housing seems to have worked out with neighboring tenants — although no market-rate housing was built.

Once the former naval station closed in the mid-1990s, nearly 100 units were carved out of existing buildings for the homeless.

Tenants apply after being referred by three agencies, says Kira Zylstra, who works for Solid Ground, a nonprofit that owns the Sand Point housing.

Clients take part in classes offered by other park tenants, such as the Cascade Bicycle Club, and nearby churches deliver meals and gifts during the holidays, she says.

"It's a very stable atmosphere and offers them a safe environment in which to rebuild their lives and overcome whatever barriers led them to become homeless," Zylstra says. "We've been operating now for eight years and, really, it [crime] has not been an issue."

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com