Why CBC changes?

This is an important week for Newcastle. So I feel it necessary to post more than my usual weekly update.
Tomorrow the city council will be considering a number of changes to our municipal code as they relate to the development of our Central Business Center (CBC). The CBC is an overlay zone that extends from the north end of Lake Boren, includes both the Safeway and QFC strip malls, and continues north to include the property that is currently occupied by the Mutual Materials brick plant.
Why are we considering changes? My position is very simple... Newcastle has very limited space for growth and the city needs to maximize the use of space for several reasons:

• First, Newcastle is required to accept a certain amount of population growth over the next 20 years. Current projections are that we will need to accomodate an additional 5000 people over 20 years. That equals a 55% growth in the city population over the next 20 years.
• Second, to ensure that this growth doesn't overly impact our residential neighborhoods with out-of-control and overly dense in-fill development, we need to concentrate a majority of the growth in our downtown CBC where the density is appropriate.
• Third, with increased density in the CBC we achieve a number of things... with increased population we then have the ability to attract a broader range of commercial goods and services. With an increased economic base comes an increase in revenue for the city that can then in turn be used to improve other services the city provides like parks and trails. Increased density will also attract a broader range of transportation options and local jobs.

So how do we accomplish this? Critics of mine claim that the free market of development will provide what we envision. I believe that view is sorely shortsighted. We have seen time and time agin in other regional communities like Mercer Island, Mill Creek, Bothell, Sammamish, and repeated by developers on several occassions that the key to seeing successful community development is the following:

• A clear set of development guidelines
• That are consistently applied
• That work toward a central vision

I believe that our current regulations dont work on a number of these fronts, but most importantly I dont think that our code is working toward our central vision. In fact I would go so far as to say that I think some of our codes contradict our vision. Therefor we must make changes to the code to see change in our future. Otherwise, the legacy of Newcastle will continue to be a couple of strip malls with a road down the middle.

After tomorrows meeting I will summarize each of the changes that are voted on and why I voted the way i did. I will also respond to the notion that the council is not listening to the residents by disagreeing with the "non-recommendations" of the planning commission. But that is all for a future post.