Laurelon friends, we'll miss you sadly if you choose to go.
What a painful vote for Laurelon residents. The Hospital's massive construction proposals have been intimidating quite a few neighbors (inside and outside of Laurelon) for almost a year. Laurelon residents certainly deserve a financially sound escape route from the clutches of the Hospital. Unfortunately, the Laurelon sale contract has some sharp teeth.
The contract has so many conditions that you have to wonder whether (and when) any Laurelon owner will ever see a windfall.
Laurelon residents now face a dilemma -- they've signed up to sell something that they do not own. The Hospital will only pay owners the promised premium for their homes if the City approves an upzone large enough to please the Hospital. Yet... you do not own the zoning of your home, so you cannot sell a change to its zoning. A residential owner can no more guarantee an upzone of her property as a condition of sale than can a downtown developer.
Zoning is a common good that cannot be bought/sold by individuals. Laurelon's residential zoning encompasses over 20% of the moderately priced, multifamily homes in Laurelhurst/Sandpoint. The persistence of land zoned for multi-family residences is a common good that cannot be sold by condo owners. [Acknowledgment: "Moderately priced housing" is a misnomer in Seattle... is any housing in our city genuinely "moderately priced" relative to incomes these days? Here the term "moderate" to refers to the spectrum of prices in Seattle, not to median incomes.]
Will Laurelon residents ever see the premium they've been promised for their homes? Could be a long wait with this contract. And in the mean time they've signed up to become lobbyist for the Hospital's towering plans-- whatever those plans may be.
More on the sale and the contract, explained well by SmarterNeighbors this morning:
Laurelon Terrace supports Children’s buyout offer, clauses and all.
Last night a straw poll by Laurelon Terrace owners supported Children’s Hospital’s buyout offer for their condo. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Children’s will be writing checks in the amount of 2.8x the value of each unit anytime soon. What is required for this deal to go through are the following clauses:
(You can download a copy of the proposal with all the terms here.)1. The state legislature must pass HB3071, a bill to retroactively apply the ownership percentage (from 100% to 80%) required to change the law of any condo older than 1990.
2. The deal is contingent upon final approval of Children’s master plan and the plan must include expansion of the major institution boundaries to include Laurelon and must include development standards that meet Children’s satisfaction.
3. The city must approve street right-of-way vacations on terms determined by Children’s.
4. And to quote from Children’s,
‘Laurelon Terrace Board must publicly support Children’s MIMP and development of the Laurelon Terrace site as a positive solution for Children’s and the community.’
[Update: For those questioning the use of "intimidating" above: With all due respect, neighbors have certainly felt intimidated by the Hospital's towering proposals and 20+-year construction forecast over the last year. For examples of Laurelon residents vocally concerned about the loss of their homes, see A Voice from Laurelon and more recent testimony. ]
