New Look Sought For Downtown Mercer Island

A public

preview

-- Project Renaissance's proposed downtown plan for Mercer Island will be presented at public meetings tomorrow at West Mercer School multipurpose room, and Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the Community Center at Mercer View, both sessions starting at 7:30 p.m.

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-- MERCER ISLAND

When Project Renaissance, Mercer Island's business-improvement organization, presents its downtown plan at a public meeting tomorrow, it will confirm earlier analyses of the island's business center: that it consists of scattered, fragmented development without focus and with acres of parking and poor pedestrian facilities; that retail enterprise is limited, offering few opportunities for comparison-shopping; that property owners have little incentive to invest in development; and that small businesses invariably find it a struggle to survive.

The Renaissance prescription is to encourage higher building density and a mixed use of office-retail-residential uses that will bring activity into downtown. It suggests a bonus-incentive program that would raise the present two-story height limit, adopted in December 1987, to a maximum of five stories, subject to a floor-area ratio allowing points for mixed uses, underground parking and pedestrian amenities.

The height formula is a new element in the Renaissance proposal, and one eagerly awaited by City Council members who consider a two-floor limit too restrictive. But the Renaissance proposal will be aired at public meetings and possibly refined further before it goes to the council.

Critics say the current two-story limit, which some council members intended as a moratorium awaiting the Renaissance recommendation, served to accelerate the downtown trend toward ``burgers and bucks,'' fast-food and financial establishments that can afford low buildings despite land costs as high as $37 a square foot.

City officials and business representatives created the public/private not-for-profit organization now called Project Renaissance four years ago in an effort to help Mercer Island businesses and improve their surroundings. It includes representatives of city boards and commissions, the mayor, the Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce, the Merchants' Association and citizens. The city supports the project with revenue from the business-and-occupancy tax.

Michael Carlson, Renaissance's first and only director, describes the project's goals as threefold:

-- Support for the merchants, coordinating promotions and advertising, and assisting individual enterprises with accounting and marketing.

-- Providing the city with needed changes in its downtown plan.

-- Seeking and assisting projects that would implement the plan.

Ironically, Carlson will not be around to carry the Renaissance plan forward.

Bruce Lorig, representative of

the Mercer Island Planning Commission and the project's president, confirmed that the Project Renaissance board voted late last month to eliminate the full-time position of director, which Carlson has filled since August 1989. Carlson will leave as of Jan. 1.

Carlson wins praise from merchants. Paul Deane, who last year bought Tangerine restaurant, said Carlson gave him invaluable help ``with major remodeling, budgeting and planning. He's been the best resource downtown Mercer Island has. It's unfortunate he's leaving, and I will miss him a lot.''

Don Calvert, owner of True Value Hardware, said he was ``flabbergasted'' when he returned to town this week and learned of the Renaissance board's action. ``Mike was a very important part of that project: a hard-working guy trying to do a job for the city and the merchants,'' Calvert said.

``Nobody can just pull a miracle to solve our problems with retailing - they're long-range and need a great deal of effort. Mike understands our problems and is the first person ever to work on them. He's gone far beyond the call of duty, and I sure hate to see him go.''

Vickie Napoleone, co-owner of Subito restaurant, president of the Merchants' Association and its representative on the board of Project Renaissance, says she wants ``to get value for my tax dollar, and a full-time administrator is very costly.'' She believes the organization can find a part-time director who will focus exclusively on merchant support.

Carlson says he will not be a candidate for a part-time position with Project Renaissance. At 36, the former assistant to the mayor of Spokane with a background in business, demographics and marketing says he is ``looking at other options'' to remain in the area. He, his wife, Kellie, and two small children moved to Mercer Island last year and would like to remain.

Not all members of the board have agreed on the project's priorities, and Carlson himself cites that in connection with the decision to drop his position.

``I understand there's a philosophical difference on the board about our purpose, and I feel that I'm caught in the middle,'' he said.

``We don't want to spend a lot more money on blueprints for developing (the business center), trying to get landowners to develop if they don't want to,'' Napoleone said.

Lorig, on the other hand, would like to see more attention to future development.

A Seattle-area developer of such projects as Marketplace North, Market Square and the old Queen Anne and Wallingford schools, he believes it's important to business ``that we get the law changed to allow larger buildings, while controlling height and bulk and keeping the village scale; and then, that we stimulate some development, making attractive things happen.''