Fate Of Parklike Property Up To Mercer Island Council -- Eighteen Homes Planned Near Qfc Village, But Neighbors Object

MERCER ISLAND

The long-debated question of housing at QFC Village near Mercer Island's south end could be settled Monday night when the City Council considers a proposal to allow 18 new homes on property now zoned for commercial uses.

The Planning Commission recommendation is for eight acres from the 12.9-acre tract to be subdivided into lots with a minimum size of 7,200 square feet. Houses would be relatively modest by Island standards; some would be duplexes.

At issue is a general desire to maintain a low-density, single-family residential neighborhood vs. a perceived need for relatively small houses for an aging population. Also, surrounding residents fear that smaller homes would hurt their property values.

On the other hand, QFC has been trying to do something with its increasingly valuable acreage besides providing a trail for joggers and dog walkers. Mercer Island's largest remaining private tract with potential for more development, it is bordered on two sides by Pioneer Park and on the south by Mercer Island Country Club.

The property contains a gasoline station, a vacant building and two single-story buildings housing the recently expanded QFC supermarket and a Seafirst Bank branch, Lakeside Mercer Drugs and Clampitt's Cleaners. Current zoning permits a number of business uses, including warehouses, but not residences.

Gary Lewis, spokesman for the prospective developer, Property Management Northwest, said no immediate changes to the existing businesses are contemplated, although the vacant building would be demolished.

Although the entire acreage was zoned for business shortly after Mercer Island's incorporation in 1960, its limitations became apparent as various enterprises - other than the grocery, drugstore and limited neighborhood services - were tried and failed.

As early as 1975, then owner E.M. Greenwood proposed an apartment development. Responding to howls from neighboring homeowners, the city's design commission declined to recommend any change in the zoning.

In 1984 Greenwood's estate sold his land to QFC, which had operated the supermarket since 1969. QFC improved trails and landscaping, seeding an impression it would provide another park.

Two years later QFC proposed to sell most of its land for a 122-apartment "senior citizen" development. Neighborhood outcry killed the concept.

In August 1994, Mercer Island's Growth Management Commission, drafting a master plan to meet new state requirements, considered changing the zoning to include multiple-family housing. At that time QFC officials said they wanted out of the property-management business and proposed to sell all the land not needed for supermarket operations.

In response, roughly 350 south-end residents packed a room designed for 60, their catcalls leading the chairman to threaten closing the meeting. But the commission heard 50 speakers, three-fourths of whom opposed multiple-family housing.

An 84th Avenue resident, Jim Peterson, led the opposition, insisting that any change in the QFC property be to single-family residential. Many of the speakers, however, wanted no change whatever.

Lewis thinks the current proposal satisfies most concerns. Mercer Island Mayor Judy Clibborn said "there's been lots of public input - this developer has been listening."

"We're not talking about affordable housing," she said. "These are homes that will sell for between $250,000 and $350,000. To qualify for the payments would require an annual income of more than $78,000."

Peterson, who previously led the opposition, now says the developers have met his concerns by keeping the density low and not mixing commercial and residential in the same building. They also are retaining the 75-foot setback along 84th Avenue. Peterson would prefer larger lot sizes, "but I won't try to scuttle the works. I think that land is going to be developed."

Not everybody is happy. Ira Appelman, who lives several blocks to the west, says he is leading a protest against any changes to the property, in part because further development would increase traffic.

"We are telling them that the current restrictions maintain our unique parklike atmosphere and enhance our quality of life," he said. "We hope the city will respect the special nature of our community and keep the existing zoning."

Clibborn said that under current zoning, the city "cannot stop anyone from building a warehouse or a 35-foot-high office building."

As for traffic concerns, "for the past four years the eastern building was used by a high-tech manufacturer who employed 100 people, and nobody complained about the traffic this generated."

Clibborn said city officials frequently hear from people who want to stay on Mercer Island without the upkeep and cost of their large family homes, but such places are almost impossible to find.

Mercer Island has a number of houses smaller than those proposed for the south-end site, but they mostly predate the 1960 incorporation. Multi-family housing has been confined to the island's north end..