Nickels eyeing builders for more sidewalks

Louise Questada can't walk in her Maple Leaf neighborhood because of missing sidewalks. The 88-year-old uses a walker and visits Lake City to shop, but there, too, she is limited by the absence of sidewalks.

"I have no place to walk now," Questada said. But "that's what all the doctors say: 'Walk, walk, walk!' "

Many residents around the city have the same complaint because of a loophole in the city's land-use code: Seattle exempts small housing projects — those with fewer than 10 units — from sidewalk requirements. On Thursday, Mayor Greg Nickels proposed tightening the rules and requiring sidewalks on all commercial projects and nearly all housing developments.

If the City Council agrees, the proposal could improve the walkability of the city. But developers say they would pass the costs on to buyers, thereby raising housing prices.

Nickels made his announcement along 33rd Avenue Northeast, where row upon row of townhouses have been built, some without sidewalks. In the mid-1950s, Seattle annexed the area from King County, which at the time was mostly rural and didn't require sidewalks. Typically, sidewalks are the responsibility of the property owner, but they have become more of a public concern.

"We lack that very basic urban amenity," Nickels said. "We want to make sure that sidewalks keep pace with the growth that occurs."

Sidewalks would be required of new projects along arterials, in those zones designated by the city as "urban villages" and commercial centers. There are nearly two dozen urban villages in Seattle, including parts of Lake City, Bitter Lake and Licton Springs.

Last month a council memo estimated that 40 percent of city streets don't have full sidewalks and that the cost of installing them citywide could be as much as $4.5 billion.

Like other cities, Seattle has a long way to go to close that gap: It is spending about $1 million a year on new sidewalks from the "Bridging the Gap" transportation levy approved by voters last year.

Paulo Nunes-Ueno, a member of the city's pedestrian master-plan advisory group, supports the proposal to have the private sector chip in.

"We need to find innovative ways to pay for those sidewalks," he said.

While it's understandable that the city wants developers to pay for sidewalks, the city is going about it the wrong way, said Garrett Huffman, a lobbyist for Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.

The mayor's proposal would force developers to pay steep permitting fees to the transportation department, Huffman said. The city should give developers the option of paying into a sidewalk-building fund that would be used only for building sidewalks on a large scale through private contractors.

"I'm assuming they could get some pretty low bids," Huffman said. "It would be much more economical."

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