George and Sally Daniels have enjoyed their restored 1902 home in the North Renton neighborhood since 1989, an area dominated by single-family homes.
George Daniels does have questions about the future of North Renton.
The question weighing most heavily on his mind is whether the density of the area will change North Renton from a bedroom community to the piled-high likes of downtown Bellevue.
Other residents in the area express similar concerns.
When posed with this question, City of Renton planners Chip Vincent and Angie Mathias shake their heads and answer no, the residential character of the neighborhood is not changing to the density of downtown Bellevue.
“It’s really about making it a quality, livable, single-family neighborhood because there’s been a lot of issues with incompatible development in the past,” said Vincent.
Instead, the two offer the City Center Community Plan adopted summer 2011 as proof of the city’s direction, which includes the future of North Renton.
“We’ve got provisions within this plan that speak directly to creating rules that make development happening around that North Renton neighborhood transition in phases through using good design standards a lot better.”
Vincent is the city’s planning director and Mathias is the senior planner on the project.
The North Renton neighborhood can expect to have its residential character preserved and enhanced, according to the 20-year City Center Community Plan.
Listening to Vincent and Mathias explain the plan, residents of the neighborhood can also expect to see added amenities.
For example, in the North Renton neighborhood an enhanced Park Avenue easily traversed by different types of transportation is planned.
The avenue is to be a more lively and developed connector between South Renton and North Renton to The Landing. The idea of a streetcar along Park Avenue has been floated, along with plans to possibly change the zoning along the street to allow small-scale, mixed-use buildings.
The other amenity planned in North Renton specifically is a greenway promenade on the Cedar River corridor.
The City Center Community Plan was developed during a two-year period and the process involved gathering community feedback from neighborhood picnics, meetings and online surveys.
It is a plan for more than just the North Renton neighborhood; it covers the downtown Renton core and peripheral areas.
Currently, Mayor Denis Law and the City Council are appointing members to a City Center Community Planning Advisory Board.
Recently, the council approved an ordinance for the creation of the advisory board that would decide how to prioritize all the parts of the City Center Community Plan.
The board could be fully staffed within a month.
An improved, more-integrated transportation system in the city center, a greener city center and better quality development are the high-level take-away points of the overall City Center Community Plan, said Vincent.
Vincent and Mathias are confident the plan reflects what the community wants, because of the feedback they have received through the extensive process.
If anything they heard that residents wanted more opportunities for green space and environmental projects like community gardens and pathways that accommodate various modes of transportation.
“There was nothing that was like ‘Wow, you really didn’t hear what we said at all,’” said Mathias of community feedback and insight.
The challenges to all of the development plans in North Renton and beyond remain resources, said Vincent.
That means funds as well as time, but Vincent and Mathias are excited about the appointments to the advisory board.
“We are going to be appointing a large number of people who are stakeholders in the community to really empower them to help us implement the plan,” Vincent said.
Check out the City Center Community Plan on the City of Renton’s website.
