In the end, it’s going to come down to parking.

That’s not really a surprise. Cities are required by state growth management laws to prepare for a lot more people – whether they actually come or not.

Rather than spread them around town, putting single-family neighborhoods at risk, the Tacoma planning commission wants to point them toward business districts like Proctor, Stadium, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Lincoln, South Tacoma Way and Sixth Avenue.

But to encourage developers to invest in these districts, the city knew it would have to ease up on height restrictions and parking requirements. Of those, parking had the potential of being the thornier issue.

In addition to increasing costs to builders, too much off-street parking means the city wouldn’t get walkable urban neighborhoods that boost transit use. Require too little and the politicians risk the wrath of neighbors who don’t like their street parking being hogged by people visiting the district.

Sixth Avenue between Pine Street and Jason Lee Middle School has become a dense, urban neighborhood with stores, restaurants and bars. Credit goes to the entrepreneurship of small business people, but the city helped by exempting those who retrofit existing buildings from adding parking.

But by not requiring off-street parking for these retrofits – something that likely would have resulted in the demolition of many buildings for surface lots – the single-family neighborhoods north and south of the strip have been forced to share their street parking.

Because this is the model of what the city hopes will happen in other districts if it reduces parking requirements for new buildings as well as retrofits, the commission and staff expected complaints from neighbors. Yet on the eve of presenting the changes – known in bureaucratese as the Mixed-Use Centers Update Project – to the City Council, the planning commission met another opponent: City Manager Eric Anderson.

In a letter to the council, Anderson said he agrees with the goal of making parking market-driven, encouraging mixed-use development and promoting transit and walking. But, Anderson wrote, “... I am concerned about putting this change in place before the City has had an opportunity to develop all of the tools to address potential impacts.

“The result could have adverse impacts on the center and immediate neighborhood that were not intended or contemplated,” Anderson wrote. He prefers to try out the idea of reducing the parking burden on new development in the so-called International Financial Services Area – much of the downtown business district from the convention center to Fireman’s Park.

Based on their comments last week, a majority of the council isn’t convinced.

“I think it’s time to move on,” said Councilman Jake Fey. Other council members said it will be awhile before the economy improves enough to see any development – giving time to work out the details. But delaying the biggest carrot until some undetermined date would continue to keep development at bay.

“The last time we were here you asked, ‘if we do this will we get development?’ ” said architect and planning commission member David Boe. “Without the elimination of the parking requirement, you will not.”

Besides, said commission member Tom O’Connor, developers will include some parking because the market demands it.

Overwhelmed by the discussion of parking was the other major element – taller buildings. In exchange for including amenities like retail space, open space, affordable housing and protecting historic structures, developers can build up to six stories in most districts and eight stories in Stadium, on Martin Luther King Jr. Way and around 56th and South Tacoma Way.

The plan still puts some single-family areas near the mixed-use centers at risk of being replaced, though an area west of South Tacoma Way was spared thanks to work by Councilwoman Lauren Walker.

What’s next? The council will have the ordinance on first reading on July 14 and vote on July 21. For information and maps, go to www.cityoftacoma.org and search for “mixed-use centers.”

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com

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