Take two examples: MultiCare’s intent to build an industrial steam plant across I Street from Wright Park in Tacoma, and the Simon-Johnson proposal to erect 180-foot condo towers on the Foss Waterway shoreline.

Both projects are good examples of bad urban design. Yet both the hospital and the developers have succeeded in shifting the debate from the projects themselves and toward relatively minor changes in how they will look.

MultiCare invited neighbors and other interested people to meet with staff and architects to make suggestions for its steam plant. Those folks offered their ideas, and some were incorporated into the design.

The latest version is somewhat better to some eyes. To others it is a hodgepodge of styles, looking as though it was designed by committee (which it was). At times during a recent presentation, the architects seemed chagrined by the result. (One described the south wall as a “damn boring facade,” but added, “I think we’re stuck with it.”)

Taken off the table, however, was the fundamental concern that a four-story steam plant topped with five-story steel smoke stacks should be hidden away in the hospital complex, not placed across from the park.

Any use of such a site should be people-oriented, such as a medical office building that would create some life and interest. A steam plant, no matter how designed, does neither.

Down on the waterfront, the Foss Waterway Development Authority and the city are trying to address objections to the planned condo towers. Current zoning would allow 100-foot-tall buildings, which would bring them just over the crest of the cliff at Fireman’s Park downtown.

But the developers don’t think they can make enough money at that height. Instead, if the city allows them to build up to 180 feet, the towers will take up only half of each building site. They’d trade wide and kind of tall for narrower and really tall.

To address objections over view losses by residents, office building owners and some community members, the developers and the Foss board have agreed to make the towers somewhat narrower still. But this is a difference without a distinction and does little to restore views.

Buildings on that part of the Foss shouldn’t rise above the bluff at Fireman’s Park and shouldn’t transfer public views of the port, the bay and the mountain to private ownership. This isn’t solely a private property rights issue because waterfront has special status in state law. Maintaining public views, uses and access is key.

Sadly, no one is representing the public. The government bodies seem more interested in satisfying the developers. And the concerns raised in public hearings have not been addressed adequately or at all.

While the developers will probably get their way with the planning commission and City Council, they are less likely to prevail with the state Department of Ecology and the courts.

Condos, by themselves, are not an acceptable use of waterfront. The existing buildings on the Foss were allowed because they technically are mixed-use buildings. Calling these new towers mixed use might be a stretch.

And residents who lose views have special standing under the state shorelines law and are unlikely to be soothed by these mostly cosmetic changes.

We keep asking the wrong questions. For the steam plant, it is not the look of the building that should be at issue, it’s the use. For Simon-Johnson, it isn’t the width of the towers, it’s the height. Supporters of both proposals say they represent progress. Hospitals need to grow to keep us physically healthy. The Foss needs to be developed to keep us financially healthy.

But bad projects do neither. A city emerging from the shadows will be better off when it starts demanding that big institutions and big developers build better projects.

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com