Should U-District upzone, allow taller buildings?

University Way, known as the Ave, is the heart of Seattle's University District, an eclectic mix of people and businesses.

For 27 years, Don Schulze has run a college hangout on the street.

He supports a city plan for a major U-District upzone, allowing buildings as high as 320 feet, about the size of the University of Washington Tower, which now stands alone at that height in the neighborhood.

"You put a few towers like that around and space them appropriately and we can have a vibrant,livable neighborhood," Schulze said.

Some towers would go in parking lots owned by Schulze and his business partners, who are major U-District landowners.

Height limits would rise only slightly on the Ave, the tallest buildings would surround the light rail station.

The zoning change is meant to create more density near the station, which will open in five years.

"We're talking about a fundamental change in zoning," said John Fox of the Seattle Displacement Coalition.

He counts 1,500 affordable or low-income housing units in the potential upzone area.

He says those residents are at risk of paying higher rent if they're not pushed out altogether.

"It would irrevocably alter both the physical and social character of the neighborhood and spell a dramatic loss of hundreds of units of existing affordable housing," Fox said of the upzone proposal.

On Monday night, housing advocates planned to gather for a meeting to demand the city preserve affordable housing.

City officials plan to release a formal zoning proposal for the U-District next week and say it will include new requirements for affordable housing and open space.

Cox Media Group