Renton, Redmond have different ideas on growth
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Sean Robinson Contributing Writer
Perhaps it is neither the best of times in Renton, nor the worst of times in Redmond, but the divergent attitudes toward growth in the two cities present a contrast Charles Dickens might have appreciated.
In Renton, growth sits on the front burner. The city's Web site giddily touts downtown improvements and new developments in Renton Highlands, and economic development manager Sue Carlson is aggressively pursuing new projects.
In Redmond, where the motto is, "Together we create a community of good neighbors," a moratorium on new development applications was lifted in the middle of last year, after 18 months. Mayor Rosemary Ives would have preferred to extend the moratorium another six months, but members of the city council could not be persuaded.
In Renton, city officials have given their blessing to combined efforts in the public and private sector to revitalize downtown and diversify the traditionally Boeing-dependent economy.
In Redmond, where Microsoft and smaller high-tech companies have contributed to the creation of one of the more affluent communities in Puget Sound, city officials are struggling to cope with triple and quadruple-digit growth in population, housing and jobs, and the accompanying pressure on local infrastructure.
Between 1995 and 1997, Redmond added 9.8 million square feet of new commercial development -- almost the entire projected amount of growth the city had targeted to occur by 2012. Then the moratorium went into effect.
"Redmond isn't willing to have everything paved over for the sake of commercial activity," said Ives, who was re-elected last year in part because of her willingness to limit growth.
In Renton, the dangers of relying too much on one employer became apparent in the early 1990s, when Boeing transferred 10,000 workers from Renton to Everett.
"We were left with 1.2 million square feet of vacant office space in Renton," Carlson said. "It was huge. Retailers, auto dealers, everybody suffered. Forty percent of our work force went almost overnight."
In response, Carlson, Mayor Jesse Tanner and members of the city council embarked on an aggressive downtown revitalization strategy.
The first phase involved persuading auto dealers in the city to relocate to property along Grady Way and sell their downtown parcels to the city. The next step combined an ambitious scheme to build park-like amenities downtown with an effort to attract mixed-used residential/retail development to the area.
Enter Don Dally, a local developer who accepted the city's challenge. His first project, a 110-unit development combining high-end residential units with retail services and secure parking, is 59 percent full after only 10 weeks.
The combination of easy transportation access and a residential market attractive to young professionals who couldn't afford Seattle prices gave Dally all the motivation he needed.
"Renton has streamlined the process," he said. "They want people living in Renton. They want nice projects and they're gonna do everything possible. If you're willing to build a quality-type project they're willing to help you get it through the process."
Two more projects lie ahead for Dally: a 58-unit mixed-use complex and a 90-unit development that will combine private residences with a Metro Park and Ride facility near a planned transit center. The city is also working on new developments along the Lake Washington waterfront and in the Renton Highlands.
The result has been a healthy bottom line and a more balanced mixture of jobs. Boeing represented roughly 68 percent of Renton's employment base in 1992. That number has since dropped to 38 percent. Auto sales in the dealers' new digs on Grady Way have risen by 30 percent, and the city's budget is climbing.
In Redmond, it's not that growth is frowned upon. Far from it: Microsoft continues to lead the leasing pack in the entire Puget Sound region. Two of the three largest office lease transactions in the last half of 1999 involved Microsoft and Redmond, according to statistics from Norris, Beggs and Simpson. The software giant secured almost 900,000 square feet of space in the Redmond area.
James Roberts, Redmond's assistant planning manager, points to recent applications submitted by Home Depot and Fred Meyer as evidence that the city is not casting a cold eye toward all growth, though he acknowledges that the volume of projects is not what it was before the moratorium was enacted.
Part of the reason for that, he said, was the rush of applications that hit the city as developers tried to beat the moratorium deadline.
Ives said the city doesn't have a shut-the-door mentality. The moratorium was a means to catch up on infrastructure improvements, and those efforts have been successful, she said.
When asked about the contrast between Redmond and Renton, she did not criticize the southern neighbor's efforts, but she did offer a veiled warning about the consequences of too much prosperity.
"I am troubled today that with so many individuals in so many communities that economic development seems to be the end rather than a tool," she said. "I think we need to think critically about economic development. If we can demonstrate that it's doing something good for our community then I applaud it. If it's threatening the community I think it's appropriate to say `time out.' "
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