By the time the city’s current wave of development is over, every citizen in Seattle could end up a minor expert in land-use law.

The latest group to bone up is the neighborhood association that represents the lower Capitol Hill triangle bordered by Pine Street, Olive Way, and Howell Street. The group, known as POWHAT, is trying to fight, or at least mitigate, a box of a building that developer Murray Franklyn plans on Pine between Summit and Belmont avenues.

The development, which will be six stories high and include 106 condos and seven retail spaces, would replace an entire block of popular local businesses, from Bimbo’s Bitchin’ Burrito Kitchen to the Manray and Kincora nightclubs, with no possibility of the bars returning. After a community ruckus that Murray Franklyn had with Twist, a bar in a Belltown building it owns, the developer is forbidding drinking establishments in the project.

POWHAT’s members express exactly the same concerns as a community coalition that’s been fighting a big-box shopping center planned near Seattle’s Little Saigon: The Pine-Belmont project, they say, will be far out of scale for the neighborhood, have no character and little open space, and be too expensive for local retailers and residents, who can’t afford $300,000 condos.

Like the Dearborn Street Coalition, POWHAT is coordinating with other groups, such as the Pike-Pine Urban Neighborhood Council, to create a unified front. But, at a meeting April 10, POWHAT’s members were divided about which issues to bring up with the Design Review Board, its current point of focus.

Among the ideas raised at the meeting were the possibility of turning a portion of Capitol Hill into a conservation district, which could put some restrictions on developers, along with sending letters to the design board and city officials, which POWHAT is currently doing.

Liz Dunn, who has developed community-friendly projects in the area, said it’s unlikely, however, that Murray Franklyn will give up on the project after spending $13 million on the land. But, “if you can keep the chains out and have interesting storefronts,” Dunn said, “you do better in the long run.” —Cydney Gillis

Step It Up, says Steinbrueck

The high cost of living, the mountains of trash we generate, and our addiction to the automobile are among the issues Seattle City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck wants the city’s long-term planners to address.

Steinbrueck wants to append a host of public goals to a bill amending the city’s Comprehensive Plan, a state-mandated document that guides the city’s growth through 2024. The priorities, which fellow councilmembers expressed their support for in an April 23 briefing, include placing fees on single-occupant drivers in certain parts of the city, moving toward a “zero waste” policy by encouraging re-use and recycling, codifying a city goal to reduce greenhouse emissions, and more effectively gauging residents’ well-being.

In presenting the ideas to fellow councilmembers at an April 23 briefing, Steinbrueck made a roundabout criticism of Mayor Greg Nickels’ work against climate change. “Recognizing that while we have advocated all over the country” on that issue, “we ourselves… could go much farther in terms of aggressively establishing goals and measures toward climate protection.”

Cultural heritage, too, merits greater protection. The Pike Market was preserved, Steinbrueck notes, not for the architectural significance of its structures but for the unique interactions that the marketplace’s various residents and craftspeople make possible. Those sorts of relationships are found elsewhere in the city, and we ought to be more conscientious of them, he says: “heritage is valuing neighborhoods that exist, not building entirely new.”

Steinbrueck expects a resolution outlining the ideas will be voted on May 9 in his committee. From there, council staff flesh out the various strategies by which these goals might be met; councilmembers vote the amendments into the Comprehensive Plan in the fall.

It’s important to be precise in stating these goals, says Steinbrueck. “Our law department often suggests we leave some wiggle room,” but “what’s measured matters, and if you don’t measure it we can’t keep up with it.” —Adam Hyla