Development Plan for Lincoln Street Moves Forward After Years of Planning

BELLINGHAM- AVT Consulting LLC is one step closer in the process of approving Phase 1 for the Lincoln Street Mixed Use Development project.

Ali Taysi, the principal and founder of AVT Consulting, plans to take the next step in the approval process and submit a Design Review Permit Application and Building Permit Application to the city.

The project will include multi-phase development on the 22-acre property bound by Fred Meyer to the North, Lincoln Street to the East, 1-5 to the West, and Maple Street to the South.

Phase 1 of the development will consist of four multi-family residential apartment buildings, with associated parking, landscaping, access, storm water and other improvements.

AVT Consulting has acted as the project manager on behalf of the owner, Langstan Management of Bellingham. The developers originally submitted the project for a permit in 2005 for a planned development contract. Since then they have gained approval from the city with a Critical Areas Permit, Planned Development Permit and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Review.

“We are through the entitlement planning process and have moved into an actual design planning process. Now we are preparing to submit building permits,” Taysi said.

Todd Fuller, the design architect, says they are not looking for strictly students to move into the housing.

“They are basically going to be designed as apartments and not student housing. The design will consist of four-story buildings over building parking,” Fuller said.

The units will consist of studios, one bedroom, and two bedroom-housing units.

Plan Raises Traffic Concerns Among Residents

The issue with exits and entrances onto Lincoln Street has raised concerns among residents living nearby.

Deborah Bemis, a Lakeway Mobile Estates resident, is concerned with how she will make a left turn out of her driveway onto Lincoln Street. The mobile home park is located directly across the street of the proposed project.

“There is already a lot of traffic there now,” Bemis said. “The south entrance of the Mobile Home Park is hard to get out of because of the narrow streets and it doesn’t have a turn in lane.”

The developers plan to improve Maple Street and create a bridge that will be directly onto Lincoln Street.

“Lincoln Street will be rechanneled. As you are heading Northbound, you won’t be sitting in a suicide lane,” Taysi said.

The developers plan to create three access points onto Lincoln Street once the project is completed. These will be located at the North and South end, as well as the primary access point with a left turn pocket.

“We have been working with the Public Works department on the channelization plan and on the street frontage improvements required so hopefully that will mitigate the impact as a result,” Taysi said.

Residents Want a Traffic Light Installed on Lincoln

The developers went through a SEPA modifications process this year to look at new impacts of the area, which included different traffic impact analysis. This resulted in the SEPA modification that resulted in the project.

Jesse Dennis, a resident of the Mobile Home Estates, would like to see the developers include a traffic light in the plan.

“There are too many dangerous left turns in the scheme of things,” Dennis said. “I don’t want to have to play the luck of the draw trying to turn left in this town.”

According to the city, a traffic light is not required at this point based on all of the traffic planning that has been done.

Drainage and Flooding Issues Raise Concerns

Gaythia Weiss, president of the Puget Neighborhood Association, suggests that the project developers do a full watershed analysis before proceeding with the project. This is due to the fear that flooding on Lincoln Street will only get worse.

According to the developers, there will be no additional discharge or runoff onto the street and the development that occurs on the site will go into storm water facilities. Runoff will then go directly to Lincoln Creek.

Residents of the mobile home estates have had issues in the past with flooding from Lincoln Street due to old pipes that are not able to handle runoff.

“It floods into our front yard and its only going to get worse once they develop,” Bemis said.

“There is storm drain infrastructure in Lincoln Street and that is probably what is blacking up and overflowing,” Taysi said. “When we improve Lincoln Street, we are going to have to add the curb, gutter and sidewalk along the West side and that will include storm infrastructure improvements. It may actually improve the function of the existing storm system on Lincoln Street.”

The developers plan to move forward with submitting applications to the city and if approved, construction will begin.