Institution violates Code; City looks the other way.
Neighbors of the Providence/Swedish Cherry Hill medical center, led by members of a City-appointed committee whose role is to monitor the implementation of the institution’s Master Plan (MIMP), have filed two complaints with the Seattle Department of Construction and Land Use (SDCI) describing violations of the Land Use Code.
One complaint states that Providence/Swedish has failed to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles (SOV’s) driven by commuters to and from the medical center. Limiting vehicle traffic is one of the most important provisions of the Code intended to preserve the livability of the surrounding residential neighborhood. The applicable rule states that the number of commuters to the Cherry Hill campus arriving in a SOV shall be no more than 42% of total hospital commuters and that the rate shall decrease each year. However, the actual rate is closer to 57% and it has been increasing.
SDCI has refused to enforce the Code, claiming that the Transportation Management Plan is “aspirational”. This, even though the Code and the related Director’s Interpretation clearly state that it is mandatory.
The second complaint states that SDCI has permitted the construction of a hotel on the Cherry Hill Campus in violation of a provision that would allow a hotel to be built only if it is “substantially related to the central mission” of the medical center.
SDCI relied on a five-year old memo which, SDCI claimed, established that the hotel, proposed by non-Swedish developer Perfect Wealth Management, meets that test. However, SDCI approved the permit application while failing to acknowledge a more recent letter it received from Providence. That letter stated that, because of substantial changes to the hotel plans, it no longer is related to the central mission of the institution. Providence asked SDCI to consider the new information before issuing a permit. The request was ignored.
Not only did SDCI ignore the changed circumstances when it approved the permit, also when the hotel project was under consideration by a City of Seattle Hearing Examiner, SDCI failed to bring the recent letter to the attention of the Examiner.
The decision regarding whether or not a Land Use Code violation has occurred is the responsibility of SDCI, the same department that has allowed the violations to occur. For the integrity of the Land Use Code and the Major Institution Master Plan to be protected, the SDCI will have to take the provisions of the Code more seriously. The two complaints can be found at letter 1 and letter 2