Council endorses biotech hub for South Lake Union

The Seattle City Council endorsed redeveloping the South Lake Union area as a future biotechnology hub, putting off a neighborhood-plan review that had held up the council's resolution last week.

The unanimous vote yesterday was largely symbolic, yet the statement's sponsor, Jim Compton, said it would mark "the day this City Council said Seattle is open for business."

The measure does not commit tax dollars to a streetcar or any other transportation project proposed by Mayor Greg Nickels, Compton said. Instead, it expresses support for making transportation improvements to fix the "Mercer mess" and connect streets in the South Lake Union area to lower Queen Anne and the Seattle Center, which are now cut off by Aurora Avenue North.

Still, some community activists worry that the council's action charts a course for Mercer Street that they don't like.

Nickels has proposed a wider eight-lane boulevard for Mercer that will allow adjacent Valley Street to become narrower, giving property owned by Paul Allen easier access to the South Lake Union waterfront.

Mike Foley, a local property owner, noted that a recent city study predicted that traffic would move slower, not faster, from Seattle Center to Interstate 5 in the new model, which could cost from $75 million to $300 million.

"Do we need to spend that kind of money," Foley said, "to re-arrange a traffic jam?"

The neighborhood plan does not call for such a project either, Foley also said.

City officials maintain that the Mercer plan is still far from reality. "We are going to debate the heck out of it before we move forward," said Mary Jean Ryan, director of the mayor's strategic-policy office.

In addition, Councilman Nick Licata amended Compton's resolution so it ensures further review of the Mercer project before the city starts spending money on it.

Licata and Councilman Richard Conlin also had sought a specific review of the South Lake Union neighborhood plan because the number of new jobs projected for the area far exceeds earlier estimates.

But when a South Lake Union neighborhood group voted against such a review last week, the councilmen dropped their push.

Instead, the council resolution said the neighborhood plan would be reviewed in 2004 as part of an overall study of the city's growth.

That left some activists frustrated.

"This is nothing but cheerleading for Paul Allen and biotech. It postpones real public review until 2004, long after the council will make decisions to spend tens of millions of dollars for new infrastructure, including Mercer Street," said John Fox, coordinator of the Seattle Displacement Coalition.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com