Low-income housing project has some neighbors worried

Some Ballard residents are concerned that Compass Center Ballard, a housing development for formerly homeless individuals, is being snuck through the planning stages and will seriously damage the neighborhood.

Dave Jarrell owns an apartment building across the street from the Compass Center Ballard location at 1753 N.W. 56th St. He said few people in the neighborhood are aware of what the project is.

Mike Yamaguchi, owner of the Landmark Apartments to the east of the site, said Compass Housing Alliance is trying to sneak the housing development into Ballard.

He said the community needs to have a chance to voice their opinion on the project – an 80-unit residential building for homeless men and women that includes services for residents who have substance dependencies or other disabilities.

Rick Friedhoff, executive director of Compass Housing Alliance, said they sent out notices to nearby property owners when the property was acquired in February 2008.

The project was announced at more than one Ballard District Council meeting and covered numerous times by both the Ballard News-Tribune and MyBallard.com, he said.

"We definitely aren't trying to sneak it in," Friedhoff said. "I don't know where that would come from."

A Feb. 8 early design guidance meeting was the first official meeting regarding Compass Center Ballard. Construction is set to begin in October at the earliest.

Jarrell and Yamaguchi said their tenants and neighbors are uncomfortable with the project.

"One of the major concerns is that it is housing for low-income or no-income tenants," Yamaguchi said.

Jarrell said it is not unusual to be concerned about projects involving homeless people with disabilities.

Compass Center Ballard will be a magnet for homeless people, addicts and sex offenders, hurting business and lowering land values, Yamaguchi said.

"When you're doing that in the heart of Ballard, it will affect Ballard negatively," he said.

He said Ballard is trying to struggle out of an economic downturn with lots of commercial vacancies, and this project will slow that down.

Friedhoff said reactions like those of Yamaguchi and Jarrell are fueled by fear, and while they aren't necessarily typical, they occur often.

Extensive research suggests that low-income housing does not harm property values, he said.

"I think once this building is built and the residents are there, people will be surprised at how little impact it has," he said.

Compass Housing Alliance will develop a screening process for residents using input from the city and the neighborhood, Friedhoff said. Whether or not sex offenders are allowed in Compass Center Ballard will depend on negotiations with the Seattle Housing Authority, he said.

Compass Housing Alliance operates 22 sites in King County. Two sites that house similar populations as will be living in Compass Center Ballard are located in the Cascade neighborhood and Shoreline.

Roberta Smith owns Shoreline's Be A New Creation Spa next to a Compass Center veterans shelter with about 20 units for formerly homeless individuals. She said she has never had a problem with the shelter.

Stephanie Green is the program director for Cascade People's Center, a community group that operates out of Cascade Park across from Compass' home for 32 formerly homeless women.

Green said the neighborhood has a homeless population, but none of the individuals who have caused problems in the neighborhood are residents of the Compass Center.

Jarrell said Compass Center Ballard may be able to manage what goes on inside the building but will have no control over what goes on outside of it.

He said he believes Compass Housing Alliance has already shown itself to be a bad property owner when individuals were squatting on the property in a vacant house, which was demolished last summer.

Compass needs to show it can manage their property, let alone their proposed building, Jarrell said.

Yamaguchi said Compass Housing Alliance may be able to maintain order in their smaller centers, such as the ones in Shoreline and Cascade, but could not keep control of an 80-unit Lake City center.

Friedhoff said that is absolutely untrue.

At the Feb. 8 design meeting, M.J. Kiser, Compass Housing Alliance program director, said Compass Center Ballard will have a welcome person in the lobby at all times who will be accessible to both residents and the community and also serve as a security person.

Yamaguchi said Compass Housing Alliance could curb neighborhood concerns by restructuring the design and dropping the number of units from 80 to 20 or 25.

The current plan – 57,000 square feet, 75 feet high – is out of scale with the surrounding community and feels institutional, creating a hostile environment, Jarrell said.

Yamaguchi said he recognizes there is a need for low-income housing, but it needs to be located in a different area. Jarrell said the development would fit in better on Leary Avenue or 15th Avenue Northwest.

At the Feb. 8 design meeting, Friedhoff said the Ballard site was expensive, but Compass Housing Alliance invested in it because the neighborhood has the services and infrastructure necessary for its residents.

Another concern of Jarrell and Yamaguchi – one that was brought up often at the Feb. 8 meeting – is that the 80-unit Compass Center Ballard includes only 12 parking spaces, largely for staff.

At the meeting, Ballard Compass Center architect Rumi Takahashi said they are not required to provide any parking, and most of the residents will not have vehicles.

The Cascade Compass Center only has three parking spaces, but the Shoreline center does have surface parking for the few residents that do have cars, Friedhoff said.

Before construction of Compass Center Ballard can get underway, there will be at least one more design review meeting as well as a SEPA environmental review, both of which are open to public comment. But, neither of those processes are meant to address concerns like those of Jarrell and Yamaguchi.

Lisa Rutzick of the Department of Planning and Development said the city can schedule a hearing to talk about environmental concerns after Compass Center applies for a Master Use Permit if an individual makes a request and submits a petition with 50 signatures.

Click here to learn more about the early design of Compass Center Ballard.