Public hearing Jan. 5 on 24-unit apartment at Main and Sixth

2 structures would be demolished

Last updated 1/5/2022 at 4pm

City of Edmonds illustration

Proposed apartments at 605 and 611 Main Street in Edmonds.

Glenn Safadago of GBH Holdings, who was behind a three-story, nine-unit apartment building on Edmonds Street and Third Avenue North and who decided not to provide on-site parking for tenants (allowed under existing Edmonds code), is now on to a new project.

GBH Holdings is proposing a new 24-unit apartment building at 605/611 Main St. Twenty-four parking spaces will be provided below the building. Two complexes would be demolished to make way for the apartments.

Safadago co-founded PriceDoc, a website providing consumers discounted prices and reduced fees on health-care procedures. It was later purchased by Health Care International.

So far, two Edmonds residents have provided comments against the proposal.

A public hearing on the apartments is Wednesday, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m.

Some of the following is taken from the Architecture Review Board's Jan. 5 agenda.

Architect Phillip Frisk of PWF Architecture, representing property owner GBH Holdings, submitted a design review application for the site, located within the Downtown Business (Downtown Mixed Commercial), BD2, zone (downtown mixed commercial).

According to the City, "multifamily dwelling is the BD2 zone "must be located on the second floor or behind first 45 feet from sidewalk or rights-of-way."

The first three structures on the north side of Sixth and Main are classified as BD2. The first is a residential structure; 605-611 are businesses, including Bench and Board at 605 Main (formerly Salon Beige Blonde) and law offices, medical services, and other businesses at 611 Main.

The project site contains 9,889 square feet across two parcels and the current structures on the parcels will be demolished to make room for the apartment building.

A subsequent lot line adjustment would be necessary to combine the two parcels into a single lot for the construction of the apartment building.

The board's recommendation is to provide guidance to the applicant on design review guidelines and continue to a date certain for Phase 2 of the public hearing.

According to Edmonds ordinance, proposed developments that require a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) threshold determination are reviewed by the Architectural Design Board (ADB).

District-based design reviews in BD zones are reviewed by the ADB in a two-phase public hearing process. The ADB provides design review guidance during Phase 1 of the process and will issue a decision following the Phase 2 public hearing.

The Phase 2 public hearing date will be set at this meeting.

The ADB's decision on such applications is a Type III-A decision. (That is, a combination of building construction comprised of exterior walls of masonry or concrete and roof/floors of combustible material that has been treated to have at least a one-hour fire-resistance rating.)