Commission votes down first-floor dwellings

The Washington Planning and Zoning Commission denied Gerald Franzen?s request to change a city ordinance. The ordinance would have permitted certain ground floor dwellings in the downtown area. The vote was 5-1 against the proposed change. Commissioners Bill Fredrick, Bob Bonar, Rick Hofer, Kathy Salazar and Connie Larsen voted against the change. Deran DeLong was the only commissioner to vote for it. The issue now moves to the city council, which is the governing body that makes the final decision.  

Gerald Franzen owns the building on North Marion that is across the street from The Journal and which was once Carson?s Plumbing. Franzen wants to sell the building to his brother Dennis Franzen. According to Gerald, Dennis wants to open an electrician?s shop in the front third of the building and live in the back part of the building with his wife, Linda. This would violate the city?s ordinance against first-floor dwellings in the business district.   

Under the proposed change, a ground floor dwelling would be permitted in the business district if it met the following criteria: 1) The entire front of the ground floor and no less than one-third of the total area is devoted exclusively to a permitted principle usage (such as a business); 2) The dwelling is occupied only by the owner, who is also the operator of the business, or by the owner?s immediate family; 3) The appearance of the property remain that of a permitted principle use.  

The commission heard public comment on the matter. Washington Chamber of Commerce Director Tim Coffey said there are 11 first-floor openings on the super square. He asked the commission if it wanted those to become apartments. Gerald Franen was in attendance and said that only the owner or his/her immediate family could live on the first floor, so it wouldn?t apply to most apartments.

Coffey said the commission should be mindful of whether the building is assessed as residential or commercial, because it makes a difference in property taxes. Residential property tax payers only pay about half the amount that commercial tax payers do for property of the same assessed value.

Fredrick said that as long as the residential portion is less than half the building, the entire building is assessed as commercial.

Franzen said he spoke with the surrounding owners and that he encountered no problems.

?I?ve had compliments from a lot of them because I fixed it up,? said Franzen.

Franzen said there is no law that says the building has to be a business.

?Legally, I could board up every window and make it a storage shed,? he said. ?I?m not going to do that. And it will be a business in the front. I don?t see what the difference is if your back half is storage or if you?ve got a one-bedroom apartment there. There is nothing that says you have to use a portion of it for a special purpose.?

Fredrick said he doesn?t want to get involved in deciding who is or who isn?t ?immediate family.?

After the meeting, Franzen said he is done campaigning for the ordinance change. He said Dennis and Linda will have to live on the second floor, which is inconvenient for Linda because of her health.