10-story buildings on prime Columbia River waterfront? Yes please, says Richland
Richland’s dream of apartments, condos, retail and commercial businesses on a city-owned stretch of the Columbia River waterfront is inching toward reality.
Developers may now build up to 100 feet — about 10 stories — after the city’s elected leaders voted 4-3 on Nov. 19 to allow tall buildings on four city-owned parcels between Columbia Point Golf Course and the river.
The old height limit was 35 feet.
The 23-acre property is along Bradley Boulevard, book-ended by the Riverfront Hotel on one side and a condominium complex on the other.
The city calls it “Columbia Point North” and it is the last city-owned property available for development in the area.
In the same vote, the council also raised the maximum building height in waterfront areas in north Richland and at the Wye to 55 feet, from 35.
Vancouver partner
The move comes about a year after the city agreed to work with Cascadia Development Partners of Vancouver to create an urban village on two tracts at Columbia Point North.
The arrangement calls for the two sides to negotiate a development agreement and eventually, for the city to sell the property once it was satisfied the developer would fulfill its vision.
Mandy Wallner, Richland’s economic development manager, said the city’s plans include working toward an agreement with Cascadia. The new overlay zone and the 100-foot building heights are a “key component” in reaching any kind of agreement, she told the Tri-City Herald.
David Copenhaver, Cascadia’s president and partner, couldn’t be reached. The company has not added Columbia Point North to the projects it highlights on its website.
Copenhaver and his team introduced themselves to the city council during an October 2023 workshop session, where no official action was taken. At the time, he pledged to invest $300 million to $500 million in Richland and to create a true mixed-use destination at Columbia Point North.
Details would follow as the partnership moved along, he said.
Tall buildings
While the two sides are apparently working on a joint vision, Richland took steps to ensure its rules allow the type of development it wants Cascadia to build. That includes tall buildings.
The council considered the idea in February, but backed off in part because the new rules would have applied not only to Columbia Park North, but to waterfront zones at the Wye and at Willow Point.
Too, the city’s own staff and its planning commission didn’t agree on how to proceed with the new height rules and critics worried that the city’s own parking requirements could have turned the waterfront into one big lot.
The new version excludes Willow Point and the Wye from the 100-foot limits.
Mike Stevens, Richland’s planning director, said the new rules clarify how projects are reviewed.
Notably, it does not apply to the 200-foot buffer zone that protects the actual shoreline.
Developers can still go as high as 55 feet in the shoreline zone with special review by the city and the Washington state Department of Ecology.
Richland council divided
The council’s 4-3 vote in favor of taller buildings echoes an ongoing split about how Richland should manage its waterfront, already crowded with private development at Columbia Point proper.
Mayor Theresa Richardson and Councilmen Ryan Lukson, Shayne VanDyke and Ryan Whitten voted for the developer-friendly building limits.
Mayor Pro Tem Sandra Kent, Councilwoman Jhoanna Jones and Councilman Kurt Maier voted against them.
Kent, Richland’s longest-serving council member, said tall buildings aren’t appropriate for the waterfront. Jones said she wants a larger review to address the parking requirements that, as currently written, would curb future development.
“The parking will eat so much of the land that the building can’t be built,” she said. “We need to take a full approach to the city parking requirements.”
Maier said he doesn’t oppose tall buildings near the water, but felt the city hasn’t tackled the parking requirements that prompted him to oppose the new limits back in February.
The city’s current parking requirements for new buildings threaten to transform the waterfront into a parking lot.
“The only outcome from passing this is we get 100-foot tall buildings with parking up to the shoreline.”
But a majority of the council is eager to create a waterfront destination.
VanDyke said he was happy that both the planning commission and city staff were in agreement on the plan. He is excited, he said, to create opportunities for mixed-use development and a place for people to go.
Lukson called the parking issue a “red herring” and said tall buildings will require parking garages.