Community members speak out about preserving historic Nokomis building

Published 4:33 pm Thursday, March 12, 2015

As the process continues to knock down the old Nokomis building at 16210 N.E. 80th St. in Redmond to make way for a new development, people have been voicing their concerns about seeing the early 1930s building go.

At last week’s City Council meeting on March 3, a few people spoke during the public comments portion of the evening to share their thoughts on the topic.

In addition, the city received three appeals from community members regarding the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) determination for the site.

One of those appeals was regarding parking, said Gary Lee, a senior planner for the City of Redmond. He said the appellant said there is not enough parking planned for the site, although the developer provided a parking analysis stating that the planned number of spots — 0.3 per unit, as opposed to the required 0.5 spots per unit — will be adequate.

The other two appeals the city received, Lee said, challenged the historic nature of the old Nokomis building and the appellants would like to see the building preserved.

Steven Fischer, a planning manager for the City of Redmond, said the next step in the process is for the city to review and approve the developer’s land-use permit. He said there will be an opportunity to appeal this decision, as well.

After that, Fischer said the city will hold a consolidated appeal meeting — which will include the SEPA appellants as well as anyone who may appeal the land-use permit. A date has not been set for the meeting yet as the land-use permit has not been reviewed or approved. Fischer said the appeal meeting will be before a hearing examiner, who will hear both sides of the issue. He added that it is a public meeting, but only those involved in the appeals will be allowed to speak.

HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT

Alexa Munoz (above), president of the Nokomis Club of Redmond, was one of the individuals to speak at last week’s council meeting and would like to see the building preserved. She said she gave the council a background on the building, which was constructed in 1933 and housed the city’s first library.

“It’s actually very important,” Munoz said about the building.

In addition to the building’s literary roots, she said it is also significant in that a women’s club had it built — and during the Great Depression, when money was scarce. Munoz said the women ran the library, working as librarians, janitorial staff and more. They would also visit secondhand bookstores in Seattle to purchase books for the library. On top of all of this, Munoz said, the women would then go home to take care of their families — all during a time before many modern appliances.

“It really was a lot of hard labor,” she said.

Rosemarie Ives, former mayor for the City of Redmond, would also like to see the old Nokomis building preserved. Like Munoz, Ives stressed the significance of having a group of women, “the matriarchs of Redmond,” taking charge to get the building constructed, run the library and provide a space members of the community could use — especially during a time when women were at the bottom of the totem pole.

“This is an important building,” she said.

Joe Townsend, president of the Redmond Historical Society, added that the old Nokomis building was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was later renamed as the Works Projects Administration.

The WPA was formed as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. The New Deal was a response to the Great Depression and the programs focused on providing jobs for the unemployed, recovering the economy to normal levels and reforming the financial system to prevent a repeat depression.

“The building has a considerable history,” Townsend said about the old Nokomis building. “It has a lot going for it…It would be great to preserve the building for the community.”

He said the Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce, which evolved into OneRedmond, bought the property in 1971.

While the old Nokomis building is historic, it is not classified as a landmark. Kim Dietz, a senior planner for the city, said the latter status is something property owners must nominate the site for, adding that OneRedmond has not chosen to nominate the old Nokomis building for landmark status.

OLD ELEMENTS MEETING NEW

As previously reported, OneRedmond is selling the property to Natural & Built Environments (NBE), a Kirkland-based development company committed to sustainability.

According to the earlier report, Robert Pantley, the company’s owner and CEO, sees the space — tentatively being called 162Ten — as five floors with an elevator and a rooftop garden. He said there will be an art walk on the pedestrian level and a coffee lounge on the ground floor as well as a meeting room — possibly named the Nokomis Community Room — that people will be able to use for free.

Regarding those who wish to see the old Nokomis building preserved, Pantley said they are fine with it and people have a right to their opinions. As a way to honor the building, he said they could incorporate elements and materials from the current building into the proposed one.

“It’s something we do and believe in,” Pantley said repurposing old materials. “We can do it here, too.”