Reasserting the Place of Nature in Seattle’s Urban Creeks - Politics of Urban Runoff: Nature, Technology, and the Sustainable City - page 152

Nickels chafed at the proposed creek daylighting initiative, arguing
that it would cost too much money—anywhere from $504 million to
$21.6 billion, according to one study by the municipality—and potentially
hamper ongoing creek restoration efforts. 102 The confl ict pitted economic
development versus environmental protection, mirroring the battles over
old growth logging that occurred in the Pacifi c Northwest in the 1980s. 103
The initiative was eventually thrown out by a judge who sided with the
city attorney and added that daylighting Seattle's creeks would have wide-
spread negative impacts on economic development in Seattle while doing
little to improve salmon habitat in the urban creeks. 104 In March 2003,
Nickels announced that he had entered into a development agreement
with Simon Properties that would supersede the existing land use regula-
tions at Northgate and pave the way for new development. In the agree-
ment, expansion would occur on the mall's west side, further orienting
the mall toward automobile traffi c from Interstate 5. In return, Simon
Properties would donate 2.7 acres of land on the south parking lot to the
city to build a conventional stormwater detention pond over the buried
creek. Neighborhood and environmental activists were up in arms, argu-
ing that the mayor was colluding with the mall owner in a closed-door
deal and the new agreement went against his promise to daylight the
creek as well as the goals of the neighborhood plan to create a walkable
urban center.
The mayor's opponents were in luck; his new agreement with Simon
Properties required the approval of the city council, the majority of which
saw the agreement as a giveaway to economic interests at the expense of lo-
cal residents. 105 Eight months later, the city council countered the mayor's
redevelopment plan with its own plan for redeveloping the site, calling
for increased open space and additional community input through the
formation of a citizen advisory board. The council's plan was supported
by the neighborhood groups and the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund,
but it was immediately criticized by the mayor, Simon Properties, and the
Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The mayor stated that the coun-
cil's plan would just lead to “more process” and threatened to wait out the
terms of two council members that were set to expire in January 2004. 106
The mayor fi nally capitulated in December 2003 after the potential
property developer, Lorig & Associates, withdrew from the redevelop-
ment project under the threat of even more delays. The mayor agreed to
a compromise plan with the city council that would involve the creation
of a stakeholder group to shape the redevelopment design and also left
open the possibility that the City of Seattle might purchase a 2.7-acre