Doing Business in Terminal Park

Since its very beginning, Terminal Park is a mixture of residential and business developments. The business and residential communities in Terminal Park maintain an amicable relationship. Businesses along the periphery of the neighborhood provide residents a variety of goods and services. These neighborhood businesses contribute to the "walkability" of the neighborhood. A key issue raised by the Terminal Park Stakeholders is the preservation and the continued development of its neighborhood business community.

History

Terminal Park Neighborhood as seen from Northern Pacific Turntable in 1946

Terminal Park was originally developed next to the Auburn Rail Yard. During the early part of the Twentieth Century, the rail yard was Auburn's largest employer. The Terminal Park subdivision was intended to provide housing to these rail yard workers.

Another key industry was the pottery mill located in the vicinity of A Street SE and 6th Street SE, using clay formed from mineral deposits around Auburn. Products from this mill are commonly seen throughout the Northwest and the world, in terra cotta facades of historic buildings, and in the common (and prized) “Desert Rose” and “Apple” patterns of Franciscan dinnerware. Clay was also formed into roofing tiles, sewer pipes, and dinnerware. Glazed or unglazed terra cotta was a major industry in Auburn at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Business Community Today

Although the rail yard is no longer Auburn's biggest employer, a large number of people still earn their livings at businesses located in the Terminal Park neighborhood. A survey conducted in 2001 found 65 businesses, employing approximately 450 people and with a combined annual payroll of approximately $9.2 million, located in the neighborhood. Most of the businesses surveyed were small and independently owned; many of the businesses (about 22) employed only one or two people. The two largest employers are Auburn Multi-Care Clinic (56 employees) and Terminal Park Elementary School (45 employees), which also have the largest payrolls. However, combined they account for only 27% of the neighborhood's payroll. The median annual income for all businesses is approximately $17,265 per full-time employee. Approximately one out of four employees work in restaurants or convenience stores.

Income Characteristics of Terminal Park

A slightly larger number of people leave Terminal Park each day to report to work at some other location. According to the Year 2000 Census, the Terminal Park neighborhood has a resident labor force of 663 people. Approximately 56% are men and 44% are women. Nearly 20% of the men work in manufacturing industries and 20% of the women work in retail. Census 2000 indicates nearly all of these men and women work outside of the neighborhood. They spend an average of 30 minutes commuting to work.

To some degree, a neighborhood's income base influences they types of businesses that locate within it. The Terminal Park neighborhood has a relatively low-income base compared to the rest of Auburn and King County in general. In the Year 2000 Census, the median household income was $31,650, which is approximately 60% of the King County median household income. The median family income was slightly higher ($38,790). Roughly 60% of the 609 households in Terminal Park are families. In the Year 2000 Census only 8% or roughly 50 households were receiving public assistance.

Median household incomes can be misleading. The Terminal Park neighborhood has a wide variance of income levels. The entire neighborhood has an aggregate income base of $25.7 million. While 50% of the households earn less than $31,650 per year, approximately 28% of the households earn between $50,000 to $100,000 per year and 5% earn over $100,000 per year.

Future Commercial Development in Terminal Park

The Terminal Park neighborhood has both the income base and the space to accommodate more commercial development. The neighborhood has 36 acres of commercially zoned property out of which 24 acres have commercial businesses located upon them. If the remaining 12 acres are converted into commercial uses, and using the City's floor area ratio for retail space (27%) and discounts for right-of-ways (25%); these 12 acres could probably house 100,000 square feet of commercial retail space and provide employment for an additional 250 employees.

Terminal Park's Vacant Grocery Store

A business that the Terminal Park Stakeholders would like to attract into their neighborhood is a grocery store. Several residents have stated that they miss having a grocery store to which they can walk. For several years, the neighborhood had at least one grocery store located in it. Now, the closest grocery is Safeway, roughly a mile away. However, it is separated from the neighborhood by Highway 18 which, in turn, makes it difficult to reach without an automobile.

Neighborhood Friendly Businesses

Local businesses play a major role in defining a neighborhood. Neighborhood businesses are often the main reason people come and go into a neighborhood. In some cases, a particular business becomes a neighborhood landmark. Terminal Park Elementary School is an example. The dedication of the Auburn School District to maintain the historical attributes of the school nurtures the neighborhood's local culture and identity. It enhances the Terminal Park neighborhood's sense of "place" and community.

Neighborhood businesses are different than the types of businesses typically found in a shopping mall or downtown. For instance, they tend to offer "immediate" goods and services desired by local residents. For example, a common neighborhood business is a convenience store. These small stores offer goods and services (milk, gasoline, aspirin, candy, local newspaper) for which most people do not want to travel very far. Other types of neighborhood businesses include amenities such as gas stations, coffee houses, barbershops/hair salons, bakery, dry cleaners, laundromats, auto supplies, banks, health food and grocery stores. These types of businesses enable residents to purchase routine, ordinary goods and services without having to leave their neighborhood.

Many of these types of businesses are currently located in the Terminal Park neighborhood. Several of them are very "neighborly". Businesses illustrate their neighborliness in a variety of ways. Examples include the goods and services they offer, hours of operation, sponsorship and/or recognition of neighborhood events, participation in neighborhood councils and committees, and including the name of the neighborhood in their business name.

Another key feature of a neighborhood business is providing a local gathering place for nearby residents -- a place for residents to bump into other residents. Neighborhood grocery stores often fill this role. They are large enough for people to spend some time shopping and, thereby, increase the time available for them to meet somebody they know. This aspect of the past Terminal Park grocery stores appears to be what the residents miss the most.

Goal

Encourage development of smaller-scale businesses that are neighborhood-friendly, meaning they don’t cause conflicts or intrusions into surrounding residential areas and not entirely dependent upon automobiles for access to them.

Policies

CD 1: North Terminal Park:

Encourage the commercial development in the north end of their neighborhood to construct buildings that have a mixture of retail and residential uses.

Strategy: Explore the feasibility of the City assisting in the aggregation of commercially zoned lots in the north end of Terminal Park neighborhood for the purpose of creating space for heavy commercial land uses.

Strategy: Encourage the location of apartment buildings in the area that provide ample off-street parking and landscaped common areas and visual buffers as stipulated in the City's landscaping ordinance.

Strategy: Encourage mixed-use developments that include buildings that provide a combination of light-commercial and residential land uses.

CD 2: Neighborhood Shopping Center:

Work with City’s Economic Development Manager to ‘market’ the vacant or underutilized properties along Auburn Way South to neighborhood friendly businesses.

Strategy: Prospect for businesses that offer places for people to meet - for example, coffeehouses, ice cream parlors, delicatessens, small grocery or health food stores.

Strategy: Assist in developing the old Albertson grocery store property into a neighborhood shopping center.