Shoreline, just north of Seattle, is a classic suburb facing a very urban challenge.

It is gaining a light rail station at 185th Street and I-5. And that new station is kicking off a vast redevelopment that will change the shape of the city. In all, 1,400 homes have been rezoned for a densified redevelopment that will change this part of the city into something that looks as though it were born in Seattle.

But Shoreline has always been a place people moved to in order to escape Seattle. Born as just a chunk of unincorporated King County, it became known as a commuter community with good schools, big trees, and a straight shot at getting to jobs in Seattle. Most of the city’s houses are mid-century and in keeping with its roots in the car commuter’s heyday, there is no downtown aside from Highway 99.

The imposition of a densified urban vision for the area around the light rail station at 185th is stressful for the people who live there now. At a 2015 meeting, just as City Council was deciding about the rezoning, resident Rosalyn Lehner pleaded with them to reconsider. "If you rezone my home," she said, "I feel like you’re stealing my American Dream, so please don’t."