Quick topline as a 3 3/4-hour Southwest Design Review Board meeting wraps up: DESC‘s Delridge Supportive Housing project won a unanimous board vote recommending design approval, with a variety of conditions; the first project on the night’s agenda, what turns out to be a 2-phase, 43-unit-total project on 20th SW in South Delridge, will advance from Early Design Guidance to the second round.

ADDED: The 20th SW recap:

The night began with early design guidance for 9051 20th SW (here’s the “packet”). No controversy here. No one in the audience except your editor here, until a family with young children arrived midway through the architect’s presentation; when the public comment section of the presentation arrived, they explained that they live across the street, to the south, and wanted to know about possible shading. The project team said that wouldn’t happen).

This project is proposed as two 3-story apartment buildings, to be built in two phases, on two lots in the South Delridge area. There would be 20 one- and two-bedroom “flats” in the first phase, 4 live-work units and 19 flats in the second phase. The project team requested one “departure,” an exemption from alley development, because they say the alley is steep and virtually unusable. They’re expecting to have 36 spaces for the 43 units, ultimately. The name of the project, Vesseliye, said the architect, is a Slavic word meaning “joy.” The family that lives nearby said they’re “looking forward to having the abandoned houses ripped out and something nice going in.”

In their deliberations, board members said it was too bad the project couldn’t take advantage of additional height; the city planner assigned to the project explained it was a result of current city rules. They also debated the ceiling height in relation to the project’s longevity, and the driveway that is envisioned inbetween the two buildings, given that the developers consider the alley not viable for their project.

This project has now cleared Early Design Guidance, but will have to return for at least one more Design Review Board meeting, to gain a recommendation for final design approval. The date for that is not yet set.