From this month’s Southwest District Council meeting, another discussion about whether to design the Fauntleroy Boulevard project with underground power; more details on the Port of Seattle‘s upcoming community boat tour (and how you can get on the list for it), and other toplines:

It was the first meeting presided over by both new co-chairs, David Whiting (Admiral Neighborhood Association president) and Eric Iwamoto (from Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council).

COUNCILMEMBER TOM RASMUSSEN: In his first SWDC meeting since he announced he won’t be running this fall – ending his council service at 12 years – he got a round of applause.

First topic – the ongoing question of whether to underground the power when the Fauntleroy Boulevard project is built, or not? Rasmussen said he had done “informal polling” and it was in favor of undergrounding, though that raises the project’s estimated cost from $11 million to “about $17 million” (none of which has been allocated yet – it’s funded for design but not construction, so far). He also said the project was viewed favorably by various city agencies. First he’ll be meeting with Seattle City Light to talk about the costs and whether they can be shared. Overall, Fauntleroy Boulevard “is more than a beautification project,” he said, suggesting the undergrounding would help with pedestrian safety as more people walk in the area, and noting that it’s been part of the West Seattle plan since 1999. The undergrounding decision has to be made now, he says, before design is finished, rather than going back later and trying to make changes in the plan.

Vicki Schmitz-Block, new SWDC rep for the Fauntleroy Community Association, said it’s unfortunate that the undergrounding move wasn’t made decades ago. Rasmussen said community support would be vital since there’s a lot of competition for money. Fairmount’s Sharonn Meeks wondered when citizen “outreach to the council” would be important to step up the pressure for funding the project; Rasmussen advised, “Never miss an opportunity” to make a pitch for it.

He went on to talk about the recent urban-villages presentation at City Hall (video has finally been added to the online recap), attended by some SWDC members. The Junction was listed in that presentation as #3 in city-investment dollars among the UVs featured in former Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck‘s study (which looked at two of the four WS urban villages – The Junction and Westwood-Highland Park – as well as a selection of others citywide).

Switching gears to the recently approved transit-funding measure, Rasmussen said some of its money would “significantly benefit” this area, especially the C Line and 120, he said. But buses get stuck in traffic, he noted, and that’s part of the reasoning behind the forthcoming West Seattle Bridge Corridor Management Task Force. “Almost everything that moves goes through this corridor,” he said, from ships to cars to trucks and beyond, so reducing congestion would be good for all. He mentioned one proposal that came up in the recent round of answers to the West Seattle Transportation Coalition‘s 2015 priorities – a possible dedicated lane from Avalon to the bridge. And he mentioned the Lander St. Overpass (which also is on the WSTC list of priorities), and that the city is working to get partial state funding for it.

The corridor effort now has a dedicated SDOT employee, Tony Mazzella, said Councilmember Rasmussen.

In other updates, he said the contract for the 47th/Admiral intersection signal has been delayed a bit again and is now likely to be awarded by mid-March, meaning the signal won’t be activated before summer.

Some of the problems brought up to him during conversation after that included the sign clutter on sidewalks – the rules say you can have A-boards near your business, but some commercial concerns, primarily apartment complexes, are putting signage on corners blocks away, apparently with the help of services that go to neighborhoods and are paid by the companies to set out the signs.

NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION DISTRICT: A series of meetings are planned about this new initiative, including one in West Seattle, said Cindi Barker from Morgan Junction. Councilmember Rasmussen talked about it during his part of the program, too, as he had at the recent xx meeting, using other parts of town as an example, particularly the Pike-Pine overlay. He offered to lead SWDC members on a walking tour of Pike-Pine to show them how it’s going in that area, which he described as “a construction zone.” (Here’s our coverage of a council discussion of the “conservation districts” last fall.)

PORT OF SEATTLE COMMUNITY BOAT TOUR: Port of Seattle reps came to the meeting to officially invite you to a free tour. Details so far: Board the boat at 9:30 am April 25th at Pier 66 downtown, two-hour tour 10-noon. The tour will go along the east and west waterways, Harbor Island, around Terminal 5, then “a little bit into the Duwamish River,” and off to Pier 91. It’s free and families are invited – 4 per family so they can accommodate more – refreshments and games on board, “part fun, part educational.” If you know you want to be on the list when registration opens in March, e-mail portregistration@portseattle.org ASAP. “Is it a sightseeing tour or will it be an opportunity for discussion?” asked Deb Barker from Morgan Junction. The port’s Sally del Fierro replied that one deck is intended to be family-friendly and one for “folks who want to listen to narration,” for the first hour, while the second hour will feature informational tables. Capacity is 400. If they book up and have a ton of overflow, they might plan another event.

WEST SEATTLE LAND USE COMMITTEE: Tod Rodman mentioned that the next meeting will include a guest talking about the Seattle In Progress app (featured here in November – final item).

NEXT MONTH’S MEETING: Councilmember Sally Clark is confirmed. There was also a suggestion that discussion might be planned around the city’s upcoming initiative to “improve” the Design Review process, according to Cindi Barker. The SWDC meets first Wednesdays, so the meeting will be March 4, 6:30 pm, Senior Center of West Seattle.