One week from tomorrow, August 7th, is the deadline for comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA)’s proposed Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) upzoning. That was one of the main topics at this quarter’s Morgan Community Association meeting, which also included a Lowman Beach Park seawall update and a preview of a community cleanup next weekend:

HALA MHA DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT: Phil Tavel, leading the meeting, talked about MoCA’s plan for a formal statement before the August 7th comment deadline. About the DEIS itself, one concern brought up was that it seems to accept a low standard of performance for intersections. That’s the kind of feedback that the group is looking for – specifics about what’s in the DEIS and concerns about those specifics. The more people looking at the “two giant documents” – 300+-page DEIS, 300+-page appendices – the better. Tavel said, “We want to be sure that all the comments people are making, that we’re keeping track of them, so when it comes back to us (that the city claims not to have heard something in particular), we can (point to where a comment was made).”

Cindi Barker brought up the issue of single-family zoning mentioned in neighborhood plans, conflicting with HALA MHA planning to rezone all of it. Because of the conflict, MoCA and the Junction Neighborhood Organization decided to pursue amendments to the city’s Comprehensive Plan addressing it. Those amendments ran into an obstacle at the citywide level. Then they heard from the city Office of Planning and Community Development about something mentioned in our story about the recent JuNO Land Use Committee workshop (WSB coverage here) – that the city is pursuing its own amendments to remove those neighborhood-plan mentions. Barker said this had never been directly communicated to groups such as MoCA and JuNO, “it just magically appeared on their website.” The city claims they’ll have some kind of outreach process, but it has to happen within the next year, because Comprehensive Plan Amendments are only considered once a year.

If the city is doing this, what’s to stop them from taking other drastic action? was one question. Another concern addressed “the integrity of the process” – at one meeting related to HALA, only comments were being noted when the sentiment was favorable to the proposal.

Meantime, if you haven’t commented yet, now is the time – this city webpage explains how.

LOWMAN BEACH SEAWALL TIMELINE: Two months after the city-led meeting about options for dealing with the park’s failed section of seawall (WSB coverage here), MoCA attendees heard this timeline for “what’s next”:

*Site walk with neighbors July 31st (time/location have not been publicly announced)
*Depending on what else is learned, consultants will incorporate information into final report, expected by mid-September
*Policy and regulatory framework all point toward removing failing seawall and restoration similar to what’s been happened on south part of beach
*Still no money for final phase of design
*Grant funds to be sought next year for design and construction
*If wall completely fails in meantime, will likely be pushed onto beach so it doesn’t become a threat to public

MURAL RESTORATION: A proposal is expected within the next month for restoration of the mural behind the building at the SW corner of California/Fauntleroy (home to Peel & Press [WSB sponsor], Pet Elements, West Seattle Vision, Starbucks, and Subway), with some funding potentially to be provided by MoCA.

FESTIVAL WRAPUP: Attendance and weather for the Morgan Junction Community Festival last month (WSB coverage here) were described as great. The Bark of Morgan pet parade (etc.) might come back next year if a pet-related business wants to take it over. Volunteer assistance would be welcome; festival organizers will start meeting this fall to look ahead to next June’s festival. They heard lots of positive comments about how family-friendly the activities and music were. And the participation by neighborhood businesses, covering the festival cost in its entirety, was lauded. (There are 105 businesses within a few blocks of the California/Fauntleroy/Morgan junction itself.)

MORGAN JUNCTION CLEANUP: Next Sunday – August 6th – at 9 am, everyone’s invited to meet at the BECU ATM on California south of Fauntleroy to join in a Morgan Junction community cleanup, third one organized by Jill Boone. All ages are welcome and encouraged to join in. (This is also listed in the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar.)

ORCHARD RAVINE: A parcel adjacent to Orchard Street Ravine has gone up for sale and while it doesn’t seem very suitable for development, it might be suitable for park expansion, so MoCA is talking to the city about it.

SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL: MoCA’s rep, Tamsen Spengler, mentioned that SWDC is looking for new leadership as its current board has served three terms. Next meeting will be Wednesday, September 6th, 6:30 pm at the Sisson Building/Senior Center. (Here’s our coverage of the SWDC’s July meeting.)

ELECTION: The group also heard briefly from City Council Position 8 candidate Dr. Hisam Goueli and from a representative of Position 8 candidate Pat Murakami. Tuesday (August 1st) is your deadline for voting – get your ballot postmarked by then, or get it to a dropbox by 8 pm.

Morgan Community Association‘s next quarterly meeting will be the third Wednesday in October, 7 pm at The Kenney. Check morganjunction.org for updates inbetween meetings.