DESC is hosting a meeting of the advisory committee for its Cottage Grove Commons housing program on November 22nd at 6:30 pm for a check-in meeting on how things are going with the program.

The advisory committee met regularly from 2012-14, during the development phase and early operational phase of the program. Since the building opened in late 2013 DESC staff have had involvement with neighborhood groups and events, where they have been able to talk with neighbors about issues or concerns. Additionally, some neighbors have contacted DESC directly from time to time with concerns. Bringing the advisory group back together will allow for a discussion about how things have been going and what adjustments may be recommended.

The meeting will take place at Cottage Grove Commons at 5444 Delridge Way SW at 6:30 pm on November 22nd. Neighbors are welcome to attend as well.

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(Photos by WSB co-publishers Tracy Record & Patrick Sand)

While a public grand-opening ceremony is planned tomorrow for Cottage Grove Commons, the new DESC-operated building in North Delridge, Wednesday is the really big day. That’s when its 66 formerly homeless start moving in.

Coming from homelessness, they have little to bring along, so on Sunday, the new studio apartments were made ready for them by the efforts of dozens of volunteers, whose work was just beginning when we stopped by.

The volunteers’ work on Sunday was part of “Apartment Adoption Day.” While DESC made sure each unit has basic furniture like a bed, a table, and chairs, the “adopters” brought items such as bedding, dishes, and cleaning supplies:

As noted on the one-sheet provided to volunteers, “The idea is that when the new resident first sees their apartment, that it looks like home.” Two-thirds of the “adoptions,” DESC says, were taken on by two organizations – Starbucks and Burien-based Genesis Global Spiritual Center, and the others were thanks to various individuals and smaller groups.

We found out about “Apartment Adoption Day” when asking DESC about an opportunity to look inside Cottage Grove Commons before tomorrow’s ceremony and open house. So in addition to finding out about the volunteer efforts, that’s what we did, starting with the gathering spaces on the ground floor.

Upstairs, the apartment we were shown was, DESC staffers explained, a little bigger than most, as it’s one of the fully accessible units, with enough room to maneuver a wheelchair.

As with other DESC residential buildings, there are features to maximize safety for people living alone with challenges such as mental illness – drains in bathroom floors in case water is left running, automatic shutoff for stoves in case they are left on too long. Each apartment has a two-way intercom to the front-desk staff downstairs in case the resident needs help or needs to be checked on.

As has been reiterated in many discussions, it’s not a jail – residents are not only allowed outside, they’re encouraged to leave their units. The courtyard on the south side of the building has benches:

There are gathering spaces inside, too. One meal a day will be served; there’s a big commercial-type kitchen on the ground floor:

Other meals are up to residents. When Cottage Grove Commons’ residents are all moved in, DESC tells us, it will be housing 1,000 residents at its properties around the area – “permanent housing,” as a staffer puts it, not shelters. And 66 beds will be opened up at shelters as these permanent residents move in, starting Wednesday.

In the meantime, you are welcome to their open house tomorrow – a two-part event with the grand-opening celebration 2:30-4 pm, and a community open house/touring opportunity 4:30-7 pm, 5444 Delridge Way SW.

Our coverage of the project, dating back to the first community discussions in summer 2011, is archived here.

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Tuesday, December 17th – 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm

Enjoy self-guided tours, light refreshments, and a 3:00 pm Welcome Ceremony

4:30 pm – 7:00 pm: A community open house to provide neighbors the opportunity to see the building and meet the staff …

Cottage Grove Commons will provide 66 studio apartments with 24-hour on-site staff support for men and women who have been chronically homeless, disabled, and highly vulnerable.

Here’s video from the advisory committee’s recent tour. The $14 million project has been under construction for about a year.

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I can confirm that today the DESC Board unanimously voted to change the building’s name from “Cottage Grove” to “Cottage Grove Commons.” They reconsidered the name, and adding a modifier to it, at the request of community members and neighborhood leaders, including the North Delridge Neighborhood Council and members of the Advisory Committee to the project. We appreciate the community’s input on this.

Cottage Grove is the historic name of the section of North Delridge that includes the site (5444 Delridge Way SW) where the building is expected to open in about a month. Its advisory committee meets again one week from tonight (November 20th).

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(WSB photo, added 2:56 pm)
The biggest nonprofit project under construction in West Seattle right now, DESC‘s 66-unit Delridge Supportive Housing building at 5444 Delridge Way SW (map), has an official name: Cottage Grove. It was announced at this week’s meeting of the project’s advisory committee, and was among the names suggested by community members; committee co-chair Pete Spalding notes that it’s the historic name of that area of North Delridge. We asked DESC’s Nicole Macri about the current timetable for the $14 million project’s completion:

We’re aiming to open the third week of December. We will host a daytime grand opening event and an early-evening open house one day prior to tenants moving in. Neighbors are welcome to attend either event, but the latter is specifically intended as an opportunity for neighbors to see the building and meet the staff.

The advisory committee also will meet again before the opening; the meeting is currently scheduled for November 20th. It’s been almost two and a half years since word of the project first emerged at a North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting; construction began just over a year ago. Our coverage along the way is all archived, newest-to-oldest, here.

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(WSB photo, added Wednesday morning)
The DESC homeless-housing building at 5444 Delridge Way is three-fourths complete, DESC executive director Bill Hobson told its Advisory Committee tonight when they met at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Hobson says it’s expected to be complete in November, with residents starting to move in near year’s end, two and a half years after the $14 million plan was first disclosed to neighborhood advocates.

Asked by committee member Dorsol Plants how the residents will be chosen, Hobson said they will use DESC’s standard procedure (described in part in the project FAQ). He also announced that they’ve hired a building manager from within DESC, Levi Dineson. He and his to-be-hired staff will handle the process of choosing residents, who will be moved in groups of 15 to 20 until the 66-studio-apartment building is full. Hobson said the manager’s job also will include neighborhood outreach and participation in the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. One decision yet to be made – a permanent name for the building, currently dubbed Delridge Supportive Housing. The committee discussed the possibility of using a relevant local geographic term as part of the name – such as Longfellow, Findlay (the nearest east-west street), or Cottage Grove. The name will be chosen at the next DESC Board of Directors’ meeting.

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(WSB photo of Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, from February 2012)
City Council President Sally Clark and Councilmember Nick Licata were among the guests at this month’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting – the holiday edition, held at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center instead of the usual Delridge Library – and Youngstown’s new manager was on the agenda too.

CITY’S ZONING PROPOSALS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA: The councilmembers’ official reason for visiting was that they’ve been making the rounds of community groups citywide to discuss the city’s proposed zoning rules for medical-marijuana businesses. (We videotaped Clark’s first West Seattle presentation on the topic at the Southwest District Council earlier this fall – see it here.) While they don’t think they can keep people from growing it in their homes, they do think they should prohibit it in single-family neighborhoods or other “pure residential” zones. And there are some technical points, as Clark outlined. Councilmember Licata picked it up with some big-picture observations, such as the nation’s changing terminology – “cannabis instead of marijuana.” He used the former. “The landscape is changing so radically … the federal government is giving largely a blind eye toward medical cannabis,” he said. He touched on other big-picture topics such as “the huge amount of tax revenue” that stands to be generated by marijuana, as well as trade associations that have been formed by “business people … they’re not potheads.” He also said it’s believed there are about 120 dispensaries in the city right now, and “there’s conflict right now” between the medical-marijuana supporters and the recreational-marijuana supporters.”

Clark reminded everyone that implementing 502 is now a year-long process with the state in the driver’s seat, though “cities will be way interested” – and she believes that both medical-marijuana dispensaries and recreational-marijuana stores will remain. She also said that since she chairs the council’s Economic Resiliency and Regional Relations Committee, she finds it “fascinating” that the law requires the recreational marijuana to be grown in this state.

They were asked about implementation points such as public marijuana smoking (which is “an infraction,” the councilmembers noted) and people who are growing it – will there be more action to shut down illegal grow operations, with legal growing in the works? Licata said he thought there was still enforcement under way. Other stories ensued of grow operations past and present, and Nicata acknowledged “the criminal element is still there.” He added, “Even though (the law says personal possession is the city’s ‘lowest priority’), they are still going after major producers.”

“We’re in a longtime gray area with these dual markets in play at the same time,” Clark summarized.

“You say ‘the criminal element is there’,” Mat McBride said, “but the reality is, the criminal element is HERE” – referring to situations that seem way beyond what the law intended.

Clark said she would be happy to follow up on individual cases that neighbors say police did not pursue – but she warned that if one was a 45-plant situation involving someone with a medical-marijuana card, police might indeed have decided to take a pass.

COUNCILMEMBERS THANKED: Patrick Baer presented a big card to Clark and Licata, signed by his neighborhood, and thanked them for the recent work in the 5400 block of 26th SW – including sidewalks and bioswales. He also invited the rest of the neighborhood to show up and check it out.

NEW YOUNGSTOWN DIRECTOR: As of November 1st, David Bestock is in charge. First he gave a mini-briefing of what happens at the center – from an alternative public high school (Southwest Interagency Academy), a Waldorf school, theater/movement rental spaces, ArtsCorps, Nature Consortium, The Service Board, the West Seattle Tool Library, and the offices of Delridge Neighborhood Development Association “which has been through a lot of changes over the years,” including management challenges and the need for a financial turnaround.

DNDA now has a much smaller staff, but “we’re still running the organization here in the black,” Bestock said, and he’s hoping to “re-integrate” some of the programs that had fallen away during more-troubled times. He said that some of the current rentals are not necessarily in the vein of “cultural arts center” but he hopes to lead Youngstown back in that direction. “It’s a rebuilding time for the DNDA board,” said Bestock, noting that for the organization in general, the “mismanagers are gone.” But he made it clear he is not accountable for other DNDA buildings/projects – “I am very much focused on this building.”

Responding to a question, Bestock said the DNDA board in a “rebuilding” mode – with 7 people now, up from 4, which was down from 12. He said he has met recently with some past DNDA leaders, such as ex-executive director Paul Fischburg and former Youngstown leader Randy Engstrom. “It’s an interesting time … but I’m optimistic,” he said. “Things were mismanaged and things have to happen differently, and the financial turnaround brought a lot of the mismanagement to light. … The turnaround is under way, and I think it’s in a good spot.”

DESC UPDATE: Tanya Baer, who’s been closely following DESC’s Delridge Supportive Housing project – now under construction – and attending all the advisory-council meetings, reminded everyone that it’s continuing to meet and will do so again sometime in January, adding that she is concerned about communication challenges involving DESC, the advisory committee, and the community. That led to the topic of a recent community meeting with the general contractor, scheduled in the middle of the afternoon and announced via a flyer that at least one neighbor found on his driveway the night before the meeting. NDNC member Dorsol Plants attended that meeting and said the contractor acknowledged it made a mistake by having it without sufficient notice. Tanya Baer is asking the NDNC to write a formal letter of concern, since part of its funding was predicated on communication with the community.

UPCOMING EVENTS: A winter-solstice parade was announced for the evening of December 21st – and as we got ready to publish this report, we received details – see them in the Winter Solstice section of the WSB Holiday Guide.

North Delridge Neighborhood Council meets the second Monday of the month, 6:30 pm – and publishes information on a variety of ongoing topics and issues inbetween meetings too – see their website here.

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(WSB photo, taken this morning)
Two months after demolition of the old houses on the site, construction work is now ramping up at the site of DESC’s future 66-unit Delridge Supportive Housing complex in the 5400 block of Delridge Way, north of SW Findlay. As noted in the project FAQ, onstruction is expected to last about a year.

And tonight, the nonprofit that is likely to open a co-op grocery store in the DESC building’s retail space has its next monthly meeting – with big issues including: How about a new name?

Name the Co-op!!! The Delridge Produce Cooperative idea has evolved from a plan for a co-op produce stand to a small, but full-service, community-owned multi-stakeholder grocery store! This means the store will not only be a source for healthy food, including meat, eggs, dairy and seafood but a support network and financial opportunity for large, small, and backyard farmers. The Co-op’s employees will also have an equal stake in the store. Our current name is misleading for some and we have received feedback regarding a name change. We wish to make another round of reusable strawberry bags and founding member t-shirts!! So, we need to choose our name! Please help.

They’re taking suggestions via their Facebook page. And whether you have an idea for a name, or not, you’re welcome at their meeting tonight:

We invite anyone with the time and inclination to join us at this very exciting step of the grocery store creation. We are welcoming founding Board Members and still looking for core volunteers to help at this stage.

Our November meeting is this Monday evening! All interested volunteers are needed to help plan our next steps. Teresa Young, Organizational Development Specialist from the Northwest Cooperative Development Center will join us to find out how the NWCDC can assist us at this stage. We are making final edits to our business plan and reviewing the first draft of our bylaws. This special meeting will be from 5:30-7:30pm, Monday November 26th at the Delridge Library.

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Last time we checked in with DESC regarding status/timetable on the 66-unit Delridge Supportive Housing project, executive director Bill Hobson said construction was expected to start in the first half of November. However, we noticed there’s work on the site now – demolition crews (you can’t see the backhoe in our photo, but it’s there). So we checked back with Hobson, who explained via e-mail:

We are demolishing the buildings on the site under a separate demolition permit. We wanted to get this done during August just to get the site cleaned up, but the general contractor encountered significant amounts of asbestos that had to be abated per code and delayed the schedule. The demolition contractor mobilized on site Wednesday and has completed the prep work … and hopefully will have the buildings down and the site cleaned of in the next 10 work days. Actual construction will not begin until sometime between Nov 1st and 10th.

Things are very busy along that section of Delridge right now; SDOT is also doing sidewalk ramp work at the Delridge/Findlay intersection.

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DESC DELRIDGE PROJECT SCHEDULE: We checked with DESC after noticing an online business-publication ad seeking “sub-bids” for this project – 66 units of “supportive housing” at 5444 Delridge Way SW, much-discussed since the project first came to light in June 2011 (all of our coverage is archived here, reverse chronological order). Its land-use permit was issued a month ago; the construction permit is still pending. According to DESC executive director Bill Hobson, Walsh Construction – whose portfolio includes Youngstown – is the general contractor, and that’s who is soliciting subcontractor bids right now. (Its ad describes the project as 75 units, its original size, but Hobson says that is a mistake, and it remains at 66.) Regarding when work will begin, he tells WSB, “We anticipate starting construction sometime in the first 2 weeks of November.”

FORMER ‘PSYCHIC BARBER’ SITE: We have reported on the building at 5247 California SW largely through the relocation of its longtime tenant, “Psychic Barber” Rick Cook, now at The Classic Barber Shop further north on California. He called our attention to the demolition work now under way behind the one-story commercial building, and we went by yesterday afternoon:

Rick says the house is gone as of early this morning, while the commercial building’s still standing. Timetable for its demolition isn’t as clear, as the proposal for a three-story building at the site, with underground parking, is still in the early stages. We’ll be following up with the owner, who didn’t want to discuss his plans in detail last time we checked.

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(Updated post-Design Review renderings shown at May’s advisory-council meeting)
One year after we first reported on DESC’s 66-apartment Delridge Supportive Housing project, meant to get 66 homeless people off the streets, the plan has just cleared another hurdle. Today’s Land Use Information Bulletin from the city includes the decision granting a land-use permit (aka Master Use Permit) for the project at 5444 Delridge Way SW. Here’s the decision; the deadline for filing an appeal is July 9th. A community advisory committee continues to meet to discuss issues related to the project; its next meeting is scheduled for July 12th.

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By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

DESC is applying for its 5444 Delridge Way SW building permit next month, executive director Bill Hobson told last night’s meeting of the project’s Advisory Committee.

That was a side note to a discussion with the team from SMR Architects, returning to West Seattle to discuss the 66-unit Delridge Supportive Housing project for the first time since the second and final Southwest Design Review Board meeting two months ago.

Instead of a presentation followed by Q/A, the presentation was punctuated by the half-dozen community members in attendance engaging the architects in conversation about various features of the building and site.

Much of the discussion focused on its back side (lower left view in image atop this story), as had been the case during the second Design Review Board meeting. The architects showed a tweaked version of the four-story building’s view from the alley, including yellow paint for much of the first two floors, and red on the set-back top two stories. Asked if they’d done enough to answer the DRB’s concern that the building’s back facade seemed “listless,” the architects thought they had, with touches including varied types/sizes of panels around the windows, as well as new landscaping details.

Those details updated since the Design Review meetings included trees and shrubbery along the rear of the building, as something of a “green screen” for neighbors (alley is at top of image over this line). Trees will include Japanese snowbell – expected to max out around 35 feet in height – and magnolia – projected to 24 feet. There’ll also be a “densified” cluster of “large shrubs.”

The courtyard on the southwest side of the building, anchored by the large cedar tree that DESC is under city orders to preserve, will include a raingarden to receive storm drainage from the roof. Along the street, the architects say they’re “still proposing salvaging existing street trees,” and the parking-strip area that is now “lawn” will be replaced with “simple ground cover.”

They said they’re still working on the lighting plan for the front and south side, where a “lantern” scheme had been envisioned – exterior lighting toward the top of the building might be a maintenance challenge, they noticed. One DESC facility, Canaday House, has “inset spotlights that highlight certain trees,” but the architect team isn’t so sure that would work for the large cedar that will take up much of the courtyard – “putting lights up the tree might be weird,” it was observed.

That big tree, by the way, will have to undergo some preparatory work before construction starts, it was explained – limbs that are too low to the ground will have to be removed for example. “What if the tree is irreparably harmed” during construction? asked advisory committee member Vonetta Mangaoang. There’s an “extensive protection plan,” replied the team, with fencing, mulch, and plywood. Hobson said they were committed to the plan and quipped that he would not want to see DESC “sent off to eco-concentration camp for destroying an exceptional tree.”

Asked if the community could use the courtyard, Hobson mentioned a DESC project where people from a nearby seniors’ community do come over and interact. However, there could be security issues – a “landscaped fence” is currently planned along the courtyard.

The discussion turned to how the building’s deliveries would be made, and how many there would be. DESC’s committee representative Nicole Macri said they would expect Costco deliveries and probably a meal provider – Hobson said they expect to contract with Fare Start – maybe also occasional office-supplies deliveries, and of course, the commercial tenant’s deliveries too.

Much of that was expected to happen in an area set aside on the northeast side of the building, but a parking pad remains in the plan on the southeast side (at the upper right of image above this paragraph), and that drew some neighborhood concern from residents who say it is currently used often for drug activity, and if it is a little-used parking pad, that might just continue to facilitate such use. As for whether that parking pad could be removed from the plan, the project team will discuss that with city planners, since it was an element favored by the Design Review Board, to avoid having all dropoffs/deliveries made at one spot behind the building.

That’s where Hobson mentioned that, although DESC had said at the last minute that it expected to apply for the building permit in August, it instead will be doing that next month – no precise date yet, could be early June, could be late – and therefore there’s “urgency (for) getting clarity” on final design tweaks, like this would be.

That discussion segued into the condition of the alley, which DESC will be improving as a requirement of the project, including paving and drainage, though the extent of that work hasn’t been decided yet, and the existing drainage is apparently in imperfect shape – the project team explained that they tried to use a special camera to investigate it, and “the first try didn’t go well,” so they’re planning to bring in a different type of camera.

One more issue: How will it be clear to pedestrians and others that the commercial space on the northwest side of the building is exactly that, and not just part of the housing complex? it was asked. Reply: Windows, different pavers, and possibly signage, though that would have to be discussed with the tenant, likely to be the Delridge Produce Cooperative per ongoing discussions. Concern was expressed regarding the notion that the windows would be expected to convey the business atmosphere – what if they were blocked by what’s in the business? DESC’s Hobson said that as landlords, they would closely monitor what was placed or displayed along the facade, and have done so at other buildings they own/manage.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE COMMITTEE: Members will tour DESC properties on June 4th – Hobson said he believes they’ll go to the two that North Delridge community members visited last September, Rainier House in Columbia City and Canaday House in Cascade (we covered that tour – here’s the story). Then the next public meeting at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center is scheduled for 6:30 pm June 12th, including a debriefing on the tour.

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Finding people to help with the many tasks of preparing for a retail operation was a big topic. Half a dozen community members had shown up by about midway through the meeting, and several signed up for volunteer positions. Outreach and website work is important right now, according to the DPC board, as well as community fundraisers, and representing DPC at events such as this Saturday’s Gathering of Neighbors.

Board members, meantime, are meeting with a Highline Community College instructor to work on a business plan and feasibility study, both brought up by the Delridge Supportive Housing Advisory Committee at its meeting last Thursday. Board members reviewed the document they had received with “community recommendations for tenant selection,” listing criteria including responsiveness and sensitivity to a variety of neighborhood factors, hiring from within the neighborhood, pricing products “based on thorough review of actual income levels of residents.”

Still plenty of time and ways to get involved with the DPC; their regular meeting date will be the third Monday of the month, Delridge Library (Delridge/Brandon), 6:30 pm.

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