Now the rest of the story from last night’s Morgan Community Association meeting:

FUTURE PARK-EXPANSION SITE: We reported last month on the last business leaving the Parks-owned commercial building at 6311 California SW that will be demolished to expand adjacent Morgan Junction Park. MoCA president Deb Barker said Parks sent word that they will soon be boarding up the building and ringing it with a chain-link fence and “no trespassing” signs, since they’re already having trouble with squatters who apparently have gotten in by breaking through the building’s “rotten” roof. The fencing will be removed for a mural project during the Morgan Junction Community Festival on June 18th; demolition of the building is expected soon after the festival, Barker said.

ABOUT THAT MURAL: MoCA is looking for someone to lead the project, which will guide local kids in creating a vision of the future park expansion. Interested? Contact MoCA ASAP – contact info’s on the group’s website.

AND SPEAKING OF THE FESTIVAL: MoCA’s been making progress signing up vendors and bands – nothing to announce just yet. The “Bite of Morgan” food samples, donated by local restaurants in recent years, will not be back this year. Food trucks, a popular feature the past few years, will be.

LOWMAN BEACH SEAWALL: David Graves from Seattle Parks brought an update on the shifting seawall at Lowman Beach Park. The city is looking for a grant to study it, but even before that, there’s one big concern: Addressing the problem could require taking out the little park’s tennis court. Parks doesn’t know much about its usage before the Murray CSO storage-tank project took over much of the park but nonetheless promises to bring this issue and others regarding Lowman to the community, with public meetings expected.

SDOT GRANT: MoCA is proposing another use for $24,000 available from SDOT to buy “street furniture” – spending it instead on repairs for the gravel alley behind businesses on the east side of California SW north of Fauntleroy. This is something that’s been a thorn in the area’s side for a long time and has even been proposed for city grant funding before – most recently in 2013, when this WSB story explained the problem. The street furniture money had a caveat anyway – maintenance and liability insurance. MoCA leaders say in other neighborhoods, that’s a responsibility placed on business owners rather than a community council.

HALA FOCUS GROUP MEMBERS: The meeting also included a brief chat with locals who had been chosen for the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda “focus group” neighborhood spots. As you can see on page 4 of this list, five people from the Morgan Junction Urban Village area were chosen, including MoCA board member Cindi Barker, who was on the original HALA advisory committee. In general, local reps hope to provide the focus group a perspective on what life south of downtown is like for people struggling to get by.

The Morgan Community Association meets quarterly on third Wednesdays, 7 pm, at The Kenney – keep up to date between meetings by checking in at morganjunction.org.

(WSB photo from last October’s Find It, Fix It walk in Delridge)

At this month’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting – as noted in our coverage last week – we learned Mayor Murray’s Find It, Fix It Community Walks for this year would likely include one in the Roxhill area. Today, that’s just been confirmed. The exact date isn’t set yet, but the mayor’s office just announced this year’s list, and Roxhill is on it for sometime in July. (The first Find It, Fix It walk in West Seattle was in Delridge last October.) Read the full announcement after the jump, including how to get involved in advance:

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If you’re not going out of town for spring break – take some time Tuesday and see what the Admiral Neighborhood Association is up to. New president Larry Wymer sends word of what’s on the agenda:

GROWTH IN SEATTLE, HALA, & THE GRAND BARGAIN
7:00 pm Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Roger Valdez – Director of ‘Smart Growth Seattle’ – will discuss 21st century approaches for new and unique (and sometimes controversial) choices to help create a wide range of housing choices to address the varied needs of Seattle’s growing population, something of significant interest to us in the northern section of West Seattle as we witness significant changes along our major corridors. Roger will provide a perspective largely from the development community which is sure to provide for a lively Q&A.

Larry Wymer will provide an overview of the newly released Sound Transit 3 plan which will extend light rail into West Seattle, and what you can do to help influence the final design to reflect Admiral/West Seattle needs.

We will finalize our discussion, and establish the Association’s position, on the potential of lowering default speed limits within Seattle for non-arterial neighborhood streets to 20 mph, and 25 mph on selected arterials.

And finally, we will seek membership input as we work to refine our on-line presence & communications/ notifications protocols to best suit your needs.

The ANA meets at The Sanctuary at Admiral, at 2656 42nd Ave SW. Our monthly meetings are held the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend.

If you missed it, here’s our coverage of the March ANA meeting.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

With no guest speakers at this month’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting, plus a sparse turnout with potential factors including the crab-truck-crash traffic snarl and evening sunshine, the result Monday night at Southwest Library was a fast-moving mélange of mostly brief items.

Except for:

NEIGHBORHOOD STREET FUND: Less than two weeks remain until the application deadline for this city grant money. While on one hand WWRHAH co-chair Amanda Kay Helmick said it was angering to have to apply for grants to get safety improvements on city streets, on the other hand, it’s time to go with the process. She is hoping the area will generate many proposals by the deadline. Her biggest idea, “Barton Complete”: A project to address crosing safety of Barton, including the area by Roxhill Park and the “wall of buses” zone – “you have buses lining up, cars coming, people trying to cross,” and a pedestrian was hit not that long ago. She’d like to see the crosswalk at the bus stop with flashing beacons as well as crosswalks at 25th and 29th, plus slower speeds between 26th and 29th on Barton. Co-chair Eric Iwamoto brought in the even-bigger picture of safety for Chief Sealth International High School students walking in the area, including across Trenton, and using bus stops.

Another potential site for a project: The park-like triangle in South Delridge, Another attendee said that features dropped toward the end of the Delridge-Highland Park Greenway route need to be pursued. Some discussion centered on how unfortunate it is that so many worthwhile projects are placed in competition with each other.

INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE: Chris Stripinis had an update on the big issue discussed last month – pavement damage and residential concerns in the Westwood area because of the huge increase in bus traffic since it became a “transit hub.” New temporary signs are up labeling 26th SW a 20 mph zone – very small signs, Stripinis pointed out. A discussion of bus speeds ensued. Stripinis also mentioned communication from Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s office regarding pavement repairs in the area and the city telling Puget Sound Energy it’s up to them to make repairs happen by mid-April or else SDOT will do it and bill PSE for the costs.

ROXHILL PARK LIGHTS: Likely on track for fall, said Helmick.

ROXHILL-AREA FIND IT FIX IT WALK: One is in the early planning stages, Helmick has heard from the Department of Neighborhoods – no date yet. North Delridge hosted one last year. (Here’s what they’re all about.) Helmick noted that the multiple walking tours with various officials in the area

BOG COMMITTEE: Not represented at the meeting but a 12-page report was presented to the co-chairs. Grant-writing is what’s next, so they can “hire a consultant.”

ELECTIONS NEXT MONTH … for WWRHAH board positions – step up if you’d like to run!

SOUTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL … Wednesday, 6:30 pm at Senior Center of West Seattle, will include a guest with info about the latest plans for a ~2-week Highway 99 closure once the tunneling machine starts going beneath it.

SOUND TRANSIT 3 … A reminder that it’s time for input; besides the survey you’ll find at soundtransit3.org, remember the 5:30-7:30 pm April 26th open house at West Seattle High School, and the discussion at 6:30 pm April 28th @ Neighborhood House’s High Point Center, with the West Seattle Transportation Coalition.

DESIGN REVIEW CHANGES COMMENT DEADLINE … coming up this Friday; go here to find out more about the proposed changes and find the survey link for commenting.

CAMP LONG … Advisory Council needs new members – go here to find out how to apply.

CITY NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL TALKS BUDGETING … 11 am April 24th at City Hall.

WWRHAH meets on first Mondays, 6:15 pm, Southwest Library; watch for updates at wwrhah.org.

Live and/or work in Westwood, Roxhill, Arbor Heights, vicinity? Tomorrow (Monday, April 4th), go see what your community council is up to. The agenda includes updates on WWRHAH‘s committees – including Metro, Infrastructure, Roxhill Bog, and Roxhill Park – and new/old business including brainstorming ideas for seeking Neighborhood Street Fund money – two weeks left to apply! “Bring Your Thing,” exhorts co-chair Amanda Kay Helmick. Also planned: Talking about what’s next for ongoing issues including the Roxhill Park fen, the pavement problems along the Westwood-area “bus loop,” and lighting for the RapidRide stop across from Westwood Village. Just go grab yourself a seat in the upstairs meeting room at Southwest Library (35th SW/SW Henderson), 6:15 start, 7:45 end (no overtime because that’s when the library closes).

(Photo courtesy John Lang)

Before the weekend ends – one last event report: Results of the Fairmount Ravine community cleanup. Again this year, we have the wrapup from John Lang, who is handing over the job of coordination from hereon out.

The 24th annual Fairmount Ravine Cleanup was a success on Saturday 3/12. Thank you to the 18 hardworking volunteers of all ages who participated; most of the group removed trash under the Admiral bridge, primarily the west side, and six others removed invasive ivy from the mature trees. The morning started damp but Mother Earth must have been pleased with the community’s effort because the cleanup ended in sunshine.

(WSB photo: Volunteers cleaning under the bridge)
The weather-protected area under the bridge continues to attract the homeless and partyers. It is the Admiral district’s version of the Jungle. They bring third-world sanitation with them as all their garbage is thrown downhill. Between 80-90 large garbage bags were filled with trash! This includes a couple hundred beer bottles, many broken, large furniture, broken bicycles etc. There was enough to fill up the DOC flatbed truck twice. We post signs a week in advance warning that the area will be cleaned and to have personal possessions removed.

(WSB photo: John Lang & Officer Flores)
Once again, we appreciate participation by [Community Police Team] officers Jon Flores and Kevin McDaniel, with the Seattle Police Department, providing security and helping with traffic control. Three cheers to our local merchants, Metropolitan Market and Starbucks, for their generous support of this community effort.

Thank you to everyone who made this year’s cleanup a success. A special shout out to Matt Algieri, who is taking over leadership of this annual event. The Fairmount Ravine cleanup is a great example of community pride and putting into action the teamwork necessary to tackle a difficult situation to generate positive results.

Not sure where Fairmount Ravine is? It goes beneath the Admiral Way Bridge, between Admiral and East Alki (here’s a map).

ADDED MONDAY: John just sent word that the total weight of what they picked up was 3,740 pounds … close to two tons.

The question came in via the WSB Forums as well as via e-mail: Why were trees planted, and then removed, at the city-owned triangle in North Admiral that recently served as the temporary location of Fire Station 29?

(WSB photo from late Sunday afternoon)

Here’s what we’ve found out: SDOT urban foresters chose and planted the trees without knowing a key part of the site’s backstory – what was discussed with neighbors last year about the site’s future, after a last-minute city turnabout put the temporary station there in the first place.

SDOT’s Shane Dewald responded to our inquiry today:

Seattle Department of Transportation Urban Forestry staff are so often asked to plant more conifers in the street ROW. We strive to do so when we have adequate space to accommodate them in a manner that is compatible with public safety standards for sight distance. The California/ Hill / Ferry site appeared to be well suited for conifers, which were planted based on species selection and placement by a Forester for my office – before he or I were aware of the strong community interest in the use of this site as open space, or the extent of outreach that had conducted before the recent temporary use as a fire station (including the proposed layout of new trees in the plan that I have attached to this message).

SDOT was immediately contacted and we met on site with a neighbor representing the community interests and aware that the conifers were not compatible with the use of the site. We understood from our meeting that the conifers should be removed and replaced with deciduous trees for consistency with the restoration plan discussed during an outreach effort by FAS prior to the temporary use for fire station 29. Though SDOT asked if there might be a possibility that one of the conifers could remain, we were asked to find a new location for them all.

So what’s next for the restoration? Dewald says SDOT wondered about fruit-bearing trees, but the neighborhood wants to see “non-fruit bearing deciduous street trees … for minimum maintenance and optimum compatibility with the community use of the site.” They have a “hybrid variety of Tupelo” available, “tolerant of urban conditions, has relatively small leaves with an open growth habit that allows sun to filter through etc. If this tree sounds like a good option, I expect the installation of the new trees can be done as early as this Thursday!” But – given what’s happened so far – they’re checking with the neighborhood spokesperson first.

The self-storage project proposed for 3310 Harbor SW – first reported here last March – is moving ahead. That’s what the Alki Community Council heard at this month’s meeting, from an executive of the company pursuing it, West Coast Self-Storage.

They’ll be seeking a street vacation for part of what would be 29th SW (map), and they’re still putting together the documentation for that, so they don’t expect to be having formal hearings with the city before fall.

The company says West Seattle is underserved in terms of storage space, and that this industrial-zoned site is a place to provide some. The proposal is now envisioned for the area that currently holds a warehouse building and the now-vacated GT Towing lot.

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We’ve already published our video from the HALA and “backyard cottages” presentations that comprised the second half of Wednesday night’s quarterly Morgan Community Association meeting. Before that, a quick MoCA meeting included these neighborhood updates:

SIDEWALK WORK TO CONTINUE IN SPRING: The grant-funded work to repair/replace the sidewalk on the west side of California SW south of Fauntleroy Way will continue “in late March to April.” The sidewalk in front of the commercial building on the southwest corner of the intersection was completed last fall (our photo is from Thursday).

PARK-EXPANSION UPDATE: The city has owned the commercial building north of Morgan Junction Park for more than a year and a half, and demolition is now “guesstimated” for next July, according to MoCA. The cleaners closed earlier this winter and the convenience store is expected to be out by May. Park design hasn’t begun yet, though.

LINCOLN PARK PLAY AREA MEETING REMINDER: As noted here last week, Seattle Parks has set February 2nd as the next meeting for the renovation of the north play area at Lincoln Park, 6:30 pm at Gatewood Elementary (4320 SW Myrtle).

MORGAN JUNCTION BUSINESS MIXER: Area businesses are invited to network and mingle at the next mixer – 5-7 pm April 28th at Zeeks Pizza (WSB sponsor) on the northwest corner of California/Fauntleroy.

P.S. MoCA (an all-volunteer group) also elected this year’s officers/executive board members: President Deb Barker, Vice President Phillip Tavel, Recording Secretary Jennifer Whip, Treasurer Eldon Olson, Public Information Officer Cindi Barker, Southwest District Council rep Tamsen Spengler.

Thanks to Patricia for the heads-up on this – SFD confirms that an open house 11 am-1 pm on Saturday, January 30th, is planned at Fire Station 29 (2139 Ferry SW), now that firefighters have moved back in after 9 months of seismic and other upgrades. (See before/after views here.) Patricia also reports the temporary structures are now gone from the triangle of city-owned land used as the temporary FS29.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Updates took centerstage, rather than any major new issues, at the Alki Community Council‘s annual meeting.

And as is often the case at local neighborhood-council meetings, the first round came from police:

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