West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
During our discussion of townhouse design standards last Friday, ignited by Southwest 
Design Review Board member (and West Seattle architect) David Foster‘s investigation of micropermitting (first report here; City Council President reaction here), it was suggested we should photograph some of the townhouse projects. So we did. Please keep in mind that unless otherwise noted, these are NOT examples of the practice he is concerned about – instead, the thought here was JUST to take a look at townhouse faces for some of the larger, newer groupings, for anyone interested in seeing examples of current West Seattle townhouse construction, somewhat side-by-side. Here’s a sample from a weekend morning drive: (PS: TUESDAY MORNING ADDITIONS AT BOTTOM OF POST)Read More
OK, doubters win on this one. National Weather Service is out with the new “forecast discussion” which pulls back the snow forecast for just about everywhere but Whatcom County and cancels the snow advisory. Sorry, West Seattle kids, looks like school tomorrow.
From the WSB inbox, sent earlier today by AlkiMac:
I found a dead full grown harbor seal on Alki’s south beach. It’s near the high tide mark at the Constellation Park & Marine Reserve at Richey Viewpoint. It’s partially decomposed. No telling how it died.
This gives us reason to remind you that there is a hotline to call if you spot a dead or possibly-in-trouble marine mammal — as we learned from Herongrrl‘s comment on this post — 206/526-6733.
From our latest review of reports at the Southwest Precinct (which, if you’re new here, is the “police station” for West Seattle, at Delridge/Webster by Home Depot): We start with a suspected drunk driver caught asleep at the wheel — in his Oldsmobile Cutlass, motor running, blocking an intersection. This happened after 3 am Saturday at 25th/Cloverdale. Officers woke the 26-year-old man up; one of his breath tests came in at two and a half times the level officially defined as DUI. Next — how a police car wound up with its back window smashed out:Read More
Problem #1: Stalled semitruck on westbound West Seattle Bridge just before 99, so if you catch the bridge from I-5, this may affect you.
Problem #2: Some southbound viaduct delays because of a car fire.
The weather, meantime, no problem at the moment …
This is unfolding in Magnolia but we suspect (given the comment tangent here) that many people in West Seattle are watching this — we certainly are — given the fact our peninsula is similar to theirs — large parks, greenbelts, wildlife including coyotes. No military housing here, though. Anyway, thought you might want to know there’s been a new development – no trapping OR shooting the controversial coyote for at least a week.
Seems the Charlestown Cafe/Petco project (most recent WSB update here; we checked directly with Petco a few weeks ago and they had nothing new to report) isn’t the only thing proceeding at a snail’s pace at California/Charlestown. That’s also the case for the determination of the fate of the brick apartments (file photo above) at 3811 California, which were pre-mourned by us and others when we first reported the surfacing last April of a proposal to replace them with a mixed-use building. A tenant’s tip back in October (WSB coverage here) revealed that the city Landmarks Preservation Board would have to evaluate the buildings before the proposal could advance. We just checked back with the Landmarks Board and the status of that part of the process hasn’t changed since October — Beth Chave tells WSB they “do not yet have a complete nomination application for this property, so it has not been scheduled for a review by the Landmarks Preservation Board.” (If and when the nomination paperwork is done, the site will eventually turn up here.) And the city planner assigned to the proposed mixed-use project, Holly Godard, says the final land-use decision on this site can’t be issued till the Department of Neighborhoods (parent of the Landmark Board) review is done.
Just out of the WSB inbox, from Mark in the Admiral District:
Last week, a contractor of mine was doing some work at my house noticed a red Ford F-350 extended cab, with Oregon license plates (starting in 101) stop in front of my house with 4 people in it. One of them was inspecting my contractor’s truck and detached trailer when my contractor asked what they were doing. They pretended to be an “automobile dent repair company” and asked if he was interested in getting a dent removed from his truck, when they were clearly looking at possible ways to take his trailer. Please keep a close eye out for this truck.
Obviously, these folks could have been legit (so we have not included the entire license # from Mark’s note) but he was concerned enough to want to let others know, so we are passing it along.
The National Weather Service updated its forecast late this morning; a “snow advisory” is now up for the entire metro area through 7 o’clock tomorrow morning. The “forecast discussion” suggests there’s a chance the commute could be messy – we’ll keep eyes/ears on viaduct/bridge/WS conditions so you can check here before leaving work.
Went to the King County Courthouse this morning to check on the trial of ex-Huling Brothers sales staffers Adrian “AG” Dillard and Ted Coxwell, 
since we hadn’t heard anything since testimony began 10 days ago. While we were in the courtroom, the prosecution rested its case; the defense planned to start calling witnesses later this morning. DETAILS ADDED @ NOON: The last two prosecution witnesses, called while we were there, had testified earlier, but were brought back for more questioning — one was a former Huling employee, the other a Seattle Police detective. Fairly technical stuff — the ex-employee was asked this morning to identify various spots on photographs of the then-Huling dealership property and the apartment building where the victim in the case lived; the detective was asked about records showing vehicles owned by co-defendant Coxwell. We’ll keep checking on the trial as it proceeds in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Nicole MacInnes in the days to come.
As some comments have pointed out here, parts of West Seattle got a dusting of snow early this morning. Certainly a spotty snowfall — the photo above is barely a block east of us, along 42nd in Upper Fauntleroy, but there’s nothing on our street surface, just a thin layer on the car tops. Forecast calls for more tonight. 8:55 AM P.S. Looking ahead — a city news release reminds us that if you have a “street-condition emergency,” the number for reporting it is 386.1218.
SUMMER THEATER SIGNUPS: ArtsWest’s Musical Theater Conservatory for 12-16-year-olds is doing “Pippin” this year; signups start today.
SUSTAINABLE WEST SEATTLE: Annual meeting, 7 pm @ Camp Long. More info here.
To see what’s happening later this week – such as the City Light meeting tomorrow about where crews will soon be trimming MANY trees in West Seattle — check the WSB Events list.
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