Salvage work has started at the residential properties that will be demolished to make way for the million-gallon underground tank anchoring the Murray Basin Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control Project. An update on the CSO project was one of several major items at Wednesday night’s Morgan Community Association meeting:

MURRAY COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW PROJECT NOW STARTING ‘FINAL DESIGN’: Doug Marsano from the county was back with an update. He recapped the design process to this point. The facility across from Lowman Beach Park will not only cover a million-gallon storage tank but also will include road changes to “calm traffic” on Beach Drive. He showed the “first cut” design shown originally in January, and mentioned multiple rounds of feedback since then. Primary among them: “You need to do more to minimize the industrial look of the facility” and “try to use landscaping to soften the mass and bulk of the facility.”

So “Refined Concept A” (from three concepts first shown in February) came out as the most popular one, so that’s what they are working with, said Marsano. It includes multiple viewpoints and a narrower Beach Drive – the county proposed 34, but the city is suggesting 25 feet. That would still include room for parking, though, he said. Right now, the project is technically at “30 percent design,” but Marsano described it as the “beginning of final design.” They’re still taking comments. Marsano also mentioned that the project is eligible for “1 percent public art,” and the process of working on that is now under way, with a citizen panel working to choose a group of artists to be vetted through interviews to create public art for the facility. They’re down to three, he said – a visual artist, a sculptor, and a “multimedia” artist. No particular spot on the site has been chosen for the art at this point. The next Design Advisory Group meeting is May 10th, 6:30 pm, Fauntleroy Church (9140 California SW). Marsano also mentioned something we had noticed earlier today – salvage work is already under way, with a team going in to salvage as much as possible from the now-empty residential buildings on the future project site. There’s also some hazmat work – asbestos (popcorn ceilings) – that will be happening. The actual “deconstruction” of the buildings, says the county, is expected in late summer.

RAPIDRIDE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: SDOT‘s Mike Ward and James Sido were there to share information and answer questions about the abundant road and sidewalk work that’s been under way for some weeks now. He recapped that Tri-State Construction is doing work for SDOT – which is partnering with Metro on this – from Fauntleroy/Rose northward (as first reported here). He said the work at Fauntleroy/California should be done within two weeks or so. Concrete was poured there today, MoCA board members noted. Some of the cement is being replaced with a material called Pozzolans that has a lower carbon footprint – one downside, it takes a week to cure, Ward explained. He said the RapidRide work should be done by “early summer,” with SW Yancy/Avalon being the “last zone we’re going to work on,” and Bradford/Avalon on the southbound side of the street. Wiring work is expected in May to June for the stops and shelters so they can start testing the timing in June-July, fine-tuning how the route information signs work, etc. P.S. Look for a model RapidRide bus at the Morgan Junction Community Festival on June 23rd – more on the festival plans later in this report.

MoCA board member Chas Redmond asked about plans for restoring the street where gas-line work has been done, along California SW, before all this; Ward said he would check with the street-maintenance division. Meeting attendees suggested that better markings are needed for drivers headed westbound on Fauntleroy approaching California, where the channelization will change because of the RapidRide work on the south side of Zeeks Pizza. Next question was regarding eastbound traffic on Fauntleroy at California and how signal timing would be changed so that the big RapidRide bus isn’t the only vehicle that will get through the light. Ward said they do NOT have “transit signal priority” there but did say they’re talking about “re-phasing” the signal. More construction concerns came from a meeting attendee who said she lives at Strata on the southeast corner of California/Graham. Ward also said the rechannelization of SW Alaska between 35th and California is expected to happen in May – and will take about four days of work, hopefully starting on a Monday and wrapping up on the following Thursday. The signs are being worked on right now. One other question that came up, though not in the Morgan area: Is the structure going in on the southeast corner of Alaska/Fauntleroy going to be a stop or a station? The map on a flyer circulated at the meeting says stop, but Ward said it’s meant to be a station.

7th ANNUAL MORGAN JUNCTION COMMUNITY FESTIVAL: June 23rd is the day and since this was the last quarterly MoCA meeting before then, Redmond provided an update – “The festival’s growing; it’s all local … a fun family day,” he summarized. Like years past, there will be multiple locations on both sides of California – the east side of California, by Washington Federal Savings, will include kids’ activities, as well as related vendors … Music will start at 10:30 am on the main stage; Bubbleman will be back, at about 11:30 am in Morgan Junction Park, which also will feature music throughout the day, alternating with the main stage area, including the return of the Tongan choir from Seaview Methodist Church (scheduled for 3:30 pm); the Bite of Morgan will have more food this year; and again, “pretty much everything is free.” They’re getting lots of support from local merchants, said president Deb Barker, who pointed out that many new businesses have opened in the area in the past year, many in the “live-work” buildings along the west side of California north of SW Graham.

MORGAN SPRING CLEAN? To take advantage of assistance available from the city for groups that want to do these cleanups, MoCA president Deb Barker is thinking about organizing this type of event – she’s checking into dates and locations, but it apparently would have to happen before the end of May, as part of the city’s parameters.

SEATTLE SUMMER STREETS: Almost every community group in West Seattle has had a presentation this winter/spring from SDOT regarding Summer Streets – car-free day – coming up on Alki May 20th. Sonia Palma was at MoCA Wednesday night. The street party’s details are starting to firm up – she said it will include a youth chess tournament with the famous “Officer Cookie” from Rainier Valley (who has done this in other neighborhoods); SPD also will sponsor a kids’ bike parade and will have officers available for “chats”; something else new – Alki Art Fair organizers will bring artists for demonstrations; she reiterated that the street closure will only run between 56th and 63rd again this year, once the West Seattle 5K is over at 11 (the run/walk will close the waterfront road all the way to Don Armeni Boat Ramp, starting at 8 am).

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS/UPDATES: Gathering of Neighbors is this Saturday, April 21st, and while MoCA won’t have a table, two of its board members (Redmond and Cindi Barker) are among the volunteers helping with the event … May 19th is a preparedness drill … Through Seattle reLeaf, “tree ambassadors” are being sought by the city of Seattle … President Deb Barker mentioned help needed for hole-digging at Walking on Logs this Saturday (as reiterated here earlier this week), to pave the way for its “woodland glen” makeover (75 aspen trees, among others, which will be planted the following Saturday, April 28) … Linda Cox from Kiwanis Club of West Seattle mentioned that West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) in Morgan Junction is one of the local spots for this Saturday’s Kiwanis food drive – when you go in, pick up something extra, then drop it off on the way out, 9 am-3 pm Saturday … MoCA needs a secretary. The role involves taking minutes for the group’s four quarterly meetings, just eight volunteer hours a year – volunteer via contact info on morganjunction.org!

NEXT MoCA MEETING: July 18 – watch morganjunction.org for updates.