One year ago, the idea of a 26th SW “Greenway” through North Delridge was mostly just a dream. Now it’s edging closer to reality, and that was the biggest topic at Monday night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting:

26TH SW GREENWAY – OUTREACH STARTING SOON: First – in case you haven’t heard of greenways before – SDOT explains them here. The department sent reps who said that despite original hopes of doing all the outreach for the North Delridge greenway coming to 26th SW – one of four funded citywide – and implementing it this year, they learned from other neighborhoods that they need to take more time with the outreach process. So, they’re slowing down – they want to have an open house and find out about issues, while presenting their data, and “have more of a conversation … get feedback,” show design options, then have a second open house to show how they’re responding. It’s modeled after Portland’s process, they explained.

Also, there’s so much going on in the area, from the upcoming Avalon/Genesee signal to the North Delridge rechannelization for Route 120, that they didn’t want to just dive in. (As was then acknowledged by a participant comment that this seemed like the first time in a while that an SDOT project team came in acknowledging other projects under way in the area.) No dates for the open houses yet, but the first one will be very basic, including explaining greenways and their benefits, likely around mid-November, while the second would be early next year, probably January, with implementation starting as early as next spring. The SDOT team asked NDNC for some suggestions of other groups they should be contacting (don’t wait for an invitation – if you’re interested in the topic, go ahead and reach out to SDOT).

OPPORTUNITY FUND GRANT FOR SW DAKOTA STREET END? Three meetings in the next few months will determine the fate of the proposal for a Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund grant to help turn the “street end” into a mini-park, across from the new Youngstown Flats apartment complex. The developers have committed to maintaining it, NDNC co-chair Amanda Leonard reported. Final funding decisions won’t be made for almost a year, but there are some key milestones along the way, laid out on this city webpage.

CIDER PRESS EVENT COMING UP: They’re borrowing one from the nearby West Seattle Tool Library for this Sunday’s cider-press event at the P-Patch, 1-4 pm. Details here.

ELECTIONS: Officer elections are planned next month.

ROXHILL CASTLE: The council heard from Mat McBride about the volunteer-build effort planned for the new play structure in Westwood, and a need for many volunteers. We’ve written a separate update about this – see it here.

North Delridge Neighborhood Council meets on second Mondays, 6:30 pm, Delridge Library.