Two new members join Southwest Design Review Board

| Development | West Seattle news

With the next Southwest Design Review Board meeting now less than a week away, the board has two new members, and the revised lineup is online. Departing after the March 28th meeting (three hours focused on the 4755 Fauntleroy Way project) were chair Robin Murphy and Norma Tompkins. New to the board: T. Frick McNamara and Todd Bronk. You might know McNamara as co-owner of the Bin 41 wine shop in The Junction; she has a background in landscape architecture, too. And that’s the specialty of Bronk, who is with the Berger Partnership. Their short bios are now on the SWDRB board along with second-term members Laird Bennion, Myer Harrell, and Daniel Skaggs. Next Thursday, April 11th, the board meets at the Senior Center of West Seattle for what’s likely to be a long night – at 6:30 pm they review 29-apartment 3829 California SW (as noted here on Thursday); at 8 pm, it’s the first review – aka Early Design Guidance – for the 166-apartment 3210 California SW. P.S. Not quite sure how Design Review works? Read this.

Morgan Junction Mom April 5, 2013 (8:26 am)

Todd will be such an asset to this board. Hooray, and thank you!

JoAnne April 5, 2013 (9:56 am)

Again, review boards are made up of people who because of their profession have a vested interest in increasing density and exploiting West Seattle for developers.
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Since politicians also want to exploit us, that leaves no one to represent the interests of residents.
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I’m sure these appointees are very nice and competent people, but there is something wrong with a community that does not see the conflict of interest here.
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West Seattle already has higher density than Seattle overall. Residents are at the breaking point, and many have already fled or are fleeing. For those who can’t, we have little choice but to sit passively and be cannibalized with no one to represent us.

Morgan Junction Mom April 5, 2013 (8:41 pm)

JoAnne, it sounds like your choice may be to “sit passively and be cannibalized”, but Todd and T are both choosing to get involved. Per their bios, they are both West Seattle residents, and therefore quite probably have a vested interest in *not* exploiting West Seattle.

Hank April 5, 2013 (11:00 pm)

98116 has a density of less than 8,000 ppsm, in other words its not dense at all. My zip code has a density of 18,000, and in my opinion it’s nowhere near dense enough. My wife grew up in a neighborhood with a density of 110,000 ppsm been there before and thought it was awesome. I can’t really understand why my fellow americans have such an irrational fear of density.

Brad April 6, 2013 (8:10 am)

Well said, Hank. Exactly.

Hank April 6, 2013 (10:26 am)

Thanks Brad. Don’t get me wrong I love my hood, I can get everywhere I need to go within ten minutes by walking or light rail. If it could be 2 or 3 times as dense it would just be even better. I’m hoping these guys don’t continue the low density every single family house is a sacred shrine status quo.

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