West Seattle development: ‘Streamlined design review’ proposals for townhouses at 3811 California

| Development | West Seattle housing | West Seattle news

The latest plan for 3811 California SW is advancing, with a plan now in city files for “streamlined design review” (SDR) – which means public comments will be accepted, but there’s no Design Review Board meeting. The site is currently home to Charlestown Court, the brick fourplex that has been rejected twice for landmark status. The proposal, as first reported here in January, is to replace it with four 2-unit townhouse buildings and eight offstreet-parking spaces on the alley. Here’s what architect S+H Works has filed with the city for the SDR process:

(If you can’t see the embedded document, try this link.) If you’re interested in commenting on the proposal, this page on the city website explains how.

cookieb October 14, 2014 (10:09 am)

stop building all these town houses and apartments you’re ruining west seattle!!!

MightyMoh October 14, 2014 (10:25 am)

I like the streetside doorways (on the front side) and parking in the back (vs. those crazy parking garages on some townhomes). I live a couple of blocks away and will probably not be walking by all that often but it’s a pretty nice face to the neighborhood.

Mark October 14, 2014 (1:05 pm)

yeah, damn it! Only CookieB and her friends should get to leave here!

jwright October 14, 2014 (1:25 pm)

cookieb, what is your alternative vision?

Lindsey October 14, 2014 (3:27 pm)

stop building all these houses and apartments you’re ruining our peninsula!

-Duwamish Indians, circa 1800s.

Seriously, you don’t get to slam shut the gate to West Seattle after you’ve passed through.

Jakalws October 14, 2014 (10:45 pm)

Why is it that the tree’s leaving a shadow on the street are bare (VIEW FROM CALIFORNIA AVE & VIEW FROM CALIFORNIA AVE SW) yet the trees at the site are laden with leaves? GMO architecture? Photo-shopping our way to a better neighborhood I suppose.

Alphonse October 14, 2014 (11:48 pm)

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that the principal architect from this firm has a background in affordable housing. That’s exactly what this looks like, which would be fine if it WAS affordable housing. I like modern architecture and a lot of what other people in WS consider “boxes”, I usually like. But this thing has many of the attributes that get projects sent back to the drawing board during design review. For example, the hulking mass that sits right on the sidewalk. Of course, this is so that the developer can save a ton of money by cramming 8 parking spots in the back instead of providing underground parking. Compare this to what was proposed in 2008. The market is hotter than it was then so there’s really no excuse for this. https://westseattleblog.com/2008/06/details-new-design-proposal-partly-preserves-charlestown-court/

DrKate October 15, 2014 (6:49 am)

I love the fact that there is actually 2 parking spots for every townhouse and that all of these have multiple bedrooms.

The building itself looks more commercial than residential to me. It reminds me of a miniature technology campus.

WS Since 66 October 15, 2014 (7:03 am)

cookieb and others:
My family moved to West Seattle in 1966. I’ve been here ever since.WS has grown a lot since then. Sometimes rapidly and sometimes not. The fact is you and I both moved here at one time and people were saying the same thing and felt the same as those who want to now keep people out. They will keep on coming to live here for all the reasons we all do.

Btw, instead of whining against something, how would you handle the expected influx of people wanting to live here on OUR WS peninsula?

Seriously what would you do?

Sorry, comment time is over.