West Seattle, Washington
12 Tuesday
(WSB photo)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Eight days after discovering West Seattle’s first charter school is planned for the north edge of Arbor Heights, we’ve found out much more about the plan.
When we first reported on it January 4th, we knew only that Washington Charter School Development, an arm of Los Angeles-based Pacific Charter School Development, was proposing to remodel and add on to the Freedom Church/Jesus Center property at 9601 35th SW (SW corner of 35th/Roxbury) for an unspecified charter school. Our state’s voters authorized creation of charters two years ago; 10 are approved so far, but only one is open.
We’ve been working for the past week-plus to find out more about the West Seattle plan and have finally connected with WCSD to get answers to some of the many questions raised by the early information we found in city planning files:
Check on your chickens, urban farmers. Both of today’s coyote reports mention backyard birds. Dan at 37th/Holden [map] says a coyote came into his yard today and got two of his four chickens, normally kept in a chain-link-surrounded enclosure, but let out to “free range” in the daytime, and it happened while he turned his attention away from a bit. We also heard from Janis, who says she saw a coyote at 2 pm at California/Southern [map]: “Was alerted by the chickens making noise.” Both of those locations are in Gatewood, as is a sighting on New Year’s Day that we still had in queue – Belinda saw one that day, going “down the sidewalk looking in yards in the 6500 block of 40th Ave SW.” [map]
P.S. Our usual “coexisting with coyotes” advice link includes, toward the bottom, advice on protecting poultry.
(Design Packet for 4106 Delridge, as found on city website in December)
The Southwest Design Review Board‘s first meeting of 2015 is now postponed to February 5th, with the review for 4106 Delridge Way SW (5 stories, mixed use, last reviewed in 2008) moved to 8 pm that night, instead of its original date this Thursday. According to the city website, February 5th also will feature the board’s fourth look at 4505 42nd SW (seven stories, mixed use, last reviewed in December), with that review starting at 6:30 pm.
(4:09 PM UPDATE: Archived video of the meeting now added above. The Viaduct discussion starts at 1 hour, 37 minutes in – you can drag the playback bar there)
1:02 PM: The City Council is already an hour and a half past the time it expected to conclude this morning’s “briefing” meeting. WSDOT has been on the hot seat since 11:15 am on the state of the tunnel-repair project and issues including a letter from SDOT in response to a report from WSDOT engineers around the time the repair pit’s status became an issue a month ago. Much discussion focused on the phrase “catastrophic failure” relating to the repair pit work – though it’s been reiterated over and over again that the Viaduct is safe, councilmembers want more assurance. Two more agencies are coming up now – SDOT and Seattle Public Utilities – so we’re putting the live window above, and will be adding the highlights of notes we’ve been taking (plus other coverage links) along the way.
1:29 PM: The meeting just adjourned. Here’s what’s transpired so far:
–Much discussion about the letter sent by SDOT to WSDOT and the engineering report that led to it. As far as we can tell, this was first reported by Sydney Brownstone of The Stranger. WSDOT opened its part of this morning’s meeting by sternly declaring that the city letter took the phrase “risk of catastrophic failure” out of context. This was repeated over and over again; the City Council, however, got stern right back – Councilmember Kshama Sawant, for example, noted that she formerly worked as an engineer, and engineers don’t use that phrase for no reason. Council President Tim Burgess asked WSDOT if it had the December 11th report handy, and when told, “yes,” stopped the meeting briefly so it could be given to a clerk who immediately made copies for the council. We’ve asked WSDOT for the document as well, and will add it here as soon as it comes in. (ADDED: Here it is; the “catastrophic failure” mention comes in the final paragraph. Note that WSDOT says this was a “draft” and has also sent a 12/19 “final” version [added]- here’s that one.)
Later in the meeting, WSDOT suggested that because of this “out of context” quoting, it might restrict city access to a system in which it keeps these reports, and several councilmembers voiced disbelief at that.
MORE AFTER THE JUMP…
Thanks to “Diver Laura” James for today’s featured photos – taken at Cove 1 by Seacrest on Sunday. The first and third, she explains, are a young female Common Goldeneye, and the middle photo shows squid eggs. Before we’re too much further into Monday, four p.m. highlights from our calendar:
ALZHEIMER’S CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUP: 1:30-3 pm at Providence Mount St. Vincent, “a free support group for unpaid care partners, family members and friends of individuals with memory loss” is open to any and all interested. (4831 35th SW)
WEST SEATTLE PRESCHOOL FAIR: 5:30-7:30 pm, the West Seattle Preschool Association‘s annual event for families seeking preschools – details in our calendar listing. In the hall at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church. (California/Hanford)
HIGHLAND PARK ELEMENTARY PTA: 5:30-7:30 pm in the cafeteria, all welcome to the Highland Park Elementary PTA‘s meeting tonight. (1112 SW Trenton)
NORTH DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: 6:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, all welcome to the NDNC‘s January meeting. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
We received this from Pizzeria 22 proprietor Cary Kemp:
It is with great sadness that I inform you that my business partner at Pizzeria 22, Mike McConnell, has lost his son to a drug overdose. In memory of Andrew McConnell, Pizzeria 22, all Caffe Vita’s, and Via Tribunali’s will be closed on Tuesday, January 13th. Andrew was a gifted young man with extraordinary talents and will be greatly missed.
You can read about Andrew McConnell in his obituary on Legacy.com.
The view from the deck of the Stennis, by photog Meegan M. Reid. Carrier is headed out for training. pic.twitter.com/RCTrmxt5ks
— KitsapSun (@KitsapSun) January 12, 2015
Aaron texted us about an aircraft carrier passing Alki Point right now and at first we thought it had to be the USS Nimitz, expected to be Bremerton-bound sometime this week, postponed from last week. But no, it’s the USS John C. Stennis, headed out for training again, per the Kitsap Sun (whose photo tweet you see above).
ADDED: Thanks to Lynn Shimamoto for catching a good look at the Stennis and sharing the photo:
No exact date yet for the Nimitz’s trip from Everett to Bremerton, by the way.
(Map courtesy Seattle Public Utilities)
Busy week for utility-related projects in West Seattle – along with the advisories recapped in our daily traffic watch, here’s the explanation of drilling activity you might notice later this week:
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) will conduct soil testing as part of the SW Orleans St Sewer Replacement Project which will repair the sewer mainline in the SW Orleans St right-of-way, west of the intersection with 30th Ave SW. We will use the results of these soil tests to help us replace the sewer line next year.
Soil tests allow us to determine current underground conditions around the existing sewer line. A crew will drill 15 to 20 foot deep holes to take soil samples. After taking samples they will fill the holes and restore the surface. At one location they will install a groundwater monitoring well. The map on the back of this page shows the two drilling locations.
Work is expected to begin on January 14th and will take one to two days. Normal work hours will be between 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. After the drilling, we will be onsite periodically to measure groundwater levels in the monitoring well.
There will be two drilling locations in the public right-of-way as shown on the (above) map. The crew will work in one work area at a time.
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
7 AM: As we head for the heart of the commute, there’s an emergency response at a crash on West Marginal Way SW just north of Highland Park Way SW – no word, though, on how it’s affecting traffic. And on the northbound I-5 “collector-distributor” downtown, there’s a stall blocking a lane by Marion St.
ADVISORIES TODAY: If you use Water Taxi Pier 50 or state-ferry Colman Dock downtown, today is the day access changes – details in our previous report … near the Fauntleroy ferry dock, county crews are scheduled to repair concrete panels by the Barton Pump Station project this week … and the south end of Beach Drive will be busy today with the continued concrete pour at the Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Control Project tank site.
7:17 AM: SFD has already cleared the W. Marginal Way scene. According to e-mail from Kimberley, it involved an overturned pickup, and “people were out of their cars helping” even before fire/police arrived. Also, a texter mentioned a crash on the bridge, but there’s no emergency dispatch so far. As the cameras show, though, it’s definitely a full-on eastbound backup.
7:29 AM: Crash just reported at Admiral Way/Avalon – no injuries reported but some blocking, according to the scanner.
7:56 AM: No indication of anything out of the ordinary on the bridge. Meantime, our crew just checked the W. Marginal Way scene – the right southbound lane before Highland Park Way is still blocked but a tow truck is there to take care of the wrecked pickup truck, so this should be clear before too long, no indication of anything mandating a major investigation. Traffic is getting by in both directions.
9:00 AM: One more transportation-news note – the next Seattle City Council briefing on the Highway 99 tunnel project and related issues is coming up around 10:45 am – you can watch live at seattlechannel.org. Preview the slide deck – which mentions more about “what if the Viaduct had to be shut down?” plans as well as settlement affecting downtown water mains – by going here.
9:49 AM: Just back from a quick check on several things: Sharonn had mentioned in comments that 37th is closed in The Triangle north of Alaska because of work involving a big crane. We went by (photo to come) and were told this involves removing something from the roof at the SK Food Group building (4600 37th SW). We also checked on the mentioned-above Murray CSO concrete pour and Barton Pump Station road-panel replacement – both of those projects are under way, with minimal traffic impact (except for Beach Drive south of Lincoln Park Way – unless you’re a resident and have to get through, avoid that today).
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