From a new Little Free Library, to bike racks, to development updates, and more – here are our toplines from the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting:
BICYCLE RACKS: Seven locations through the heart of Morgan Junction are set to get bike racks, as part of city money set aside back in 2012 for beautifying California SW. The locations run from Morgan Junction Park south to California/Myrtle. According to MoCA’s Cindi Barker, three businesses are considering “artistic” racks, but they would have to foot the extra cost for that type of rack.
LIBRARY AT THE PARK: MoCA’s been talking a while about sponsoring a Little Free Library at Morgan Junction Park. The plan is going ahead, and the base will be dug soon.
THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL DATE: Setting your calendar for the year? June 20th is the date for the MoCA-presented 2015 Morgan Junction Community Festival.
MURRAY COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW PROJECT UPDATE: A King County rep confirmed the biggest concrete pours for the million-gallon storage-tank project across from Lowman Beach are over. The most-recent one was for the base of the tank, and now it’s time to start building the tank itself. That won’t bring anywhere near the concrete-truck traffic of the pours. She said the contractors are serious about working to make sure the trucks stay on the announced routes, and acknowledged that early on, up to a tenth of the trucks were deviating from those routes, but said those drivers have been replaced and the trucks are continuing to be monitored. Overall, she said, the project remains on schedule.
DEVELOPMENT UPDATES: MoCA president Deb Barker said the organization has now sent its letter to the City Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee (chaired by Councilmember Mike O’Brien) with wording for changing the city comprehensive plan to allow the zoning change needed for the 6-townhouse project planned for land owned by the West Seattle Church of the Nazarene. This was the subject of a special community meeting back in October. … President Barker also discussed setting up a receivership committee to handle the $25,000 financial settlement that’s part of mitigation for the 30-apartments-no-parking-spaces building going up at 6917 California SW.
What it will go toward hasn’t been decided yet. The Admiral Neighborhood Association, now a 501(c)(3), will be MoCA’s fiscal sponsor. MoCA’s Cindi Barker said the developer is open to neighborhood suggestions about color schemes for the building, as part of the mitigation (added: here’s the settlement agreement; here’s our 2013 story showing what the developer had described as the building’s “twin”). … As reported here a week ago, the city has come out with its proposed Pedestrian Zones plan, and honored MoCA’s request not to have Morgan Junction included.
DEPARTMENT OF NEIGHBORHOODS: James Bush from the city DoN visited to touch on a variety of topics. For one, changes are on the way for the team of Neighborhood District Coordinators serving what DoN calls the South Region (including West Seattle) – according to Bush, Yun Pitre will be transitioning to the Central Region, where Stan Lock – well-known to West Seattleites – recently retired. No timeline, nor replacement, yet. Bush also went over the range of Neighborhood Matching Fund grants available (you can review the list here), since deadlines for some applications are coming up – except for Small Sparks, which is open year-round, and described by Bush as intended to help applicants bring people together creatively. Speaking of projects:
NEIGHBORHOOD PARK AND STREET FUND PROJECTS: Some that didn’t win funding in past years will be resubmitted, including a safer crossing at California/Juneau, including paving the alley behind the businesses on the east side of California north of Fauntleroy, rutted-road repair on California south of Juneau.
FUTURE POSSIBILITIES: Sites/projects on MoCA’s radar for future discussion include Solstice Park, the substation near California/Morgan/Fauntleroy, and neighborhood greenways.
Next Morgan Community Association meeting is in April … keep an eye on morganjunction.org.
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