By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Updates took centerstage, rather than any major new issues, at the Alki Community Council‘s annual meeting.

And as is often the case at local neighborhood-council meetings, the first round came from police:

SEATTLE POLICE UPDATE: With no recent major area crimes to talk about, Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith had a reminder about the Public Safety Survey. (Taken it yet? November 30th – tomorrow! – is the deadline. 54 responses from Alki as of the ACC meeting, which was held the night of November 19th.) Survey results will help with SWP staffing.

Lt. Smith was asked if there’s a way to check on the status of crimes. Short answer, no.

He said the Anti-Crime Team had just arrested two people in connection with a Craigslist sale involving a $5,000 bicycle.

One more update: The new mobile precinct has finally arrived, though it hasn’t been outfitted with radio equipment yet. (The new mobile precinct also was mentioned at the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting one night earlier.)

VOLLEYBALL CONCERNS: With complaints continuing about how much of Alki Beach is occupied by volleyball tournaments on summer weekends, ACC president Tony Fragada urged people who are concerned about it to mention it in the aforementioned safety survey. ACC is drafting a letter with bullet points that will point out that the typical setup tends to go beyond the five courts they’ve been told are the maximum allowable. One attendee voiced hope that ACC is meeting with tournament organizers to give them the chance to comply, rather than proceeding immediately to enforcement requests. ACC leaders say they hope to find out more about how Seattle Parks and the volleyball leagues work together. So they’re going to invite guests to future meetings in hopes of learning more about what percentage of the beach is available to be rented, etc.

‘PERCH’ PROJECT: It’s been six months now since we broke the news about Perch, the 100+-unit apartment building planned for 1250 Alki Ave SW. Since then, area residents organized as the Action Alki Alliance have been studying and monitoring the plans. Speaking at the ACC meeting, Sandy Spears talked about the turnout at last month’s Southwest Design Review Board meeting, first one for the project, which – as ordered by the board – will be going back for a second Early Design Guidance meeting. She said the written report from the SWDRB meeting finally came out earlier this week (see it here). “We are stll digging our way through it to understand it.” As of the night of the meeting, Spears said, developer SolTerra had not responded to the document they sent citing neighborhood concerns. They’ve formed a nonprofit group and have neighborhood financial support with which they have hired a land-use specialist. They’re guessing the second EDG meeting wo’t be until January or February. They hope to continue mustering a big turnout for future meetings because “the way to get attention in this city is to have numbers.” They met with Councilmember Tom Rasmussen a few nights earlier and expect that he’ll be working with them, offering pointers, “to be a really good source of information.” Spears added, “Our goal is to make a difference in this project, to make a difference, not necessarily to eliminate it, but to make sure it fits in the Alki Nnighborhood. We’re not going to be not-in-my-backyard people, but we want to preserve the Alki neighborhood.”

An attendee asked if their goal is fewer units, fewer floors, or something else. Spears replied, “Our goal is to make sure they adhere to city code and we will probably down the road with inputs from residents and meeting attendees have to come up with what is exactly our goals.”

Much discussion ensued about how to make that happen. Their land-use expert is not a lawyer, they said; an attendee who had experience with Design Review and development issues advised them to get one. The group said they had walked up and down the street distributing letters about the development.

What’s next? The second Design Review Board meeting, but the date’s not set yet; watch this page on the city website. Comments about the project can be sent to assigned planner BreAnne McConkie at breanne.mcconkie@seattle.gov (be sure to cite project #3020640).

OTHER QUICK UPDATES: President Fragada and ACC member Candace Sullivan are continuing to work on West Seattle Water Taxi-related issues, following up on shuttle performance and concerns about shuttle routes. … The current ACC board was re-elected, since no new candidates came forward.

The Alki Community Council meets third Thursdays, 7 pm, in the parlor at Alki UCC (6115 SW Hinds).