Redevelopment proposals at 7716 Delridge Way, 5015-5017 Fauntleroy Way

| Delridge | Development | West Seattle news

While the bigger development projects get more attention (like the new Triangle proposal we discovered last week), more of the day-in, day-out proposals in city files are like these two:

7716 DELRIDGE WAY SW: From today’s city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin, the 65-year-old house below is proposed to be replaced with six homes – four single-family houses and a two-unit townhouse building.

(Photos via King County Assessor’s Office)

County records show the house’s 9,500-square-foot site is on the books as three lots, zoned Lowrise 1. The notice published today is formal announcement of your chance to comment on the application (here’s how) – deadline January 9th.

5015-5017 FAUNTLEROY WAY SW: These addresses are on one 8,200-square-foot lot zoned Lowrise 1, according to county records, currently housing a 67-year-old duplex to be replaced by seven 3-story homes:

The proposals for both sites are shown on the “site plan” in city files as a four-unit rowhouse building facing Fauntleroy, and three single-family houses behind it. The formal application is not on file yet – these are early-stage proposals.

unknown December 27, 2016 (11:13 am)

Are you kidding me?! The top picture the people who own those homes already had to dig out their embankments to have somewhere to park (single family) now asking to put in 6 homes, where the heck are all those autos going to park?

Oh wait its on a bus route and there’s bike lanes…they’ll all take the bus and or ride their bikes everywhere.

AMD December 27, 2016 (12:45 pm)

If you look just a few doors down in either direction from that property you can see lots with the exact same topography that were recently developed and have ample parking for the new units. In fact the parking for the new structures is even better than it was because none require the resident to back out onto Delridge to go anywhere as the current parking for that home does.

Calm down.
Meagan December 27, 2016 (12:48 pm)

Lol! I know. Cracks me up every time.
- WSB December 27, 2016 (1:21 pm)
  
  Yes, there’s offstreet parking in the plan. If you click the link above that takes you to the official notice, the units are described as having “attached garages.”

Chris December 27, 2016 (12:10 pm)

There seems to be so much redevelopment going on in West Seattle such as we have not seen in all the years we have been here. It is daunting. We are wondering why so many buildings are going up? Are we really growing that fast?

unknown December 27, 2016 (1:40 pm)

@AMD & Meagan…my apologies for not being as smart as you two as you laugh and ridicule! And yes look both ways, same kind of houses…doesn’t it look lovely???

Myself, I still like having single family homes versa the multi-family where the people who live in them may take some pride in that they own and they stay in them for years and years, like my neighborhood where the people have lived for 30 plus years.

And yes there will be off street parking available but for how many cars per unit??? how many cars do each of you have per your household? There’s 2 of us but we have 3 cars and we are lucky and none park on the street but like our next door neighbor they have 4 cars and 3 of them park on the street so like this soon to be multi-family housing will have how many on the street, and exactly where on Delridge will they park?

Captin December 27, 2016 (3:03 pm)

I don’t like this new parking thing either but; Seattle is built out. About the only way to accommodate population growth is infill. Go up/get more dense. There’s not much more land available in the city. Increasing density along arterials and in urban villages makes sense to me. I don’t like everything about it but who would? Arterials provide the taper effect of higher to lower scale buildings (single family) and urban villages create vibrant walkable business areas. Seems logical to me.
ktrapp December 27, 2016 (3:20 pm)

If you don’t have density, then you’re going to have sprawl. Frankly, we’ve got both. But at least with more density, it slows the sprawl down a bit. The simple reality is that if we don’t replace a lot of the old single-family-per-lot houses in Seattle, they’ll just end up pushing the suburbs further into the foothills, with a lot more environmental damage.

Now has the city approved a lot of stupid “80 unit building/no parking” housing? Sure. But at least these don’t look that bad. It’s a good sized lot, WITH garage parking. And if they need more, street parking does exist on Delridge starting right at that property.

And honestly, if you’re that concerned about people parking on the street, why not try convincing your neighbors to get rid of some of their cars? Parking around here sure would be a lot better if EVERYONE took a long hard look at just how many cars they need. Rather than just shaking their fists when someone else moves in with more cars than people.
Jay Koster December 27, 2016 (6:44 pm)

An interesting bit of knowledge for you:

Apartment-dwellers contribute significantly to the local economy, and quite often do show a sense of pride in their neighborhood. Some are lease-to-lease and transient in nature, but a good number of them will stay for years so long as they get the chance.

For a great bit of information on what lease-holders bring, take a look at http://www.weareapartments.org/metro/seattle#
- WSobserver December 27, 2016 (8:49 pm)
  
  Thank you, Jay Koster.
  
  We’re renters and we’ve been in the same apt. for 9 years. I know all the neighbors as I walk everywhere I go or take the bus. We have ZERO cars.
  
  We also sweep our sidewalk, rake the leaves, and I can’t even tell you how many cars over the years we have helped/pushed/jumped/rescued when they broke down in front of our building. (why do so many cars go kaput in front of our building?)
  
  Everywhere we’ve ever lived we try to be good neighbors. Whether we own or rent.
AMD December 27, 2016 (7:23 pm)

@Unknown, you asked where the cars were going to go and I gave you the answer. There is currently no off-street parking in front of that lot already due to the configuration of the intersection. Anyone who buys one of those homes and chooses to park on Delridge down the street from where they live because the area in front of their home is a bike lane and a major intersection is probably not going to make that choice for long. If they have more vehicles than will fit in the off-street parking spaces, clearly these aren’t the homes for them.

My household has two cars and we have off-street parking for three. When we were looking for a home, we only looked for ones with enough off-street parking for our vehicles. Because off-street parking is an extra amenity, that means we paid for a smaller house in a less desirable neighborhood in order to have parking for our vehicles. I feel like considering parking when moving is part of being a responsible car owner. So, no, I don’t blame the developers when it’s hard to find parking on the street. I blame the people who have three cars yet purchase a home with no off-street parking and nowhere to add it in.

Diane December 27, 2016 (2:57 pm)

I’m far more concerned about more more more human beings being displaced from their affordable homes; and people keep asking why we have homeless crisis

redblack December 27, 2016 (4:03 pm)

i’ll be sad to see the fauntleroy houses go, if for no other reason than the removal of foliage and tree canopy.

while i understand the need for density, the simple fact is that the new buildings will be cash cows for the developers and owners. they really have no interest in the debate about neighborhood aesthetics versus availability/affordability.

profit is the sole motive fo private development in this town. DPD needs to put a rein on rampant development and reject plans that ignore aesthetics.

Captin December 27, 2016 (5:09 pm)

I agree that we need to maintain some green in the urban environment for quality of life. It is true though that sprawl causes the removal of way more trees than one or two on an urban lot. Clear cut to build roads to new multi-acre developments that were also clear cut is what happens out there. But we certainly should strike a balance between density, liveability and environmental impacts and try to find the best way to satisfy all of those categories as well as possible.

20-Something-Transplant December 27, 2016 (7:01 pm)

It’s hard to read the comments on development articles sometimes, as a newer resident. My husband and I moved here from Chicago. We lucked out with a single family home because of timing, not by being the highest bidder. It was actually the only livable home in our price range that wasn’t a townhouse. We’re a 2-person, 1-car (2-bike), 1-dog, non-tech-working family that wanted to have a reasonable (<1 hour) commute. Our neighborhood is filled with people who have been here for 20+ years (one of the reasons we liked it), but only 3 have introduced themselves since June. Trying to fit in and be part of a community that doesn’t want you feels really lonely.

WSB December 27, 2016 (8:07 pm)

Hi, 20-something, and thank you VERY much for speaking up.

I’m sorry that it feels as if the community “doesn’t want you.” Especially if that’s how you are interpreting the neighbors not introducing themselves. We got here 25 years ago, rented in one part of West Seattle for two years, and then bought a small, old single-family house in another neighborhood, where we have been for 23 years. We have very little interaction with the people around us – some of whom have been here longer, some not – because we are introverts, no other reason. (We know some people around West Seattle now because of WSB … but that didn’t start until we had already been here 15 years.)

We also try to step in when it seems commenters are disparaging people just because they are new arrivals and/or renters. I’m sorry if we don’t do a good-enough job at that. When we got here, it was the infamous “those awful Californians are showing up and ruining everything” time in the early 1990s, and we were from California. One thing that is different now compared to then: The relatively rapid pace of redevelopment, and some resulting sentiment that longtime residents are being squeezed out. (I wonder sometimes if there were earlier building booms with similar waves of concern; the building where we rented 1991-1993 on Beach Drive was only three years old when we arrived, a six-unit, three-story condominium building that almost certainly replaced a single-family house.)

Back to your neighborhood … have you been here for a full year yet? Did your block have a Night Out event? If not for the fact that we have to spend each Night Out traveling around covering events, we would know our neighbors a little better, because there’s been one the past few years, and despite our introversion, we might hang out a bit.

Anyway, thanks again. Glad to hear from you. – Tracy
- beth December 29, 2016 (9:30 am)
  
  Hi Tracy –
  
  I am frustrated with Developers who are in too much of a hurry to buy & build —- no quality
  
  I closed on Dec 14th, and moved in on Dec 15th. Two days later there was a panic as there had been no city inspections yet (so unknown to me I was living there illegally).
  
  They just want the money & to move onto the next high density build/cash cow.
Kimmy December 27, 2016 (8:48 pm)

Our situations sounds similar. I have been here for 10 years and still don’t find people to be that friendly. I wish I could tell you it gets way easier, but I still find it a struggle. The general lack of acknowledgment of others is hard, and it happens frequently whether it’s a neighbor who won’t return a wave, or a fellow shopper at the market. I am always disappointed to read that people only want SF homes in their neighborhood, or don’t think that multifamily homes have good tenants, or only certain home-owning families are acceptable for neighbors, or how nothing should change because they don’t like it and they were here first, or how awful Californians are, yada yada. These topics tend to bring out the more unwelcoming comments (yet, here I am! Take note, self.)

Good luck, and hopefully we meet someday!
- CMT December 28, 2016 (2:38 pm)
  
  Hi Kimmy – Ever since the City has proposed rezoning my SF residential street (and in fact, my whole neighborhood) to multi-family apartments, townhouses, etc., I have been very vocal against it. But it is absolutely NOT because I don’t think multi-family residents are good neighbors. I have been both an apartment dweller and a good neighbor!
  
  I am against the proposed rezone because it is the City’s goal to eliminate entirely all of the existing single-family houses on the rezoned blocks. And although they cannot literally force homeowners to sell, they can make conditions so unpleasant (e.g. increased property taxes, no setbacks for new developments, allowing overdevelopment) that they will sell.
  
  Reading 20-Something-Transplant’s comment was so resonant to me because ever since the proposed re-zone was announced, I too have had a feeling of being completely disposable and unwanted by the city.
  - Captin December 28, 2016 (3:57 pm)
    
    I’m getting rezoned too. Please understand this proposal is not a personal attack on us property owners. This is an attempt (I’m not saying panacea or silver bullet) at planning growth and density in correlation with transit. It is an attempt to lower emissions, create jobs, increase efficiency of mass transit etc, etc. which IMHO should have happened decades ago. We should already have light rail to the junction. If one were to assume that these people aren’t evil and aren’t just out to get some kind of “kickback” from developers (major ethics violation) and doing their job (urban planning) maybe people would be able to not take this personal. Someone has to do urban planning right? What’s the difference between this and a business choosing to expand 4 stores or to close down 4 stores? Someone has to make tough decisions right? I thought this article was interesting in the times:
    
    http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/u-district-upzone-offers-a-host-of-welcome-benefits/
  - Kimmy December 28, 2016 (9:33 pm)
    
    FWIW, I don’t feel unwanted by the city, I feel unwelcome by the locals. Very different. City is living is hard, but friendly residents make it better.
    
    I’m a huge proponent of the upzoning and wish it would happen on my SF-only block. The lot next to me could hold 3 or 4 town homes, easy. Or a small apartment building. The city should be a city, not a protected zone for SF homeowners (like myself) who got in at the right time and want to prevent change while there is a huge demand for housing. Hopefully we know more now as a society to increase density in a city to prevent sprawl elsewhere. If I lose some of my daylight, so be it. It’s about so much more than my comfort.
    - Captin December 29, 2016 (8:16 am)
      
      Ditto
CAM December 27, 2016 (11:41 pm)

Hi there. It’s been a while since I left Chicago, but I understand what you mean. Things are different here in Seattle in terms of how neighbors interact. When I left Chicago I can honestly say that I knew the vast majority of my neighbors each place I lived. That’s been true a few other places I’ve lived but not always. I’ve had to be more assertive here and introduce myself to people. I also will just be quite up front and say that I’m looking to build a network because I don’t have a solid one yet, things like that. People have responded okay to the bluntness and I’ve made some good friends that way. Hope that helps.
- Captin December 28, 2016 (7:35 am)
  
  I’ve found the same thing. Originally from Southern CA and Arizona but I’ve been here since ’95. Seems to me that people in Seattle are nice as long as they can keep you at arm’s length.

rob December 27, 2016 (8:48 pm)

keep one thing in mine , we would not even be having this conversation if they did not sell there house. the one thing we have to remember is one of our fellow neighbors sold there house and land for big bucks and could not give a know what about how you feel. Remember in seattle everyone is a liberal till its time to make money

WSB December 27, 2016 (9:00 pm)

There were no “big bucks” involved here. Records show the house and site sold in the $300s. I would have expected it could have gone for more to someone interested in living there rather than redeveloping.

unknown December 28, 2016 (7:58 am)

I first want to apologies for coming off as to say “renters” don’t care or have pride where they live I know most people do care whether they are owners or renters, and I am sorry for sounding the opposite. I guess I was more irritated that more multi-family dwellings are going up and there goes the green space behind those homes to cement.

I have lived here in Seattle my whole life (61 yrs.) and can remember riding my bike down Delridge to go to Alki when I was a teenager and thinking to myself (yes as a teenager) this neighborhood is so cute, cute little houses that sit up off the road and now to see it, it looks so bad…

Just my opinion..