One week from tonight, it’s the first of two Southwest Design Review Board meetings scheduled this summer for the next two redevelopment projects in the heart of The Junction. At 6:30 pm Thursday, July 19, the board takes its first look at 4747 California SW, the project we first told you about back in February, with its development team including Jack Miller, whose Husky Deli will move to a new home in the new building when it’s done.
When we reported the meeting date back in early June, we included a link to the draft “packet” – and now, embedded above (or see it here), the final packet is out. Keep in mind that this is the Early Design Guidance phase of Design Review, so the focus is on the building’s size, shape, and siting, not final design details. Reading through it – we discovered a surprise: Direct responses to WSB commenters. On page 25, the packet includes the “letter from Jack Miller” that we received and published last month. And then, on the next four pages, something we were surprised to see – a section titled “Community Engagement,” including screen grabs of some of the comments that WSB readers wrote about what Miller had to say, and responses from the development team, with this preface:
WEST SEATTLE BLOG – COMMUNITY FORUM
The West Seattle Blog has become the de facto community forum for the neighborhood. Whether it’s checking in on breaking news, or finding out about the latest restaurant opening, the blog is the place West Seattle goes for trusted local reporting and discussion. On June 2nd, Jack Miller of Husky Deli published his essay on the Blog. From the nearly 100 comments, we have complied and responded to a range of them here touching on the most common themes.
In all the years we’ve been extensively covering local development, we’ve heard WSB comments mentioned by development teams at some SWDRB meetings, but we can’t recall a spotlight in a packet before. The packet’s other components include the three options for project massing, with the “preferred” option (see page 46) expected to include 74 apartments and 54 offstreet residential parking spaces (see page 33, which says the apartments in that configuration would be 21 studios and 53 one-bedrooms).
The July 19th meeting is at the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon) and will include a public-comment period. If you have something to say but can’t make the meeting, you can e-mail the project’s assigned city planner, Allison Whitworth, at allison.whitworth@seattle.gov.
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