By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The Morgan Community Association meets quarterly, and as a result its meetings are usually packed with information. Here’s what we heard last night, in the online meeting led by MoCA president Deb Barker:

MORGAN MINUTES: These are quick updates aiming for a minute each:

West Seattle Art Walk – Morgan continues with participants on second Thursdays, next one May 13th – wsartwalk.org features participants, and venues have window signs.

Save The Stone Cottage – The historic Harbor Avenue bungalow was raised on April 13th, “14 inches at a time,” still no date set for the move to Port of Seattle land but an auction is planned before that, with opportunities including being the person to press the button to move it off the foundation. It’s going to be a late-night event, as have been previous structural moves. Donations to the crowdfunding account still welcome.

Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal – The replacement project is in planning now, as we’ve reported. Friday is the deadline for applying to be on the Community Advisory Group for the project.

District 1 Community Network – We covered its most-recent meeting here; MoCA vice president Phil Tavel briefed attendees on what happened. D1CN meets on first Wednesdays, 7 pm, online, all welcome. The coalition plans to present online interviews with mayoral and at-large council candidates, and a forum in summertime too.

35th/Graham work – As we previewed on Tuesday, the crossing signal-and-more project linked to the West Seattle Greenway project is starting.

HHO’S NEW IN MORGAN JUNCTION

Dr. Stefanie Haugen has moved her business, now named Resolve Chiropractic, to Morgan Junction. She’s been a chiropractor for 20 years and bought the practice three years ago. She’s “across from McDonald’s” and participating in Art Walk – stop by to see her next time!

MORGAN JUNCTION COMMUNITY FESTIVAL

Tavel said MoCA plans to present “something” this year, not sure yet what, probably on Saturday, September 11th. The Bubbleman and musician Gary Benson, both past festival favorites, have already signed on. Whatever restrictions allow at the time, they will. “We’re planning on doing as much as we can do that is reasonable to do.” Barker said it’ll be low-key, whatever it is. “We want to help everybody have a great time, safely.”

PARKS UPDATE

Barker noted that there’s been no progress at the Morgan Junction Park expansion site, “radio silence.” She wants community support for at least convincing Parks to “make (the site) not look so derelict.” (Though development is on hold, Parks has said it would proceed with cleanup of the former cleaners/minimart site.) Further west, at Lowman Beach, the seawall project is getting closer to permits. “That work needs to happen in late summer / early fall” because of restrictions for in-water work.

POLICE UPDATE

Sgt. Ernest DeBella called in. Most of what his officers are seeing in Morgan Junction is crisis calls or property crime, some domestic violence. No robberies, no new problem businesses/residences. One apartment building owner/manager said things have calmed down in the past few months after a spate of break-ins. Sgt. DeBella said he used to be part of the Anti-Crime Team but as the precinct commander explained at last night’s West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting (WSB coverage here), that group was disbanded to move resources to patrol. He was asked, why is it important to keep reporting crime even when no arrests seem to result? Sgt. DeBella said it’s a matter of staffing – the data shows where it’s needed, and if they don’t have data accurately reflecting what’s going on, they can’t get staffing. Also he noted that during the pandemic, nonviolent property-crime suspects generally aren’t getting booked into jail – that’s because of health policies more than anything else.

6007 CALIFORNIA SW

A rep from Atelier Drome Architecture talked about this early-stage project (which we’ve been covering).”Our client has owned the site for a while” and is involved with the child-care business that’s there. Zoning would allow a four-story apartment building with mixed-use ground-floor tenant spaces. They’re still in the very early planning stages; he mentioned the early-design website (open for opinions). He said he was “here to listen” to thoughts about past projects and the neighborhood.

They might keep the day-care business in the building if the tenant wants to stay, but that’s still being figured out. He expects there’ll be some alley improvements. Probably 40 or 50 apartments, he said, though there are a variety of design factors. The project is expected to go throough administrative design review, which means no public meetings, but comments can be ent to the assigned city planner. Construction wouldn’t start before fall 2022. What type of units? No decision yet, depends on the ground-floor use that’s envisioned for the building, as well as whether multiple-bedroom units are needed (YES, said Barker). Not microhousing, said the architect. Ginnie Hance, who manages a building in south Morgan, said she thinks there’s a market for three-bedroom units. As for the commercial space, it would be nice to see more retail, said attendee Tamsen Spengler. She also said parking would be good; Barker reminded her that it’s not required. Barker also said that the block overall has been booming – with Paper Boat Booksellers, Youngstown Coffee, HeartBeet Organic Superfood Café, and more, Would a live-work be good? Barker warned that the ground-floor units are often not activated, so those are not preferable. “We’ve seen a lot of Venetian blinds, a lot of closed-off storefronts,” she said. Will the big tree out front stay? he was asked. “We have every intent to keep it,” he said, but “there are a couple of infrastructure pieces with the lot that have to be updated” and that might affect the tree – for example, a stormwater-system extension is needed, and an old curb cut has to be removed. The group will invite the architect back.

DUWAMISH RECOGNITION

Since the tribe is still not being recognized by the federal government, its leadership has asked groups including MoCA to send a formal letter endorsing the ongoing battle for recognition. Barker read the letter addressed to local U.S. House reps and U.S. Senators. A majority of those on hand voted to send the letter.

LOW BRIDGE (as summarized in a separate story earlier today)

Meghan Shepard from SDOT was there to recap the access changes announced earlier this month (WSB coverage here).

Since applications opened for patients to use the low bridge for lifesaving medical treatments, 27 applications have been approved.

Applications for new users – including restaurant/retail businesses – will open next week. Shepard recapped the criteria for each group. Generally the application deadline will be the 15th of each month, for approval at the start of the next month.

Shepard stressed that all this could be temporary depending on what happens with Terminal 5‘s opening next year. She also stressed that “no trips are authorized until you get email from SDOT” saying so.

How have the expanded weekend hours gone? Shepard says she hasn’t heard yet.

(If you see this story shortly after we publish it, note that SDOT will talk with the West Seattle Transportation Coalition about the low bridge at 6:30 pm tonight – meeting-access info here.)

NEXT MEETING: MoCA will meet the third Wednesday in July – July 21st, 7 pm, online.