By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
46 days left to comment on what Sound Transit has found out about potential routes and station locations for West Seattle light rail – the findings that comprise the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
As of the end of February, ST had received 409 comments, the Community Advisory Group for the West Seattle/Duwamish River leg was told at its latest meeting
The centerpiece of the meeting was supposed to be a “deep dive” into parts of the DEIS on which group members had requested more information – including a slide deck with many more renderings that didn’t even get reviewed during the meeting. But if you’re still considering how you’ll comment on the options, you might be more interested in the second part of the meeting, which featured City of Seattle reps talking about how the city’s official comments are taking shape. So that’s where we’ll start.
The city reps were Sara Maxana and Jesseca Brand, two longtime planning specialists. First, the scope of the city’s comments:
Now, here are the key concerns they’re seeing – starting with the north vs. south Duwamish River crossing, as ST weighs which side of the existing West Seattle Bridge would be better for a light-rail-only bridge
Maxana noted that so far, all three options appear to be compatible with long-long-term plans to replace the West Seattle Bridge. Meantime, for the Delridge station options, these are the main concerns – the lens through which they’re viewing the options:
For the Andover options for the Delridge station:
For the Delridge Way options:
And for the Dakota station location options:
And for the Junction options, elevated and tunneled:
So, Maxana asked the CAG members, are those the issues on which they believe the city should be focusing?
First, CAG member Charlie Able from The Junction said what he would like to see overall is more of an “overall vision” – what is the vision for these options, “what do we want this neighborhood to look like in 20, 50, 100 years …(and) how do we get there?”
CAG member Deb Barker from Morgan Junction suggested, “the issue of displacement needs to be more fleshed out – it’s on two levels and you’re treating it as on … some (displaced) people won’t be able to come back to West Seattle,” so, she said, analyze more of what the word really means.
CAG member David Bestock from Delridge wanted to know if there are studies about the psychology of people living under high-rise guideways like the ones up to 150′ that are possible in Delridge. He also wanted to see more “apples to apples” displacement comparisons – like numbers of people, rather than “displaced” homes vs. possible TOD units. He also wanted to know how they are ensuring equitable engagement, especially with the diverse communities of Delridge. He also wondered about community partnerships that will factor into TOD and how they’ll support low-income communities and communities of color.
CAG member Willard Brown from Delridge expressed concern about the potential high-rise guideways and how they would affect the neighborhood. “It’s just scary to me to see what exactly it will look like, as a person who lives here in Delridge.” He is also concerned about environmental impacts, including Longfellow Creek, and wondered if more of the creek could be daylighted. He also was concerned about ensuring that development will be equitable.
CAG member Iñaki Longa from Delridge wanted to ensure that as many people as possible are close to the stations – the low projected ridership of the Avalon station concerns him.
CAG member Ella McRae from High Point voiced concern about potentially unrealistic estimates – the transfer time of three minutes, for example, does that assume a train is arriving every three minutes? Also consistency with station treatment – Northgate is beautiful, Columbia City does not have the same attributes, etc. How will there be guarantees that renters will be able to afford nearby units – a displacement even if a unit isn’t destroyed?
CAG member M Miller from Avalon seconded Brown’s concern that “cost not be the main driver” of design, plus the issue Able surfaced of whether the Avalon station is really necessary. She wants to see discussion about the quality of Transit-Oriented Development, not just the presence. She also wants to see more renderings to truly “understand what this looks like.” She’s concerned about the draft numbers (for displacement, new units, etc.) looking “very specific” even though they’re just estimates – it needs to be clearer that these are “estimates and could vary.” She also said people from South Delridge need to have more of a voice. She also stressed the point of displacement driving people out of West Seattle no matter how they’re compensated for their home/apartment. And she wanted to see services offered to people now worried about the possibility they won’t be able to stay in their community.
CAG member Nicole Perry wanted more information on how the golf course would be affected and whether that should be a concern if people using the golf course aren’t coming from the nearby area.
CAG member Kim Schwarzkopf from Avalon said she’s been immersed in reading the material, walking the routes, trying to “digest all this information,” and even after 4 months of meetings, feels like she’s “just getting going.” She wondered about TOD so close to the industrial area of Nucor etc. She also talked to some people who weren’t even aware of the light-rail project. She wondered if the public-comment period could be extended.
CAG member Pete Spalding from Pigeon Point noted in response to that last request, that the 90-day comment period for the DEIS is actually a lot longer than the typical such period. He also is concerned about Longfellow Creek. Truck traffic to and from Nucor needs to be taken into account. And he noted that other areas of light rail have been tunneled to avoid destroying houses – it feels as if the area is being given bad choices. And then “the impacts that are unknown,” such as the slope on the north end of Pigeon Point, the West Duwamish Greenbelt, “all that could be avoided if you went north of the West Seattle Bridge.” He noted remediation projects in the Duwamish River area, too.
CAG member Emily S said she cares about “lessening the displacement as much as possible” – humans and wildlife. “Not having super-deep or super-high stations” is important to her too, for accessibility and for visual/noise reasons. “Having the stations closer to popular areas” is important, as is bus/bike/train integration. She’d also like to see an overall vision for development, and an innovation vision for the statements – ‘what’s going to change in the next 10 years that we can be ahead of?” Cost is less important to her, as is the golf course. She also wants to know the time between stations.
‘DEEP DIVE’: ST’s point person for the West Seattle segment, Jason Hampton, led thisfor the “deep dive.” This looked at topics for which the advisory-group members previously had asked for more detail. First, the Delridge Way station pairings – with a Delridge station between where the West Seattle Corporate Center and DSHS buildings are now. Here are the projected effects of the Fauntleroy/Delridge pairing:
Connecting a tunneled 41st station to the “lower height” Delridge station alternative:
Here’s what those effects would be:
He next went into the racial-equity toolkit work. A key goal of this is to ensure bus/light-rail transferring works well. The “transit travel sheds” will reach all over the metro area by 2042, Hampton said. The “travel time” graphics also addressed that year – 20 years from now. They expect it would take no more than 2 1/2 minutes to get off a bus and get up to the Delridge station platform.
The Delridge station alternatives would not have TOD potential, he said.
Looking at the Andover station options, you’d be saved 12 minutes heading north, in 2042, compared to what it takes now. Andover transfer time – between getting off the bus and onto the platform – could be more like 3.5 minutes. Andover effects – no residential displacements, but a potential for TOD. On to Dakota Street options:
Transferring would take up to 3 minutes, but a Dakota option could do that in as little as one minute, ST said. Meantime, the Andover options could displace almost 100 units but could facilitate 400 units of TOD.
Another topic: Where to find “visual effects” Here are the specifics:
Hampton explained “Key Observation Points” and the comparisons in the graphics – before and after – then went through some of them. Here’s a deck with many more renderings than were reviewed during the meeting:
Q&A: Regarding the projected transfer times, “how do those look for differently abled riders?” Maybe a little higher than the higher end of the cited range, Hampton replied. “Is Sound Transit partnering with advocates” to ensure these questions don’t go unaddressed? Hampton and Chahim weren’t sure.
What about business displacement? ST’s station-planning specialist Sloan Dawson explained that new business space is projected in square footage, and there’s no way to count potential new business numbers for a more direct comparison with the projected business displacements. Why can’t they say how much commercial square footage is being displaced, then?
WHAT’S NEXT: This group will meet Tuesday, April 12th, to talk about possible cost savings, among other things. ST has community meetings before then – between noon and 7 pm Thursday (March 17th) at Union Station downtown, you can drop in and ask questions; ST’s official West Seattle online meeting is March 30th; and they’re due to participate in the West Seattle Transportation Coalition’s online workshop at 6:30 pm March 24th. But you don’t have to go to a meeting to get your comment in – April 28th is the deadline, and the “online open house” can guide you through the process.
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