40 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: Here's where West Seattle's driver-licensing office is moving to"

• Marty February 1, 2024 (3:26 pm)

  144 units and parking for 20 cars. I guess they will use the old “We are on a bus line” excuse.

  • Bus February 2, 2024 (7:28 am)

    They are on several bus lines.  You can get to downtown, South Park, pill hill, the admiral district, Burien, Tukwila, SeaTac airport, the Junction, and a bunch of other places from a single bus from Westwood Village.  Stop insisting that apartments include parking–at the expense of renters who don’t need it–because you feel entitled to taxpayer-supported car storage on city streets.  

  • Josh February 2, 2024 (6:38 pm)

    It’s not as though there isn’t a massive parking lot just across the street. 

  • Remix February 3, 2024 (11:26 am)

    Welcome to urban density. This is not a surprise, nor abnormal. 

• DRW February 1, 2024 (3:39 pm)

  Pay ‘n Saves old corporate offices. I worked there in the 80s.

• Graciano February 1, 2024 (5:01 pm)

  20 parking spots, going make parking nightmare for the neighbors.

• Rhonda February 1, 2024 (5:30 pm)

  124 of those new tenants without parking will probably park in the Westwood Village parking lot.

  • East Coast Cynic February 1, 2024 (8:36 pm)

    I think the developers will have to make an arrangement for parking space rentals similar to the rite aid parking on California.  I can’t imagine 100 or so tenants simply not having cars because of two rapid rides 3 long blocks away.  Trenton will have cars up and down the block and the stretch of 25th Ave SW from Trenton to Barton possibly turns into an RPZ.From what I understand about half the building will be low income?  Many may require cars to get to gigs out of the air.  I can’t imagine that it will attract a massive tech demographic that works remotely and takes scooters to get around.

    That’s a small footprint for 144 units! Compared to similar developments, not enough parking.

• 1994 February 1, 2024 (5:32 pm)

  Parking will be difficult over there! It has become very congested.  I can’t picture which building they will be  located in. Are they moving to the first floor of the apartment building? The other large building has the Dept of Children Youth Families office, and I think the NW Kidney dialysis is in the bottom of the DCYF building…I will have to wander over to see 2420 SW Dakota.  Isn’t that area in the path of the future light rail coming to West Seattle?

  • WSB February 1, 2024 (6:45 pm)

    I have that question out on followup, didn’t get a reply by EOD, hopefully tomorrow. Meantime we drove around the periphery of the building before sundown – there’s an entrance on the back of the building and looked like signs of moving through some windows, so that MIGHT be the 2420 SW Dakota entrance … I’ll update with whatever we hear back. – TR

• Sigh February 1, 2024 (7:09 pm)

  Any reason why WS is not requiring the developers to build a subterranean or tuck-under parking that is seismic compliant?  15% parking to unit ratio is horrific. 

  • WSB February 1, 2024 (9:25 pm)

    It’s not “WS.” This is a city rule, citywide, that no parking is required if frequent transit is nearby. We’ve been writing about it for a decade – this project was first to really bring it into the spotlight:
    https://westseattleblog.com/2014/03/30-apartment-no-off-street-parking-6917-california-sw-gets-land-use-approval/

    • Tae February 1, 2024 (10:51 pm)

      I often wonder if those in the city that have made the rule about parking not being required have ever had to live by transit alone? Often folks have to get their children to daycare in one direction and then go the opposite direction to work. Or have to leave work by transit to get the child for the doctor appt in yet another direction. Break your leg and go three blocks to the bus stop on crutches probably more than 3 blocks. There should be at least a 50% ratio of parking to units. Even at that it is not enough, have you seen the streets of Capital Hill lately? Tons of new developments but no parking with barely room to drive the streets with parking on both sides of the narrow streets. Oh and walking 8 blocks away to your home in the dark.

    • East Coast Cynic February 1, 2024 (11:24 pm)

      Such a development on California (30 units) would have been far more appropriate for the 25th Ave SW location.  Far fewer cars in the area for that California location than the one that is being built on the 25th Ave SW location.

• Foop February 1, 2024 (10:31 pm)

  Yes people will have cars and there will be some parking squeeze but this area is a huge bus hub, pretty much every WS bus stops here. C, H, 22, 60, 21 125, 560.This means access to Downtown, ID, Admiral, Georgetown, Burien and the airport all within 30 minutes (conservatively) by bus and Cap Hill, Beacon Hill,  SLU within an hour.For all of you complaining about parking – where do you park your many cars? If it’s on the street and explain to me why you should be more entitled to that public space than these residents?

• Jim February 1, 2024 (11:21 pm)

  This over building needs to stop!

  • Bus February 2, 2024 (1:12 pm)

    That’s right!  People who don’t want to live in RVs should have just bought houses in the 90s.  These entitled millennials, thinking they should also be able to live indoors.

  • Josh February 2, 2024 (6:41 pm)

    Is this satire?  This is a city. Cities are best when they are dense and ‘overbuilt’. The suburbs are that way sir. 

• AlexJ February 1, 2024 (11:22 pm)

  Am I imagining it or are they moving the license place to somewhere hard to get to by bus? I guess they expect non-drivers or student drivers to get a ride

  • WSB February 2, 2024 (12:16 am)

    RapidRide H Line and Route 50 are both within a block.

• WS Resident February 2, 2024 (12:12 am)

  Not enough parking spots, and many more people to look out for when driving there. This will be good for WV businesses, however. 

• WarOnCars February 2, 2024 (6:55 am)

  Gotta love how routine it is the feverish car drivers pop up in the comments about parking. I actually live in this area, and there’s already been a couple large developments with low percents of parking-to-units, and lo and behold there isn’t any parking issues or congestion that wasn’t already existing before. I actually walk the area, so I navigate around cars daily and am able get a good judgement of congestion when it’s life or death. 25th SW is awful to try to cross with speeders and frequent ignoring of crosswalks and folks on sidewalks. too many times I’ve been cut in front of or almost bumped crossing in front of the DMV. if you think 100s of cars should be going in and out there, you don’t have the safety of peds or any empathy for them at all. if tons of people end up parked on 25th SW, it’d be welcomed for potential traffic calming. otherwise the road is in desperate need of narrowing. just because see a car as an absolute necessity doesn’t mean others are as locked into your way of thinking. and for the “low income” argument, how cheap do you think cars are? without considering skirting safety measure like maintenance because that’s pretty sick if you’re chill with having low income folks driving run down, risky vehicles. turns out a lot of low income folks (heck, folks in general) rely on the bus, and you’d probably know that if you took transit at any point during morning or evening commute times.

  • East Coast Cynic February 2, 2024 (10:25 am)

    The rental developments (Trenton and 25th ave SW and Barton and 25th Ave SW?) nearby don’t have anywhere near the number of units that this development has proposed.  The one on Trenton has the benefit of entirety of Trenton to park on.  The one on Barton has a queue of parked cars going up from 24th Ave SW to Delridge.  25th Ave proper has minimal parking slack for the inevitable number of car owners that will move into that 144 unit project unless the developers work out a parking space rental deal with WWV.

• bill February 2, 2024 (7:09 am)

  What if the people who decide to live in this development simply don’t own cars?

  • Marty February 2, 2024 (9:22 am)

    Bill… That would be great, but I can assure there will be a lot more than 20 cars from this building. A LOT more!

    • bill February 2, 2024 (8:08 pm)

      Marty: Why are you sure? Are you moving in with a personal collection of 30 cars?

• miws February 2, 2024 (8:57 am)

  WoC, You are absolutely correct on 25th being dangerous to cross at Trenton.  For several years I crossed there westbound once a month as a disabled person using a cane. I’ve always been a defensive pedestrian even back when I was fully healthy and able bodied, and could jump or run out of the way on the occasions of a speeding car coming from where I’d already checked and double checked. An ambulatory disabled person has so much more to be aware of; exactly where to step down on as even and smooth ground as possible, curb height, etc. I’d hate to have to try it now that I’ve used a walker the past 2 1/2+ years, and with two further declines in baselines of health and mobility. I’m so sick and tired of the whining and ranting of those that actually claim there’s a war on cars whenever measures to make things safer for other, unprotected forms of transportation.  —Mike 

  • WarOnCars February 2, 2024 (11:22 am)

    stay safe out there, Mike 💗 I literally had tears in my eyes when I saw the all way stop get put it at Trenton and 25th cause it had been such a stressful crossing for the few years I had been walking it. I fear getting older or losing my mobility because of the built environment around us. I can’t imagine the difficulty you and others have when as able as I am I’m still struggling. I wish it was a lot better for all of us, and we could feel safe and able to exist and move amongst the community.

    • miws February 2, 2024 (12:22 pm)

      Thank you, WoC. Be safe out there… —Mike

• Kevin w February 2, 2024 (9:45 am)

  Cmon folks, this is the perfect location to develop large numbers of apartment housing. You have the largest concentration of retail stores and restaurants outside of the Alaska junction across the street, on multiple bus lines with modern k thru 12 schools with in blocks, a public pool and public library nearby, as well as athletic fields and parks in the  vicinity. Younger people are far less likely to rely on cars and far more likely to have to rent. Movement across the country is to develop housing with in or near shopping malls to help support their survival in this age of on line purchasing. Seems to me that this adds up to smart planning.

• KB1000 February 2, 2024 (10:07 am)

  Well don’t worry Admiral folks. You can take your fancy lightrail to U Village and you won’t have to slum it down here with us serfs stuck in traffic in Delridge. I mean honestly, the amount of comments about parking for an area most West Seattleites look down their nose at, is pretty rich.  

  • Josh February 2, 2024 (6:45 pm)

    Weird take. The light rail will not go to Admiral nor does it go to the U Village. Nor do people in the Admiral or who routinely shop at the U Village fall into the transit rider category. 

• Jon Wright February 2, 2024 (10:30 am)

  My favorite part about the tiresome whinging about residential developments that don’t have “enough parking” is that NOBODY IS FORCED TO LIVE THERE! If having a guaranteed parking spot in the garage is important to you, LIVE SOMEPLACE ELSE!

  • Wsresident February 2, 2024 (11:53 am)

    It’s not for the people moving there. it effects those who already live in the area because there is a better than not chance that every unit will likely own at least 1 car. Meaning they have to park somewhere, which is likely on already heavily congested side streets. 1 spot per unit should be a requirement and apartments shouldn’t be able to charge extra for those spots either. 

    • Bus February 2, 2024 (2:39 pm)

      If people moved to a house that required city-subsidized storage for their vehicles, and then that city-subsidized storage became a rarer commodity over time, the inability of the residents to park wherever they please is their fault and their fault alone for assuming subsidized parking should and always would exist on the streets for them.  The “cost” of parking in rentals is wrapped in, not billed separately, so there is no way to stop building owners from charging it.  It is selfish to decry new developments purely because the residents might use “your” spot on the street to park.

    • Jon Wright February 3, 2024 (8:49 am)

      You don’t say? So it’s the old “I’ve got mine [free street parking, in this case] and everyone else be damned,” eh? I am always amazed how people are convinced they have some divine right to store their private property for free in public right-of-way.

• wetone February 2, 2024 (1:12 pm)

  144 units, ok how many bedrooms per unit or how many residents driving age plus? My common sense thinks there’s going to be a lot more than 144 cars added to area when built……. Yes bus transportation is 1-3 blocks distance, but locations are not places I would care to be walking to these days for many reasons….. As far as businesses in area benefiting from build I bet that is a wash  or worse as shoppers will go elsewhere due to traffic, parking and other problems we have today in area. We can thank the city, county and state government for this as their swayed by the outside money pushing for these builds under so much false pretenses… just as building 3 or more housing units where only one stood prior, and again how many bedrooms in new build ? These will have huge impacts and cost to neighborhoods from infrastructure issues along with traffic problems in near future. Laughable not so, just watch the increased delivery truck traffic and garbage trucks eat those roads up out your front window ;)

• John West Seattle February 2, 2024 (5:50 pm)

  It’s another example of Seattle’s long standing “War-on-Cars”, it’s been around for along time.  

• 1994 February 2, 2024 (10:36 pm)

  Kinda ironic there are very few comments about where the DOL is moving, the place you get your driver’s license or state ID….more comments are about a future building with minimal parking, cars, development….the urban village is growing.

• WSB February 5, 2024 (11:53 am)

  Regarding the entrance to the new DOL location – they finally confirmed to us today (as added above) that it’ll be on the back side (west) of the building.

Sorry, comment time is over.