West Seattle, Washington
13 Monday
(Click image to get full-size PDF of map)
That’s the detour map just in from SDOT, one week after they announced that the Delridge-Thistle intersection will close this weekend – 7 pm April 12th till 6 am April 15th – as part of the second phase of the Delridge Way repaving project. As shown on the map, here’s the detour plan – note there’s also a nearby closure that starts earlier, first thing THURSDAY morning:
· Northbound traffic on Delridge Way SW – Take SW Trenton Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Holden Street to Delridge Way SW
· Southbound traffic on Delridge Way SW – Take SW Holden Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Trenton Street to Delridge Way SW
· Westbound traffic on SW Thistle Street – Take 16th Avenue SW to SW Henderson Street to Delridge Way SW
· Eastbound traffic on SW Thistle Street – Take 35th Avenue SW to SW Holden Street or SW Trenton Street to Delridge Way SW
Additionally, there will be a partial closure of the SW Cloverdale Street and Delridge Way SW intersection from 7 a.m. Thursday, April 11, to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 13. This intersection will be closed to eastbound traffic on SW Cloverdale Street on these days. Through traffic will be directed to use a signed detour; local access will be maintained.
When community groups were originally briefed two years ago on upgrades for West Seattle’s Fire Station 36 – on the north end of Delridge, alongside the bridge – they were told the station’s operations would remain on the site while the work was done. (Here’s our February 2011 report from the briefing at the North Delridge Neighborhood Council.) With the work now months away, we’ve learned that plan has changed, and Station 36 will now be moving into temporary quarters near Harbor Avenue and SW Florida (map), on Port of Seattle property across from the Harbor Ave. 7-11, as described by city spokesperson Julie Moore, who explains that those 2011 briefings preceded design work on the upgrades:
Early in the design process, it became apparent that it was not optimal to have the firefighters and the contractor on site at the same time. We decided that locating the temporary station away from the current site during construction would have the least impact on Seattle Fire Department operations, which of course, is the priority. Having the firefighters off site during construction also reduces construction time. … We will build a temporary station that includes two trailers and a tent, similar to what we have done for other temporary stations around the city.
The $3.6 million Station 36 upgrade includes earthquake-safety features and additional building space. According to the city’s latest schedule update for Fire Levy projects including this one, it’s expected to go out to bid in about two weeks, and construction is likely to start in late summer, lasting a little more than a year.
West Seattle has three other fire-station projects in the works – upgrades for Highland Park’s Station 11 (scheduled to start construction in November) and Admiral’s Station 29 (no date yet since it’s in pre-design), and a 2015 rebuild for Station 32 in The Triangle (here’s our recent report on that).
12:05 PM: Till 1 pm, you can drop by Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way) and enjoy a light lunch while joining in on preparations for West Seattle’s new Delridge Grocery. You knew the organizers originally as Delridge Produce Cooperative – now, meet them under the new name as they get ready to open a grocery store in the under-construction DESC Supportive Housing building (5400 block of Delridge) next year. You can talk with DG board members, check out their business plan, enjoy fresh local food, and sign up to start your membership – look for the table in the corner of the room, where we found Casey and Ariana:
If you’re out and about with kids today, bring them too – there’s an arts-and-crafts table. To connect with Delridge Grocery online, here’s their Facebook page. No online signups yet for membership, but DG tells us that’s part of the plan. P.S. While you won’t have to be a member to shop there, membership will have its benefits – as well as being an investment in the neighborhood – organizers say.
ADDED 12:48 PM: DG has shared a drawing of the grocery store’s floor plan (click the image for a larger view):
Also, you can read the “executive summary” of their business plan here (PDF).
Just noticed this new commercial real-estate listing: The 16,000-square-foot South Delridge site approved for 45 apartments and live-work units at 20th and Barton is up for sale, listed at $850,000. The two vacant, graffiti-covered homes that had been on the site were demolished some weeks back, and the listing points out that the land-use permit has been granted, “building permit in process.” The project required three design-review meetings last year because the concept changed between the first and second meetings. But it drew no controversy along the way – as noted in our October report, your editor here was the only person at the last design review meeting besides board members, project team, and the city planner assigned to the project.
Another followup as the Delridge-repaving project moves from Phase 1 to Phase 2: SDOT announced today that the new southbound detour around the shifted work zone (Thistle to Trenton) is expected to take effect Wednesday (March 20th). We published a revised detour map in this story two nights ago.
Don’t know how many days ago this happened, but we just noticed it today while turning around in the SW Yancy dead-end adjacent to Longfellow Creek, across from Allstar Fitness – the asphalt-topped parking lot installed after an old industrial facility was torn down has been torn out. Now the lot is just dirt. Checking the city’s online file, repeated violation notices were issued because the parking lot (“more than 2,000 square feet of impervious surface”), the city says, was installed without a permit. The removal was done with a permit, which was “finaled” by a city inspector yesterday (and there also was a permit for last year’s demolition of the buildings on the site). There have been previous proposals for new commercial buildings on the site, but none appears to be active right now.
That’s an updated detour map for Phase 2 of the Delridge Way repaving project, scheduled to take effect sometime next week – probably not before Wednesday, according to SDOT’s LeAnne Nelson, who thanks commenter Jim P for pointing out a problem with the map sent yesterday:
Your readers bring up a good point regarding the map. It shows the right-of-way routes for both 25th and 26th Avenue SW even though parts of what would be the roadway are unimproved. Attached is an updated map. Thank you to your readers for pointing out the issue!
Nelson also addresses an issue that commenter Breeze brought up:
Comments to your Phase 2 story include a question about why we detour to 35th Avenue SW. We strive to detour traffic along arterials, and the only consistent arterials flanking Delridge are the west sides of Trenton and Thistle (east sides of those streets are not arterials) and 35th Avenue SW to link them north/south.
We cannot disallow vehicles from utilizing public streets, but we can encourage arterial use. If speeding is witnessed repeatedly on the street, let us know, and we could place speed tubes to track the problem and potentially request more enforcement in the area. We also strongly suggest neighbors partner with our Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program team to apply for roadway assessment and possible traffic calming measures. Details are at: seattle.gov/transportation/ntcp_calming.htm
Again, provided weather doesn’t get in the way of Phase 1’s completion between SW Trenton and Henderson, Phase 2 of the repaving will start sometime next week along Delridge between Trenton and Thistle, and that’s when the – revised! – detour map will apply. This phase of the project is expected to last about 2 1/2 months.
As one person put it at Monday night’s monthly North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting, it was “transportation theme night” – starring an explanation of the impending reduction of parking on SW Genesee plus a brief brainstorming round for Delridge Way’s future, also featuring an update on Delridge Grocery, formerly Delridge Produce Cooperative. Read on:
In the 4700 block of Delridge Way SW a few hours ago, a resident apparently rattled the potential burglar who had just rattled her door:
I was by myself and heard the side door being rattled and thought it strange since my husband wasn’t coming home until later this evening. As I came down the stairs, I saw a young (approximately 18 – 20 years old) thin, African American guy with his navy parka hood covering his entire face except his eyes peering into the door. We made eye contact as I was coming down the stairs to investigate, and I turned around and went upstairs to get my cell phone to call 911.
The police responded immediately and after making sure he was no longer around, I showed the officer a large piece of concrete that was on the ground close to the door that wasn’t there when I got home. After some discussion, I showed the police officer the back door to where the would-be burglar could have exited via the alley since the other police officers did not find him on Delridge. And it was there that the officer found a pile of concrete debris (from which) the suspect had gotten the piece he was going to use to break the glass on our door with.
I just wanted to let you know, since it is still pretty bright out at 6:20 pm and this guy was pretty audacious to attempt this.
We checked the police-report map – no other burglaries shown in that area in the past week.
(Click image to get PDF with full-size view)
Phase 2 of the yearlong Delridge Way SW repaving project is about to begin (as first noted here March 1st). Just in from SDOT, the detour map (above) that takes effect next week when work moves to the Thistle-to-Trenton stretch for two-plus months. Here’s the official announcement:
Starting the week of March 18, southbound Delridge Way Southwest traffic will be detoured at Southwest Thistle Street in West Seattle to facilitate roadway reconstruction and storm drain installations. This work is Phase 2 of the Seattle Department of Transportation’s Delridge Way Southwest Paving Project that is rebuilding much of Delridge Way Southwest between Southwest Orchard and Southwest Roxbury streets.
Traffic will be directed:
· West on SW Thistle Street
· South on 35th Avenue SW
· East on SW Trenton Street
· South on Delridge Way SWThe detour is expected to be in place until early June 2013. Northbound traffic on Delridge Way Southwest will be maintained. Local access and access to businesses will be maintained during project work.
This is a five-phase project. At the completion of Phase 2, the construction activity will move to the Phase 3 section of Delridge Way Southwest between Southwest Thistle and Southwest Holden streets.
This past Saturday was a banner day for volunteer-powered cleanups – and next Saturday is shaping up that way too. Above are members of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council-mustered crew that worked at Greg Davis Park two days ago – and NDNC beautification chair Lisa Taylor-Whitley sends “a GIGANTIC thank you” and news that they collected 14 bags of recyclables and 6 bags of trash. She adds that they’re planning on an encore: “Even though a large amount of trash was collected there is still more to be cleaned. So we are having another cleanup event this coming Saturday, March 9, from 10 am to 12 pm to finish the work that was started. Again, we will meet at the 4 large rocks.”
No need to avoid the Delridge/Trenton intersection tonight – the city says it reopened early, and the adjacent section of Trenton that was closed for prep work is open too. The detour that’s in place for southbound Delridge between Trenton and Henderson remains in place while the repaving project continues Phase 1; as reported here Friday night, Phase 2 is expected to start in about two weeks.
(Delridge repaving project, photographed earlier this week by Long Bach Nguyen)
As of minutes ago, the Delridge/Trenton intersection was scheduled to close for the weekend, as the Delridge repaving project continues. This means you’ll be detouring in both directions, as shown on this map:
According to project spokesperson Bob Derry, with whom we spoke when the work started on January 10th, the first phase, Trenton to Henderson, is on target to last about two months as expected. He told WSB today that SDOT is currently projecting that Phase 2 – between Trenton and Thistle – will start in about two weeks, around March 15th. The entire $6.7 million project, repaving a mile and a half of Delridge Way in phases between Roxbury and Orchard and improving the stormwater system beneath much of the road, is expected to last most of the year.
ADDED 7:19 PM: We just got a text asking about noise. This is the official “construction notice” for this weekend’s work with details of what’s happening and when. Looks like the noisiest work may go on till 10 pm.
(Photos courtesy Karrie Kohlhaas)
In the months ahead, rain gardens will be part of at least two government-led projects in West Seattle. A private project that’s already in place in North Delridge continues to draw interest – including a school field trip for which Karrie Kohlhaas was the neighborhood liaison today. She shared photos and this report:
This morning, Chief Sealth International High School brought 25 ninth-graders on a tour of the Rain Garden Demonstration Cluster on 25th Ave SW between Brandon and Findlay (10 rain gardens in the front yards of 10 neighbors on 25th).
The students have been learning about storm water and how it impacts the environment and nearby waterways. Students visited Longfellow Creek before walking 25th Avenue to learn about rain gardens for the first time.
I met with students and teachers to explain how a rain garden works and to show them the different types of plants in a rain garden. We talked about why someone might want to plant a rain garden — how it can both absorb excess water in the winter and be a low maintenance landscaping in the summer and most importantly how it filters toxic pollutants before the water makes its way to local waterways like nearby Longfellow Creek.
As expected, some of the students were more interested than others. I told them that this might not be so fascinating right now, but when they have a home one day, they may stop and think about planting a rain garden instead of grass, which is not beneficial to the environment. They are finding out about grass alternatives much earlier than I did. I only discovered rain gardens a couple years ago. I told them they are way ahead of the curve.
Since we installed 10 rain gardens on our block in 2011, we’ve had many visitors. Many gardeners, a local Muslim school, curious West Seattle and Delridge neighbors, and even people who heard about the project on NPR and PBS in other states have made our block part of their visit to Seattle. I’ve enjoyed spreading the word about rain gardens and the benefits to homeowners, the environment, and the community.
If anyone wants to come check out the gardens, they are welcome to walk the block. It’s a great example of neighbors and non-profits working together to improve the community. While here, you can also see the street improvement on our block, where we collaborated with SDOT and Stewardship Partners to augment a drainage solution in the street by adding, yep, more rain gardens as well as native plants in the planting strips up and down the block. This spring will be a great time to come and check it out when everything is blooming and budding.
Here’s a map to the neighborhood.
ADDED SATURDAY: Chief Sealth social-studies teacher Noah Zeichner tells WSB that this was one of 10 “field experiences” taken by ninth-graders on Friday as part of the multidisciplinary WEST Project (Water, Ecology, and Sustainability Team). The destinations also included:
• Renton Water Treatment
• Cedar River Water Shed
• Water 1st
• Seattle Biomed
• Duwamish Boat ride
• Solid Ground
• Rainier Urban Farms and Wetlands
• Urban Gardens with Composting
• Gates Foundation Visitor Center
Local and global water issues continue to be a focus at Sealth, and this year’s World Water Week is coming up – at which time, among many other activities, students will present their projects to students at adjacent Denny International Middle School. More on WWW coming up in another WSB story this weekend – meantime, here’s previous coverage, including a note about this year’s keynote address, to which the community’s invited.
Now that Metro Route 50 is running on SW Genesee, following the activation of the Genesee/Avalon stoplight, another change is in the works: SDOT has announced plans to remove some of the parking along Genesee on both sides of Avalon, after Metro told the city it needs more room on the road to operate safely. We talked today with Jonathan Dong from SDOT, who says the city sent notices a few days ago to Genesee property owners. The details are on this webpage (click on the link “SW Genesee St and SW Avalon Way Parking Removal” to reveal the text), including:
*Parking will be removed on the north side of SW Genesee Street between SW Avalon and Delridge Way SW
*Parking will be removed on the south side of SW Genesee Street between SW Avalon Street and 30th Avenue SW
Though the online text says it will take effect “February 2013,” Dong tells WSB the changes are not happening immediately; the city is getting the word out right now, including the notices and, he adds, a briefing at the next meeting of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council (March 11th, one week from Monday). Dong explains that the road is two feet too narrow to accommodate buses and parking – it’s 25 feet wide, but the minimum for buses and parking is 27 feet. The web page notes that you can reach him for comment at (206) 233-8564 or e-mail at jonathan.dong@seattle.gov.
(WSB photo from February 21st meeting at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center)
One week after interested residents gathered to hear firsthand about the plan for a Delridge Neighborhood Greenway – first one in West Seattle – the graphics and Q/A are all online, so you can see them and find out more about the greenway plan, even if you missed the meeting. The graphics show the planned route – from the north end of Delridge by the bridge, turning onto 26th from Andover, and heading south to Graham – while the Q/A document details how the greenway will work. For example: Stop signs on side streets that intersect with it; no bike lanes, but sharrows would be used (and on eastbound Andover, bicyclists will be routed onto the “wide sidewalk” to avoid truck traffic); no new sidewalks, but there’s a chance to designate set-aside pedestrian areas. This will be the first greenway in West Seattle, with completion expected before the year’s over; the area to be studied for a second one is expected to be further east, along 21st SW.
P.S. What’s a greenway, you ask? An alternative route with safety features focused on walking and biking, as explained on the project page.
As discussed at the most recent North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting, NDNC plans monthly beautification projects – starting this Saturday, March 2, and continuing every first Saturday of the month. NDNC’s beautification chair Lisa Taylor Whitley hopes you can help:
Our first beautification project will be cleaning the Greg Davis Park area on March 2, 2013 from 10 am to 12 pm. We will meet at the Greg Davis Park on the corner of 26th Ave SW & SW Brandon St (Map It) at the 4 large rocks in the middle of the park. Bags and pickers will be provided. Just show up in comfortable clothes! If there are any questions, comments, or suggestions about future projects you would like to see, please contact Lisa Taylor Whitley at lisataylorwhitley@gmail.com or 206-910-1425.
Your chance to get an early membership in Delridge’s future co-op grocery store is less than a month away. The Delridge Produce Cooperative has announced Saturday, March 23rd, as the date for its first membership-drive event (11 am-1 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center). And tomorrow (Monday, February 25) is the date for DPC’s next planning meeting (6:30 pm at Delridge Library, across from the grocery store’s expected home in the future DESC Delridge Supportive Housing complex). Even if you haven’t been previously involved, you are welcome, and DPC says it’s looking for two “specific (types of) volunteers”:
We would love to find someone with the time and inclination to manage our social media outreach (i.e. Facebook). We also need some occasional tax advice. If you are able to volunteer for either of these roles (or any other area), please e-mail us!
The group’s reachable at delridgeproducecoop@gmail.com.
SDOT has just announced the new plan for the Delridge/Trenton intersection closure that’s part of the ongoing Delridge repaving project – but note that it will start with a closure for part of Trenton itself beginning at 7 am next THURSDAY, with the intersection closure starting Friday (March 1st) night. Here’s the announcement:
The Seattle Department of Transportation will close a portion of SW Trenton Street next weekend starting Thursday morning, and the intersection of Delridge Way SW and SW Trenton Street next weekend starting Friday night. This work is part of the first phase of rebuilding Delridge Way SW between SW Orchard and SW Roxbury streets.
SW Trenton Street will be closed between Delridge Way SW and 20th Avenue SW beginning at 7 a.m. Thursday, February 28 for crews to break up and remove pavement on the east side of the intersection. This will reduce nighttime noise impacts during the around the clock intersection work that begins Friday at 7 p.m. and allow the concrete pour to begin earlier on Saturday. All areas are expected to re-open to traffic by 6 a.m. Monday, March 4, at the latest. Local access will be maintained.
For the closure of the Delridge/Trenton intersection, the detour will be as follows:
· Northbound Delridge Way SW to SW Barton Place/Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Thistle Street to Delridge Way SW
· Southbound Delridge Way SW to SW Thistle Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Barton Street/Place to Delridge Way SW
· Westbound SW Trenton Street to 16th Avenue SW to SW Henderson Street to SW Barton Place to 25th Avenue SW to SW Trenton Street
· Eastbound SW Trenton Street to 25th Avenue SW to SW Barton Place to SW Henderson Street to 16th Avenue SW to SW Trenton Street
This work is rescheduled from last weekend, when it was cancelled due to inclement weather.
Thanks to Michelle for sharing the photo. She says that car went off the road on Croft just uphill from the Boren campus – and apparently went unnoticed for a while. Right now, she says, the road is closed for repairs and investigation. No word on injuries – by the time the wrecked car was noticed, according to a report on the North Delridge e-mail list, no one was in the car. We’ll be checking with Seattle Police to see whether the car’s driver and/or owner was found.
If you ride Metro Transit, remember that tomorrow is the next “service change” – with the biggest change in this area being Route 50 switching to its originally intended route. Metro spokesperson Jeff Switzer has just sent some information on how that’ll work – read on:Read More
(NDNC co-chair Parie Hines speaks while a heart collage is assembled; foreground, Amanda Leonard holds infant son Harpo)
Eleven adults and a baby comprised the turnout for last night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting. Having the next generation on hand seemed especially appropriate, since the agenda looked to the future, as well as dealing with the present and past.
Icebreaker question: “What makes Delridge different from other neighborhoods?”
The first reply: “More greenspace per capita.”
One of the other answers: “Longfellow Creek.”
Yet another: “A very low number of snobby people.”
And yet another: “The number of engaged neighbors.”
Likely an offshoot of that: “The sheer diversity of community-driven events and initiatives.”
Closeness to downtown was mentioned too, as were two huge institutions in North Delridge – the Nucor Steel plant, and Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, and last but not least, “The Delridge Move” – explained as, using Delridge’s continuous center turn lane to pass other cars.
They wrote their favorite things about Delridge on Valentine-style pieces of red paper – mentions for Dragonfly Park, Pearl’s Coffee and Tea, flowers in traffic circles, the Camp Long ropes course drew a mention, among others. (A collage resulted – in progress, in our photo above; see the full result on the NDNC website.)
What kind of projects and activities from the past would members like to do again? Building projects – like the playground – with a tangible result; small, social events like cider-press gatherings and ice-cream socials; street improvements (like the recent ones on 25th SW); community cleanups – which led to a side discussion about teaming up with nearby Puget Ridge if possible.
How to improve the neighborhood and strengthen love for it? Block parties, reaching out to neighbors, celebrate Neighbor Appreciation Day, Night Out block parties, organize walks … those were among the ideas offered. Also, periodically singling out a local volunteer for honors.
The community cleanup idea came back around, with beautification chair Lisa Taylor-Whitley suggesting monthly projects, not just the quarterly Adopt-A-Street. Perhaps they could focus on some of the area’s myriad stairways, it was suggested. (Watch the North Delridge Facebook group for event signup and pages.)
RESEARCH: A researcher who is studying this area as part of a UW project titled “Encountering Poverty: Everyday Life in Mixed-Income Neighborhoods” – told the group that she and her colleagues have been talking to people such as social-service professionals, and hope soon to start talking to neighborhood-council reps such as the NDNC members who were gathered for the meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: The DESC project’s Advisory Committee will meet at 6:30 pm Wednesday at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, with a focus on crime prevention/safety elements in the project’s design … Transportation Committee chair Jake Vanderplas said two new bus stops are supposed to be set up before the Metro service change on February 16 kicks in the intended path for Route 50.
NDNC meets the second Monday of the month, 6:30 pm, usually at Delridge Library, but sometimes elsewhere, so keep an eye on their website at ndnc.org!
(Click image for full-size PDF map of this weekend’s detour)
As first reported here last Friday, the Delridge repaving project is scheduled to shut down the Delridge/Trenton intersection both ways this weekend. Here’s the reminder just sent by SDOT, plus detour info:
The intersection at Delridge Way Southwest and Southwest Trenton Street will be closed this weekend from 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15 until 6 a.m. Monday, Feb. 18 as part of the Delridge Way paving project.
Seattle Department of Transportation is in the first phase rebuilding much of Delridge Way Southwest between Southwest Orchard and Southwest Roxbury streets. To reduce impacts to the community, intersection construction is taking place on weekends, working around the clock.
Traffic this weekend will be detoured as follows, with local access maintained (see the attached map):
· Northbound Delridge Way SW to SW Barton Place/Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Thistle Street to Delridge Way SW
· Southbound Delridge Way SW to SW Thistle Street to 35th Avenue SW to SW Barton Street/Place to Delridge Way SW
· Westbound SW Trenton Street to 16th Avenue SW to SW Henderson Street to SW Barton Place to 25th Avenue SW to SW Trenton Street
· Eastbound SW Trenton Street to 25th Avenue SW to SW Barton Place to SW Henderson Street to 16th Avenue SW to SW Trenton Street
To expedite construction, evening work, including pavement removal using impact breakers, may be performed until 10 p.m. under the conditions of a noise variance.
Reminder: For traffic safety, the intersection of 25th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Barton Street is temporarily a four-way stop.
This is a five-phase project. At the completion of the first phase, between Southwest Henderson and Southwest Trenton streets, the construction activity will move to the section of Delridge Way Southwest between Southwest Trenton and Southwest Thistle streets. Please visit the project website for more information.
P.S. The Delridge-Henderson intersection reopened early last weekend, unannounced, but project spokesperson LeAnne Nelson promises that if there’s an early reopening this weekend, they WILL get the word out.
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