That’s an animated rendering by architect David Neiman, taking the viewer around the six townhouses proposed for land that’s owned by and next to the West Seattle Church of the Nazarene (42nd/Juneau). The Morgan Community Association‘s newest e-mail bulletin included the video link along with word of a community meeting about the development this coming Tuesday night (February 25th). The project – first reported here in September – is seeking a “contract rezone” (specific to details of this plan), which ultimately requires City Council approval. The church says its future depends on the revenue the project will generate. Tuesday’s community meeting is at the church, 7 pm.

(Renderings: Roger H. Newell AIA Architects)
Eight months after architect Roger Newell presented the 2626 Alki Avenue SW proposal to the Alki Community Council – not mandatory, but always a gesture of goodwill to consult community groups early on – it debuted in the city public-meeting process tonight, before the five-member Southwest Design Review Board.

(Ironically, ACC members couldn’t be there because it was their regular meeting night, during which they heard about a different Alki project – we were there too; watch for the story tomorrow.)

After two hours, SWDRB members decided 2626 Alki SW (map) should come back for a second Early Design Guidance meeting, because “it’s too maxed out right now” on the site, as member Todd Bronk put it. A key point of concern will be the details along the 59th SW side of the building. They’re also interested in seeing it broken into two buildings, considering that the site has two different zoning designations – one building could address each.

The one-meeting project ran long, though, as the board slogged through new citywide Design Review guidelines that recently took effect.

You can follow along with the presentation via looking at the “design packet” here. Three structures on the site now would be demolished (current tenants include Lucky LadyZ marijuana dispensary, Saigon Boat Café, Alki Landing Properties and Alki Beach Dog); the proposal calls for a three-story building with up to 15 apartments, 5 live-work units, and more than 3,000 square feet of commercial space.

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An Admiral District site that’s had its ups and downs in recent years has just been listed for sale as a potential development lot. 2310 California SW (WSB September 2013 photo at left) was known most recently as the site of restaurants including Brickyard BBQ. In 2006-2008, the site went through Design Review for a mixed-use project that never got to the construction phase (not unusual back in recession times). Now it’s being marketed as a “highly desirable NC2-40 lot,” asking price $1,050,000.

Lot splits and boundary changes often portend development projects, so we’ve been tracking them in the city system, and some of the newest proposals top this update on West Seattle development:

7 LOTS @ 5028 PUGET BOULEVARD SW: One block east of Delridge, the overgrown 35,000-square-foot site shown above is under review for a seven-lot split. The proposal appeared in the city’s newest Land Use Information Bulletin – here’s the official notice, which triggers a two-week comment period (here’s how to send in a comment). There is no formal filing for construction permits so far, but online city files include a site plan originally filed more than a year ago, showing three homes fronting Puget Boulevard and four to the east, upslope, behind them. There is also an arborist’s report showing 63 “significant” trees on site, three of them considered “exceptional.” Concerns about this project, which will require environmental review, are outlined in a discussion in the North Delridge Neighborhood Council Google Group.

3 PARCELS, 2 LOTS @ 3239 CALIFORNIA SW (map): As reported here in December, this site, which currently holds a commercial building, is proposed for demolition and residential development.

It’s on the west side of the block upzoned in 2010, with at least two other projects pending. The land-use permit application is now in for reconfiguring it into what the online file calls three parcels and two unit lots.

4 LOTS AT 4050 30TH SW (map): This is the long-idle townhouse site in a triangular spot at SW Avalon, SW Yancy, and 30th SW, which has lain idle since the project stalled in the recession.

Now it’s up for approval of a four-unit lot split to proceed. Here’s the official notice; here’s how to comment.

3 PARCELS AT 5303 21ST SW (map): This site is proposed for splitting one lot into three. A formal development proposal is not attached, but the applicant of record is a construction company.

BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENTS AT 3273 37TH SW (map) A project is in the works for this three-lot site with one 95-year-old house that’s targeted for demolition, according to documents available online. The official proposal is to adjust the boundaries.

2 PARCELS @ 2450 55TH SW (map): In the Alki area, this lot split is proposed with a site plan showing a duplex to be built between two existing houses, one fronting 55th and one fronting Wickstrom to the east. Here’s the official notice; here’s how to comment.

The Land Use Information Bulletins this week also included the three formal notices for the March 6th Southwest Design Review Board meeting, regarding two north West Seattle projects already reported here (one with additional information):

1606 CALIFORNIA SW (map): 6:30 pm March 6th, Senior Center of West Seattle. We first reported back in October about this proposed 3-story, 16-unit apartment building, with 21 planned parking spaces; this SWDRB date was set a month ago. Here’s the official notice.

3257 HARBOR AVENUE SW AND 3303 HARBOR AVENUE SW (map): The review is at 8 pm March 6th, also SC of WS. First mentioned here last month, the notices for 3257 and 3303 confirm this is a two-building, 6-story project proposed for a total of more than 90 units.

SIDE NOTE – LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW LAND USE WORKS: Have trouble slogging through notices, deadlines, comment requirements, when do you get to have a public hearing and when don’t you, etc.? Come to the next Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting on Wednesday (February 19th), 7 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, to hear from local neighborhood leaders who will break it down from a truly public point of view.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: We briefly reported the decision, immediately afterward, last night; now, the meeting details)

(Click image to see larger view)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The Southwest Design Review Board seemed to have six and a half years on its all-volunteer members’ shoulders by the time its two-project meeting hit the four-hour mark last night, before a fifth review was recommended for 3210 California SW.

No one seems to have an easy role in Seattle’s unique Design Review program. It often provides the only public meetings regarding sizable developments, and that frustrates community members who want to speak out about more than the design, considering they are the ones who ultimately will be living with the results. Architects and developers bring a project to the table without knowing what changes will be recommended and whether the process will run months or more than a year, costly in more than one way. The five volunteer board members get conflicting messages about how much authority they have to order changes, and have to make their decisions in a theater-in-the-round environment, with affected parties usually staring daggers at them from all sides. (Those aren’t even all the stakeholders.)

And then, some projects have long, controversy-pocked backstories, like this one, rooted in a block-long upzoning requested in 2007 (hence our “6 1/2-year” allusion above), contested by neighbors, finalized in 2010 (all WSB coverage is reverse-chronologically archived here), then affected by a Department of Planning and Development rule change in 2012.

That rule change, as well as the backstory, was discussed extensively last week at a community meeting outside the Design Review process, a meeting scheduled after neighbors petitioned the city for it. (Here’s our report on that meeting, held January 29th at the Senior Center of West Seattle, same location as last night’s Design Review session.)

Last week’s meeting did not involve the SWDRB, though at least one member reported attending. But it included a discussion of the board’s role/authority, and last night there was more muscle-flexing as the board told the project team to come back for a fifth review – something that hasn’t happened here since the Admiral Safeway project, which came before the board (different membership then, though the same city planner was on that project and this one, Michael Dorcy) five times between September 2008 and February 2010.

At one point during the board deliberations last night, architect Boyd Pickrell from Nicholson-Kovalchick implored the board to offer directions and conditions so the project could move ahead.

Board members, however, indicated they saw shortcomings too big to do that.

Here’s how it unfolded:

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In an intense second session of the night, the Southwest Design Review Board expressed as much frustration as neighbors of the proposed 430-foot-long, five-stories-in-a-“40-foot”-zone 3210 California SW, with both groups saying the project team hadn’t addressed concerns about height/bulk/scale – especially making the project look like three different buildings in truly distinct ways, with more space between them. So they told the project team to bring it back for a fifth meeting – at which they want to see options for a shorter building or a building with upper-level setbacks. More to come (Friday – eta 12:30 pm – update: here’s the full-length story).

Kitty-corner from the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, that image is what you’re going to see – with a few changes – if Isola Homes goes ahead with 4400 SW Alaska, 36 residential units and four live-work units that got thumbs-up from the Southwest Design Review Board tonight. As noted in our first report last May, it will replace this:

And though you don’t see it in the renderings, you will see brick, as part of the conditions laid out by the board.

Early in the review, board member Daniel Skaggs expressed some concerns about the green/white colors, and noted that Isola had been building projects all around the area and “they look just like this.” What about some brick? he wondered. Steve Fischer from Nicholson-Kovalchick Architects mentioned the nearby brick project (4535 44th SW, which passed Design Review in December) and said this one just didn’t seem to be the right kind of project for that. But he also said the project green might not be as “apple green” as it was showing on the projection screens in the meeting room.

Here’s a look at the courtyard area of the front of the building, which evolved from some suggestions given by the board last summer:

You can see the full set of renderings in this “packet”). The project passed Early Design Guidance – the first round of the city’s design-review process – seven months ago, in July (WSB coverage here).

Fischer said tonight that the materials would include an aluminum composite that bends and facilitates “a clean transition” (where you see white and black) and then “Hardie panel” where you see the green color in the design. Board member Laird Bennion pointed out via a sample that he was able to write on it using a key – raising concerns about graffiti vandalism. The project has two streetfronts, and the landscaping along Alaska will have a much different feel than the landscape off Glenn, the project team said. Bennion wondered about the “vine wall” shown up the middle – what if, like other projects, the vines fail to thrive – what would it look like?

PUBLIC COMMENT: First to speak was Diane Vincent, who said she “love love love(s) the green and … the angles,” as well as “the open stairway.” The white color, though, she’s “not thrilled with.” She echoed concern about the projected “green wall,” pointing out that Admiral Safeway’s planned green wall has never happened. But overall, she voiced appreciation for the “creative” aspects of the project.

Next, Deb Barker, who said she is “very glad to see … that this project has transitioned and addressed some concerns” from its first review. She said she hopes that retail can be successfully attracted to the spaces penciled in as live-work. She said she was “fine with the color scheme, less thrilled with the treatments along the Alaska facade.”

A man identifying himself as “living a block away on 46th” said there’s “no warmth” in the colors/materials, and “no texture … everything is smooth.” It won’t match anything in the area, he said. “I will walk by this building every day … I want to be able to enjoy it, because this is a neighborhood.” He wondered what kind of signage it would have – saying he didn’t want to see neon – and also feared the spaces are too small for retail. Offering a few comments of appreciation, he said he did like the fact it’s not a “flat facade.”

The next person to comment said he hopes the board will strongly encourage retail instead of live/work in those spaces.

“Maybe the two at the corner could be retail, and the other two could be live-work,” he suggested.

Another nearby resident said he likes some aspects including the use of wood along the stairway, the “boldness” of the green.

A man who said he was representing the developer said they are hoping to get retail on the corner – maybe even before construction so they can “build to suit” – and that there will be a beam so that a wall could be knocked out in the future for a bigger space.

BOARD DELIBERATIONS: The first major point of discussion involved the lighting that had been shown in the renderings

Board members thought the “podium level”/corner should be lit more than the residential windows. The colors came around again. Todd Bronk said at one point that if the colors were taken off, the building had the right proportion, but there needed to be more details and he thought that being entirely devoid of brick didn’t necessarily work for a building that’s part of The Junction. Other board members agreed it needed to have some brick, as part of the base getting a “finer texture, more human scale, more timeless” feel. Their recommendations also reinforced expectations that the corner spaces will be retail-focused rather than the not-so-retail uses that “live-work” have been taking on lately – at one point they were going to suggest, rather than require, but Bennion said, “Let’s go big or go home.” The “aggressive” conditions of approval, as the board put it, also include a “more substantial entry canopy at the corner to promote retail use.”

WHAT’S NEXT: Until the project gets final land-use approval, you can still send comments to its assigned city planner, Lindsay King – lindsay.king@seattle.gov.

(Click image to see full-size citywide map)
Tomorrow is your next chance to find out more about the new kind of “zoning overlay” the city is proposing for some business districts – “pedestrian retail zoning.” We first reported on this last month after a presentation at the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting. Now, the same city rep who made that presentation, Aly Pennucci from the Department of Planning and Development, is coming to another local meeting – tomorrow night’s Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council meeting (6:15 pm, Southwest Branch Library at 35th/Henderson). The city has two “study zones” in the WWRHAH area, as noted in the map above – here are direct links to the city’s “preliminary recommendations” about each of them (scroll to the last page of each one for the site-specific information):
#50 – 35th & Barton
#51 – 35th & Roxbury

Ahead, tomorrow night’s entire agenda as shared by WWRHAH president Amanda Kay Helmick, featuring other major topics including the potential change in garbage-pickup service:

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(Click image to see larger view)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

There is seldom solace to be found in “I told you so.”

That admonition could be ascribed to some of the longtime residents behind 3210 California SW, the site proposed for a block-long, five-story mixed-use project that they say is exactly what they feared might happen because of the upzoning they fought six years ago.

This Thursday (February 6th), the proposal goes back to Design Review, for its second major meeting in eight days. The first was this past Wednesday, a neighbor-requested meeting that included moments reminiscent of a neighbor-requested meeting six years earlier about the upzoning proposal.

As quoted in our coverage of the 2007 meeting, one of the then-property owners asked opponents, “Is 10 feet really that big a deal? With 30 feet (of zoned-at-the-time height), you’re talking three stories. With 40, this would be four stories.”

In response to that, skepticism remained. There was a suggestion of waiting until there was an actual proposal for the site, and pursuing a contract rezone instead that would be tied to the specific project. But the general upzoning moved forward, with a few years dormancy, without a specific project, and was finalized in 2010; then, exactly one year ago, a five-story development proposal appeared.

“At the time [in 2007], we weren’t thinking it would be five stories,” acknowledged Jerry Suder, a supervisor in the city Department of Planning and Development, at last Wednesday’s meeting, over which he presided along with Michael Dorcy, senior planner who has worked on 3210 California for years, including the end of the upzoning process. Suder said a few changes in city rules in the past few years opened the door for that extra story – particularly this one in 2012.

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Does that look to you like three different size/shape options?

It didn’t, to the Southwest Design Review Board, which told the project team for 3824 California SW – the site that’s been vacant since the Charlestown Café‘s 2011 closure – to go back to the drafting board and try again.

Last night’s review was the first one for the plan first reported here last June – 30 townhouses/live-work units filling the site between Charlestown, California, Bradford, and an alley lined with single-family homes on 42nd SW. (Here’s the design packet as presented to the board; this project’s developer is Intracorp, which also is behind 3210 California SW, the block-long mixed-use building that returns to Design Review next week.)

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(Option 1 – with elements the board said it preferred over the project team’s preferred Option 3)
In the first of two Southwest Design Review Board sessions tonight, board members called for a second round of Early Design Guidance for 4505 42nd SW, a site that’s steps away from where the board convened (upper floor of the Senior Center of West Seattle).

This phase of design review is about a building’s “massing” – its size and shape – so that’s what was addressed by most of the “design packet” is here. For the mixed-use building, it’s “the very beginning” of the process, as city planner Beth Hartwick explained to attendees – a single-digit turnout, unlike many recent SWDRB meetings, even counting project team members including site owner Leon Capelouto.

With the guidance offered tonight, its height and number of units are in play – at least seven stories and at least 50 units, though how much more, depends on how the next round goes.

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(King County Assessor’s Office photo)
12:02 PM: A new West Seattle project just turned up on the city’s Design Review calendar – for 3257 Harbor Avenue SW (map), on a site previously owned by notorious real-estate-magnate-turned-fugitive Michael Mastro. Though the property once was proposed for a development to be called Aqua Bella – here’s the flyer we linked from this WSB story in 2009, at which time it was listed for $6.4 million, suggesting a development with 80 units, 3,600 square feet of retail, 107 parking spaces, its current ownership has designed something a bit smaller. After foreclosure, it was bought by CRE Harbor Avenue LLC for $1.2 million, and that’s who is advancing the new proposal – described on the city website as six stories, 44 residential units, 2 live-work units, and 44 parking spaces, on a 10,575-sf lot. This project’s debut before the Southwest Design Review Board is scheduled for 8 pm March 6th, right after the first review for 1606 California SW.

3:03 PM: As pointed out in comments, this appears to involve half the original site. Checking further into the DPD’s online files, it appears a similar-sized project with a separate land-use-application number is proposed for the other half of the site, at 3303 Harbor Avenue SW. We’re checking with the city to see whether or not that means this is really one 2-building project. (Update: It is.)

The calendar for today was a little skimpy, so we didn’t publish a preview roundup, but we do want to remind you that there is one major meeting on the list for tonight: The requested-via-petition meeting for the city to take general comments on 3210 California SW, the block-long mixed-use building proposed for the east side of the upzoned block in South Admiral. Here’s our most recent report, including a link to the newest design proposal, which is the focus of a separate meeting February 6th. Tonight’s meeting is at 6:30 pm, upstairs at the Senior Center of West Seattle (enter off SW Oregon just east of California).

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“It’s going to be a good thing.”

That’s how longtime West Seattle entrepreneur Leon Capelouto sees his second Junction development project, 4505 42nd SW, which makes its Design Review debut tomorrow night.

We first wrote about it almost four months ago. The site holds an old house, hidden behind hedges and fencing, on the southwest corner of 42nd and Oregon, across the street from the almost-complete Oregon 42, across the alley from the Senior Center of West Seattle (where the Southwest Design Review Board will meet to consider the project at 6:30 pm Thursday).

The site also happens to be adjacent to one of the West Seattle Junction Association‘s free parking lots, which Capelouto has supported for decades as a longtime Junction retailer and stockholder in Trusteed Properties, the lots’ ownership.

4505 42nd is proposed for fewer parking spaces than units – as is allowed in the area because “frequent transit” is nearby – but Capelouto says everyone who needs a parking space will get one, because he has parking to spare in his first Junction development, just down the block. This project – proposed for 7 stories, 50 units, and 16 offstreet spaces – is less than a block north of 2009-opened Capco Plaza, built with more than 360 spaces for the 160+-unit Altamira Apartments and the building’s retail tenants, more than zoning required when it was built (and far more than would be called for today).

Before we get into more about the 4505 42nd SW proposal – whose design packet can be seen here – a little more about its developer.

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(Click image to see larger view)
Does that look enough like three separate buildings to satisfy the Southwest Design Review Board? It’s the newest design proposal for the biggest project currently in the works north of The Junction, 3210 California SW, the block-long, ~149-apartment, ~168-parking-space South Admiral proposal with two public meetings coming up – the special neighbor-requested meeting (announced last week) this Wednesday, 6:30 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle, and, at the same location, its fourth session before the SWDRB, 9 pm February 6th.

The rendering is from the new design packet, just made public and viewable here. Developer Intracorp and architects Nicholson Kovalchick were also asked to show more of how the back (east) side of the building will interact with the single-family-home neighborhood behind it, and this is one of the depictions:

Hard to tell unless you click for the larger view, but that is an overlay of how and where windows on the back of 3210 California SW will face the homes right behind it. Note: The new design proposal will be formally presented at the February 6th board meeting; this Wednesday’s special public meeting is mostly for the public to voice other concerns, including aspects covered by the State Environmental Policy Act such as traffic and noise.

WSB coverage of previous meetings about the project:
3rd SWDRB meeting (“recommendations” phase), November 2013
2nd SWDRB meeting (“early design guidance” phase), summer 2013
1st SWDRB meeting (“early design guidance” phase), spring 2013

(Scroll down for Tuesday update with official notice)

8:25 PM SUNDAY: This is a “save the date” note because the details aren’t all in yet. But if the date holds, it’s only nine days away, so we’re mentioning it right after finding out about it.

(Image from November 2013 design proposal for 3210 California SW; revised design for Feb. 6th meeting isn’t out yet)
As neighbors of several other West Seattle projects have done, residents near the block-long 3210 California SW building petitioned the city Department of Planning and Development for a meeting to lodge concerns that aren’t addressed in the Design Review process – the ones covered by the State Environmental Policy Act, including noise, air quality, and traffic/transportation, as well as ecological impacts. (See a longer list on this state webpage.) They launched the petition drive right after the previous Design Review meeting in late November, in 166 signatures before Thanksgiving. Seven weeks later, on January 9th, they still hadn’t heard anything, though the project’s next Design Review meeting had already been set for February 6th. So they e-mailed the city, and got a note eight days later – at close of business Friday – that it was set for January 29th at the Senior Center of West Seattle – no time mentioned.

No formal notice has been sent, so after hearing about this from the neighbors’ group, we checked all the places on the city website where such notices are usually posted/filed, and found just one brief notation inside a tab on a docket listing it – the date and location – no time. The city usually sends a Land Use Information Bulletin on Mondays, but not this week, since today was a holiday. So the neighbors will be checking further on this tomorrow, and in the meantime, if you’re interested in this project – five stories, ~150 units, ~160 parking spaces, 4,200+ square feet of commercial space – save January 29th as a chance to comment. (Similar meetings have had start times of 6:30 pm; we’ll update tomorrow when we get final word on the time.)

10:18 AM TUESDAY: The formal notice came in the one-day-delayed Land Use Information Bulletin this morning – see it here; the meeting is indeed set for 6:30 pm January 29th.

Thursday night’s Southwest Design Review Board doubleheader meeting was a lot shorter than the last one over which the board presided. That’s because the second review was about one aspect of a project whose team voluntarily came back to talk about it, even after getting an overall thumbs-up last time.

The project is the four-story, 80-unit, 52-parking-space Junction Flats mixed-use project replacing three old houses at 4433 42nd SW. Its board approval last August (official report here) included a directive for bigger balconies on the 42nd-facing east facade of the building. Project partner Brandon Nicholson, owner/developer for this as well as principal of architects Nicholson Kovalchick, explained that wouldn’t quite work because it would take a bite out of the light for studio apartments set aside as affordable housing.

Pitching for the board to compromise on the directive, he declared that Junction Flats is different because the team is all local – “completely different than any development you’ll see (from) out of town developers. We know this neighborhood, we know this market – my firm was based here for 10 years until we outgrew the space … Our fear is that many projects are being developed by out of town developers” with units too big, rents too high, or units too small, zero parking, etc. One-fifth of Junction Flats’ units will be held at Homes Within Reach program levels.

In addition, he explained, they are using federally (HUD) guaranteed financing, and on a tight timetable due to reviews associated with that. He and NK staff architect Courtney McCunney brought three options (detailed in the revised design packet) for trying to meet the spirit of the board recommendation, which focused not just on livability but also on the building not looking so “flat” up against 42nd, as board member Laird Bennion described it, also expressing concern about the uniform size of the windows and a resulting “monolithic” look. He said making it an attractive building would be the difference in its survivability over the long haul, instead of getting “scraped in 20 years.” Nicholson agreed, saying they’re getting a 40-year loan, so they don’t want the building to expire sooner, either.

No audience members chose to comment, but the board did take a look at written and visualized input sent to planner Tami Garrett by René Commons from the Junction Neighborhood Organization. Ultimately they asked NK to go with “a combination of option 1 and option 3” as shown in the revised packet, and the meeting ended. Watch the project via this city webpage; if you have any comments, on design or other issues, send them to planner Garrett at tami.garrett@seattle.gov.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

In the first of tonight’s two Southwest Design Review Board sessions, the 102-unit, 60-parking-space apartment building proposed at 3078 SW Avalon Way (map) has just been recommended for approval.

Architect Radim Blazej from Caron Architecture presented the revisions made to the project, which was going before the board for a third time; the previous meetings were in September 2012 (WSB coverage here) and November 2013 (WSB coverage here).

As city planner Garry Papers explained it toward the start of the meeting at the Senior Center of West Seattle – where the SWDRB has been having all its meetings in recent months – while the project still has a building-permit process to go through after this, public meetings are not part of that process, so this was the key opportunity for in-person citizen comment.

Blazej – going through parts of the revised design packet – recapped concerns voiced by the board and public at the previous meeting, including some aspects of the building’s Avalon-facing ground level, and reducing the 7-story building’s height as part of the transition from the single-family neighborhood behind it, to the north. He noted that the project is “pulling away from the alley” to provide more separation, even though other buildings on the block are almost all the way up against it.

“By compressing the building floor-to-floor” internally, they’ve reduced the height about three feet, Blazej said. It’s the top shaded area in the following graphic:

In response to concerns about whether the big windows envisioned for the ground-level units would bring privacy concerns, he said they’d raised the units and added some green-screening.

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With so many important meetings in West Seattle on Tuesday night, including three neighborhood councils, at least one PTSA, and the WS Transportation Coalition forum, few West Seattleites made it off-peninsula for a citywide meeting that was also of great interest. What turned out to be a raucous meeting – presented by the city but sparked by a citizens’ petition – focused on whether so-called “lowrise” zoning should be changed. Yes, the changes a few years ago had some “unintended consequences,” as acknowledged by the city Department of Planning and Development reps leading the meeting – taller “lowrise” buildings, among them. Seattle Channel did record this meeting as well, and the video has just been made available, so we’re sharing it above. Some supporting materials and links – first, the slide deck used by the city at Tuesday night’s meeting:

City presentation from low-rise-zoning meeting

(If you can’t see it embedded there, go to the city website to see the PDF.) If you’d like to read a news story about the event, go here to see what our fellow neighborhood news service CapitolHillSeattle.com reported about Tuesday night’s meeting. And as for what happens next – the city is continuing to take comments as it develops potential revisions to bring to the City Council; see the right side of the project webpage for contact information.

P.S. We know of at least one West Seattleite who spoke – you’ll see Morgan Community Association‘s Cindi Barker at the 66:30 mark of the meeting video.

P.P.S. And if you’re wondering what parts of West Seattle are zoned low-rise, see our original preview of this meeting, published last month.

Five West Seattle development notes this morning:

FIRST LOOK AT EARLY DESIGN FOR EX-CHARLESTOWN CAFE SITE: After tonight’s unrelated doubleheader, the Southwest Design Review Board‘s next scheduled meeting is now set for January 30th (instead of the originally published 23rd), and 3824 California SW, proposing 30 townhouses and live-work units for the ex-café site, with 30 parking spaces, is one of the projects (here’s the official notice). We first told you about the plan last June, but there was no public hint of the design until now – its Early Design Guidance packet is available online for public perusal; see it here. Remember that this stage is just the “size and shape” (massing) stage; what you see above is the developer’s preferred massing – light blue represents live-works facing California, darker masses are townhouses behind them – pending discussion at the meeting two weeks from tonight, which also includes Early Design Guidance for 4505 42nd SW, 50 apartments and 16 parking spaces (here’s that official notice).

3005 HARBOR AVENUE: Today’s Land Use Information Bulletin announces the land-use application for 3005 Harbor Avenue SW (map), proposing a four-story, 8-residential-unit project replacing an 97-year-old house. Comments are being accepted through January 29th; you can use this form, linked from the application notice, if you’re interested in commenting.

6536 24th SW: This potential eight-house site (map) was first mentioned here last month. Today’s LUIB includes formal notice that comments are being accepted for the proposal to split its two parcels into eight.

TWO MORE FORMAL DESIGN-REVIEW NOTICES: Both mentioned here before, but in case you missed them, from today’s LUIB, the official notices for two projects that return to the SW Design Review Board on February 6th – 4400 SW Alaska and 3210 California SW.

2 HOUSES AFTER A LOT SPLIT: This has NOT hit the LUIB yet, but a new land-use application is in for two houses on the site of one at 4022 19th SW (map), where a lot-boundary adjustment was approved last year.