If you still haven’t seen a presentation about the city’s pedestrian retail zoning project, you haven’t been to a neighborhood meeting in West Seattle lately.

TonightNext month, Aly Pennucci (right) from the city Department of Planning and Development speaks about it again, this time at the Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s meeting (7 pm March 11th, Admiral Congregational Church). Last night, she was scheduled to talk with the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. Before that, three other meetings – including last week’s Southwest District Council presentation, which tops this report on that meeting.

This potential zoning change for some neighborhood business districts would come with changes, as she explained – auto-related businesses wouldn’t be allowed; parking might be reduced; curb cuts would be minimized … What might be required in existing pedestrian zones as well as new ones:

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For years, the city has been working on a plan to require earthquake-safety retrofits for unreinforced masonry (brick) buildings – the type that sustained the most damage during major earthquakes in 1949, 1965, and 2001. With the proposal getting closer to Seattle City Council consideration, and a presentation is planned in West Seattle at this Wednesday’s meeting of the Southwest District Council. According to documents on the city website, about 1,000 buildings in the city would be affected; they are primarily commercial and housing buildings, usually multiple stories, built with red bricks. According to a preliminary city survey, more than 50 of these buildings are believed to be in West Seattle; reviewing that list, we note that some are on development sites – including the California/Alaska corner building that’s just been demolished. The public is always welcome at Southwest District Council meetings; this one will be at 6:30 pm Wednesday (November 6), downstairs at Southwest Teen Life Center (2801 SW Thistle).

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The fall meeting season – after a summer break for many neighborhood/district councils – is off and running, with the Southwest District Council just wrapping up its September meeting, tackling topics from trees to Junction parking/development.

Co-chair Susan Ruppert, from the Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council, led the meeting at Southwest Teen Life Center. Other organizations represented were the Admiral Neighborhood Association, Fairmount Community Association, Fauntleroy Community Association, Junction Neighborhood Organization, Morgan Community Association, the Senior Center of West Seattle, and the West Seattle Junction Association.

What you should know about what was discussed – ahead:

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As previewed here, you had a chance to ask questions directly of the man who runs the Seattle Department of Transportation if you had gone to the Southwest District Council meeting this past Wednesday night. A few people took advantage of the opportunity to bring up neighborhood problems as well as larger issues. We recorded the wide-ranging 47 minutes of Q/A on video. If you can’t spare 47 minutes to listen – here are direct links to some of the topics (note – if the links don’t go to the spots they should, drag the playback bar on the YouTube window of the full clip above to the minutes/seconds spot mentioned):

14:00 – The bus bulbs at California/Fauntleroy

16:00 – Bus lanes on SW Alaska

21:31 – With increased development in The Junction, how involved is SDOT? “There are days we can’t go to The Junction because there’s no place to park.” Density is based on the city’s Comprehensive Plan, Hahn noted. He cited South Lake Union rezoning. “With 1,000 more apartments going up in The Junction, does SDOT say, we need (something) to help with traffic … ?” Hahn observed that the same question came up at the Sustainable West Seattle Transportation Forum last year (here’s our coverage, with video), and mentioned the alley-vacation process (frequently covered here) requiring “public benefit” from the developer. He mentioned that one developer downtown wound up buying another streetcar for the city. So, he was asked, could developers buy another bus, or ?

27:30 – Who makes the decisions to add bus bulbs, reduce lanes, etc.? asked another attendee, and how can the “silent majority” have their feelings known? “It’s not like individuals are just making up stuff,” Hahn said, citing again the city’s Comprehensive Plan, ultimately saying it’s a reflection of the City Council. He also says they often hear from people with a specific interest, more bike facilities, for example, so whatever your opinion is, come to meetings and have it heard.

31:00: SW Alaska on the RapidRide route through The Triangle – including parking and traffic concerns as well as unfulfilled promises about making that stretch a “pedestrian corridor,” with street trees. Ongoing parking issues exist, with parking commitments made to businesses between 36th and 38th in jeopardy again. Hahn says he could come out to walk the area and see the issues.

39:00 – Density in The Junction is already 104 percent of what was projected, but the capacity of the street has been reduced.

At 41:50, Vlad Oustimovitch from the Fauntleroy Community Association summarized much of what had been said to Hahn in the preceding half-hour-plus: “It’s almost like somebody deliberately designed something to not work.”

SDOT will be back in West Seattle this week – at the North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting tomorrow (Monday) night (6:30 pm at the Delridge Library), for example, a rep will discuss the new parking restrictions on SW Genesee to make more room for buses (here’s our February story on those changes).

Got questions about potholes? Parking? Paving? Sidewalks or lack of them? Crosswalks? Bus bulbs? The man who’s in charge of the Seattle Department of Transportation – and therefore in charge of the streets, sidewalks, city-owned bridges (both West Seattle bridges over the Duwamish included) – will be in West Seattle for Q & A this Wednesday. SDOT director Peter Hahn is guest speaker at the Southwest District Council‘s monthly meeting at 6:30 pm Wednesday (March 6), Southwest Teen Life Center (2801 SW Thistle, adjacent to SW Pool). The public’s welcome, so if you have a question, concern, idea, kudo, be there and speak up.

(Story updated Thursday afternoon with documents for each road-project proposal)

(California Avenue section in need of repaving, per city-grant application)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

A new year brought new leadership for the Southwest District Council, as it met at a new time (earlier – 6:30 pm) in a new location (Southwest Teen Life Center).

New co-chairs Karl de Jong from the Admiral Neighborhood Association and Susan Ruppert from the Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council presided over the biggest turnouts in a while, with more than 20 people on hand, including visitors making presentations about road projects proposed for city grant money – including repaving a stretch of California SW.

Read on for details of the proposals, which took up most of the meeting.

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Starting with its January meeting – coming up next Wednesday (January 2) – the Southwest District Council is changing meeting times and locations. The council will continue meeting on first Wednesdays – but it’ll be at 6:30 pm, earlier than before, and the new location is the Southwest Teen Life Center/Pool building (2801 SW Thistle), Room 2. The agenda for next Wednesday includes presentations by West Seattleites applying for Neighborhood Street Fund grants – three proposals are from Morgan Junction, one from Admiral, and one from Arbor Heights. SWDC meetings are always open to the public; council members represent community councils and other organizations from around what the city has designated as the “Southwest District” – mostly western West Seattle (here’s the citywide map of districts). See next Wednesday’s full agenda here (PDF).

(Image by Christopher Boffoli, meshing present and past along California SW north of SW Alaska in The Junction – click for larger view)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

As we continue to cover big new development projects like 4755 Fauntleroy Way (in-depth coverage here), some wonder if there’s still time to preserve some of what Southwest District Council leaders call West Seattle’s “Main Street character.”

Grappling with the topic over the past few months, a core group of the council’s members has been exploring whether historic-preservation options exist to serve that goal. Wednesday night’s monthly SWDC meeting continued the conversation, with special guest Karen Gordon, the City of Seattle’s Historic Preservation Officer.

Details on the discussion, what might happen next, and other toplines from the meeting – ahead:

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Could a historic district help keep the latest wave of intensive development from completely changing the face of the heart of West Seattle?

That was a big topic last night for the Southwest District Council, with five groups (West Seattle Junction Association, Alki Community Council, Morgan Community Association, Admiral Neighborhood Association, Fauntleroy Community Association) sending representatives to the group’s first post-summer meeting at South Seattle Community College.

Only one guest this time – Columbia City resident, property owner, and revitalization activist Rob Mohn, invited to talk with the SWDC about historic preservation and neighborhood revitalization. As SWDC co-chair Susan Melrose from the WSJA explained, community leaders are wondering what they can do to “preserve the charm” of the neighborhood even as redevelopment revs into higher gear.

Mohn says the Columbia City Landmark District – one of seven in the city – far predated him, founded in the late ’70s. He says that district has design-review authority for projects in the area it covers, instead of a city-convened volunteer Design Review Board like the Southwest DRB that has jurisdiction here. He said the district originally was founded with a lot of guidelines about renovations, “to preserve the stock of buildings during a time when (there wasn’t much development).” Now, there is development interest, he pointed out. The district is seen as a plus, he believes, because of the area’s “sense of place.” And because it’s helped preserve older building stock, rents are lower and a “funkier” mix of small businesses remains, he said. New building proposals – like a 65-foot, 193-unit apartment building over a supermarket that’s on the drawing board – are reviewed for compatibility. But even the existing buildings, he said, are catalogued as either contributing to the district or not contributing to it, with different standards and rules for the buildings in the latter category.

But – “I’m afraid (that) for you guys, the horse is already out of the barn,” he said, though council members pointed out that none of the “good” buildings are slated for redevelopment – yet.

Fauntleroy’s Vlad Oustimovitch brought up Ballard, which also has preserved its historic buildings via a historic district.

This discussion continued an exploration that began at SWDC meetings earlier this year, looking at possibilities for preservation – landmark status for individual buildings, or perhaps a district that would focus on West Seattle’s historic trolley network spanning all three junctions (Admiral, Alaska, Morgan). Melrose and Morgan’s Chas Redmond plan to walk the area to map its features.

“That’s what it’s ultimately about – people in the community getting organized, and (then) getting support from the larger community,” said Oustimovitch.

As he put it, it would be a “long and winding road” to develop a historic district – while suggesting there are two points to focus on first: Developing the narrative, and finding funding. The council itself has few resources – its members are volunteers representing local organizations. So the discussions will continue, while Redmond and Melrose do some initial work to explore possibilities. She said, “It’s an opportunity to galvanize the community and get people to work together.” The council also plans to invite Southwest Seattle Historical Society leadership to a conversation to help put all this in the area’s historical context. (“The trolley (network’s history) may or may not be the vehicle,” cautioned Oustimovitch.) The council hopes to reach beyond its mostly-western-West-Seattle borders for support, too.

The meeting started with notes from the neighborhoods that were represented:

*Admiral – Jim Cavin talked about the successful 4th of July Kids’ Parade (WSB coverage here) and the just-completed six-concert ANA-presented Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series.

*Alki – ACC president Tony Fragada said he will be attending tonight’s Ballard public meeting about the environmental assessment for the proposed Greener Skies package of flight-path changes and more (which he brought up during Mayor McGinn’s Town Hall in West Seattle last week, as reported here).

*Fauntleroy – Board member Oustimovitch mentioned the RapidRide station construction and the Barton Pump Station upgrade project next to the ferry dock, as well as the briefly proposed, then killed, Go Ape project (WSB coverage archive here). The Fauntleroy Fall Festival is happening on October 14th. He was asked about the Murray sewer-overflow-control project at Lowman Beach and reminded everyone of next Tuesday’s city hearing.

*Junction – Upcoming development and looking ahead to fall events, which start with the West Seattle Junction Car Show a week from Sunday.

*Morgan Junction – Board member Chas Redmond also mentioned the Murray CSO project hearing. MoCA is also talking with the city about whether park-levy money might be available to purchase the land immediately north of Morgan Junction Park (as reported here in June, it’s up for sale).

One more meeting note: The council’s meetings, long held at SSCC, might move next year; the Southwest Teen Life Center was mentioned as a possible new location. SWDC meets the first Wednesday of most months.

From a crime-trends update to a thorough Downtown Waterfront/Seawall briefing to updates on two city-led environmental projects (and how you can get involved with them), it was another info-packed Southwest District Council meeting last night:Read More

Lots of news to share from tonight’s Southwest District Council meeting in the board room at South Seattle Community College:

FIGHTING/PREVENTING CRIME: Southwest Precinct Operations Lt. Pierre Davis announced a public-safety forum for 7 pm March 29th at the precinct (Delridge/Webster), focused on a very specific section of northeastern West Seattle, from the bridge to Boren, centered on Delridge Way SW and the adjacent streets. Lt. Davis explained, “We want to try to strengthen the Block Watch capabilities (there) … (since) we really got hammered with petty crimes and burglaries” in recent months, though as he recapped, multiple arrests have made a big dent in that previous trend. He said the “if you see something, say something” philosophy is helping bring in more tips from citizens in other areas of West Seattle, but they would like to see more tips come in from the Delridge neighborhood, and are hoping that the forum might educate more people on best practices for preventing and reporting crime/suspicious activity.

Next, two reports from SDOT, on current work and a future event:

(Photo from Ventana Construction [WSB sponsor] Facebook page – work on SE corner of California/Findlay)
RAPIDRIDE-RELATED STREET/SIDEWALK WORK UPDATE: SDOT’s Jonathan Dong, who had spoken to the SWDC before about the construction, was there with James Sido, a rep from the construction company that’s working on the right-of-way changes (Tri-State) to facilitate RapidRide Line C, which Metro is launching to replace West Seattle’s Route 54 this fall. (We reported last month on the start of work in south West Seattle.) The Rose, Webster, and Myrtle stops on Fauntleroy have now received their new concrete, though Sido said that the Myrtle concrete “had an issue” and needs to be redone, which is “high on their priority list to get that area up to speed as quickly as they can.”

The work that’s happening in north Morgan Junction right now is drainage work, he said, with a new stop to be located there; he also mentioned the major work on the northbound side of California at Findlay. Sido explained that the landowner was going to have some side-sewer work done, and asked that this be folded into the RapidRide-related construction project. He says the next areas where you’ll see work crews are Fauntleroy/California near Zeeks Pizza and the southbound side of California at Findlay. They hope to have this segment of work “substantially completed” by May.

Dong reiterated, in response to a question, that stops further south, such as the Fauntleroy ferry dock vicinity and Westwood Village, are being handled by county crews. Morgan Community Association rep Chas Redmond asked SDOT’s Dong to make sure someone takes a look at the areas along California where Puget Sound Energy has done gas line work and left behind a “temporary patch.”

Dong says the rechannelization of SW Alaska – changing a car lane to a transit lane and removing some parking, among other changes that he acknowledged are “going to be the most visible change in the community” – will likely happen in early April. They want to “blanket the area for one or two blocks in both directions” with reminders, and Dong says that’ll happen about two weeks before the work is done. What’s holding up the scheduling right now is that they’re waiting on the traffic-signal work. The work will take a few days and will likely start around 7 am, said Sedo, though Erica Karlovits of the Junction Neighborhood Organization suggested they might consider starting later to avoid rush-hour complications. Dong thinks the work will take two to four days, weather-dependent, of course. Karlovits and West Seattle Junction Association‘s Susan Melrose both stressed that the more warning, the better, since the lane and parking changes will be a surprise (if not shock) to some people, both shoppers, businesspeople/employees, and Junction-area residents.

Admiral Neighborhood Association vice president Karl de Jong asked the two if the projects were creating jobs in West Seattle, and also about what kind of labor and apprenticeship agreements were involved; they didn’t have answers but promised to get back to him. Next SDOT topic:

(WSB photo from 2011 Seattle Summer Streets on Alki)
SUMMER STREETS/CAR-FREE DAY: SDOT’s Sonia Palma talked about the 5th annual car-free day on Alki as part of Seattle Summer Streets. As reported here last month, the date this year is May 20th, starting with the West Seattle 5K (co-sponsored again this year by WSB). Palma says the street-closure plan is the same as last year, with a full closure from 63rd to Don Armeni for the race, and then, after 11 am or so, the closure only extending eastward to 58th SW for the Summer Streets remainder of the day. SDOT is currently looking for sponsors and organizations interested in participating, while also asking community reps to get the word out about the big day.

Even more from tonight’s meeting, including quick updates on key projects that individual groups are focusing on, ahead:Read More

Three major topics at this week’s monthly meeting of the Southwest District Council, comprised of reps from neighborhood groups and organizations, mostly around western West Seattle – Metro‘s first community discussion of its newly revised route-restructuring plan; Councilmember Sally Bagshaw talking about her priorities now that the committee she chairs is about neighborhoods as well as parks; and the first Gathering of Neighbors since 2010, with new coordinators this year. Details on all three topics, ahead:Read More

Toplines from last night’s Southwest District Council meeting – with a wide-ranging agenda from street trees to bridge work to development, and beyond:

STREET-TREE ORDINANCE: Lots of discussion after we covered last month’s West Seattle community meeting about proposed changes to the city rules, which haven’t changed in half a century. City arborist Nolan Rundquist stressed that they are looking for as much comment and opinion as possible – here’s how – before this gets to the City Council. His summary: The proposed rule will better define who’s responsible for which trees, public or private, and a “no-fee permit process” will be put into place to deal with removal, pruning, replacement, etc., as well as who is allowed to handle such tasks. But he says “small work” – such as pruning branches that aren’t bigger than two inches in diameter – won’t require a permit.

FAUNTLEROY EXPRESSWAY: The council had invited project communications consultant Josh Stepherson back to provide an update once the intensive phase of the earthquake-safety work, with some overnight closures (next ones Jan. 9-12), got under way on the west end of the West Seattle Bridge. Morgan Community Association rep Chas Redmond asked about an anomaly he’d spotted (which we have noticed too, in late-night drives):Read More

A new year of community meetings gets started one week from tonight with the 7 pm January 4th meeting of the Southwest District Council (which includes reps from organizations around western West Seattle). On the agenda circulated today: A presentation on the Seattle Public Library‘s future, an appearance by City Council President Richard Conlin (days before the council chooses its next president), an update on the Fauntleroy Expressway project that’s been closing part of the West Seattle Bridge on recent nights, and an update on plans for a “street tree ordinance” (a hot topic here recently). The meeting’s open to anyone interested in attending; just find the board room at South Seattle Community College (6000 16th SW), in the Robert Smith Building that’s literally front and center on campus.