West Seattle, Washington
10 Friday
Last month, a spokesperson for the company that holds the note for “The Hole” – the stalled site that we now can describe as “across 39th SW from the future West Seattle Trader Joe’s” – met with local leaders and listened to their concerns (WSB story here); it was a response to the letter sent by the Southwest District Council, which then, two weeks later, received an official written reply (WSB story here). Today, crews were back at the site making good on some of the promises in that reply – as you can see in the “aerial” view shared by an area resident who wants to be anonymous, they’re putting a concrete barricade around the site. We got this view on the ground:
Our anonymous tipster adds, “We got a letter from Chinn yesterday stating that they would be doing this until next Tuesday and that the alley that skirts the west side of The Hole would be periodically closed until then.” Meantime, as for the status of the site itself, the consolidated lawsuits involving a variety of parties continue proceeding toward an October trial date if there’s no settlement before then; the number of actions in the case in the past 14 months, as recorded online, has almost hit 300.
(City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen at the meeting Wednesday night; DPD’s Susan McLain is at right)
They’ve talked about parking, streetscapes, and more … and Wednesday night, the West Seattle Triangle Advisory Group, assembled and convened by the city this spring, was to take on land use, though the meeting ultimately sprawled across broader ground.Read More
During the very first meeting of the special West Seattle Triangle Advisory Group (WSB coverage here), it was clear that parking was one of the hottest issues regarding the area’s future. City planner Susan McLain promised a special meeting would be devoted to that topic – and today she’s sent the agenda for that SDOT-hosted meeting, coming up this Thursday:
I. Introductions (10 min) Casey Hildreth, SDOT
II. Review of 2009 West Seattle Junction parking project (20 min) Danté Taylor, SDOT
III. Discussion of key issues (30 min) All
a. Employee parking
b. Residential (RPZ) parking
c. Hide-and-ride, park-and-ride
d. BRT parking impacts
IV. Next steps (5 min) Casey
V. Q & A (25 min) All
(BRT refers to RapidRide – “Bus Rapid Transit.”) The meeting’s at 6 pm Thursday, Senior Center of West Seattle, and everybody’s welcome. Meantime, the city has posted documents and graphics from past Triangle Advisory Group meetings here.
This Saturday, the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle is putting on its first Charity Motorcycle Poker Run and Bike & Classic Car Show – and they just sent word, they’ve still got room for more cars:
Calling All Cars!
Do you have a cool car, custom ride, monster truck or electric vehicle you want to show off? We have space available for you to join us on Saturday May 15th from 11am to 3pm, at the 1ST ANNUAL CHARITY MOTORCYCLE POKER RUN, BIKE & CLASSIC CAR SHOW.
On May 15, 2010, the Kiwanis of West Seattle will host its first annual Charity Motorcycle Poker Run & Classic Car Show. Proceeds from this event go to the non-profit 21st Century Scholarship Fund that provides education and leadership opportunities for the youth in our community.
Sign-in for the motorcycle poker run starts at 8:30 am at the former Huling Brothers Buick Dealership at 38th Ave SW & Fauntleroy Way SW in West Seattle. Following the Poker Run, riders, passengers, and the general public is welcome to join us for a BBQ and to view the Classic Cars on display. Poker Run day-of registration is $30 per rider, plus $5 per passenger. The cost of the BBQ for the general public is $10. There is no charge for participants of the Car Show.
Commemorating this special event, T-shirts will be available for sale. Contact the Kiwanis at westseattlekiwanis@yahoo.com with questions or to let us know you are bringing your car to display to the public.
Three meetings of interest to mention tonight – two just announced today: The Seattle Parks Board will get its next briefing on the budget situation during its meeting at 6:30 pm May 13, Parks HQ (100 Dexter N.) downtown. The briefing is expected to include information on the midyear reduction the department will be asked to make, as well as the outlook for next year. (We covered the board’s briefing from Parks’ finance boss a month ago.) 
Also announced today, the date for the West Seattle Triangle parking discussion, promised by city planner Susan McLain during the first Triangle Advisory Group meeting. She says SDOT will host a meeting to talk about Triangle parking at 6 pm May 20th, Senior Center of West Seattle. That’s also the location of the full group’s next meeting, 6 pm May 12th. (If you lose track of all this, don’t worry, it’ll all be in the WSB West Seattle Events calendar.) By the way, the potential “streetscape” options shown at the last advisory group meeting two weeks ago are all linked from this city webpage now – labeled as “parking options.”
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
When the city-convened West Seattle Triangle Advisory Group gathered for its first meeting (WSB coverage here), developer Denny Onslow of Harbor Properties pronounced Triangle parking “the 500-pound gorilla in the room”: It wasn’t on the official agenda, but it was on almost everyone’s mind.
When the group gathered again this past Wednesday night at the Senior Center of West Seattle for meeting #2, the “gorilla” was at centerstage, with four potential Triangle “streetscape” concepts presented, each one including information on how it would affect the area’s street-parking inventory.
The other major headline from the meeting: While local property owner and advisory-group member Steve Huling wasn’t in attendance this time, several other Triangle business and property owners were represented in the audience, including Alki Lumber, Tom’s Automotive and Doyle’s Automotive.
Their concerns and what happens next – as the story continues:Read More
That’s Josh Sutton from the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor) getting dunked as part of Healthy Kids Day (the water was warm, he insisted goodnaturedly when we talked to him between dunks). Till 1 pm at the Y’s Triangle location (xx xxth), you’ll find all kinds of free activities, like the climbing wall:
As part of the Healthy Kids Day celebration, the Y also is waiving family joining fees. ADDED 9:18 PM: More from Healthy Kids Day, courtesy of West Seattle’s Captive Eye Media – the dancers are from the West Seattle High School Asian Club:
(WSB photo from July 2009)
On the hottest day in Seattle history last July, the group in that photo talked about the West Seattle Junction Neighborhood Plan, as part of a West Seattle-wide meeting at Youngstown Arts Center (WSB coverage here), with breakout groups discussing all five of our peninsula’s neighborhood plans. The Seattle Planning Commission co-sponsored that gathering and others like it around the city, as a series of Neighborhood Plan Status Checks; now the commission is out with a report suggesting which neighborhood plans it believes should be updated next, and the Junction plan is among those at the top of the list. The “white paper” sent a few days ago to Mayor McGinn and other elected officials (see it here) lists five neighborhood plans as in “urgent” need of updating – and the Junction plan is the only one from West Seattle that’s in the group. The document explains:
An unanticipated, significant development opportunity exists in this neighborhood planning area because Huling Brothers Automobile has vacated/sold several acres of land. The redevelopment opportunity at the “gateway” to West Seattle, in combination with the future RapidRide stations, warrants a precisely focused subarea plan and urban design effort that would implement goals already outlined in the neighborhood plan; the current neighborhood plan calls for redeveloping this area and improving the gateway. We understand that DPD’s City Planning office has begun a small planning effort here and would encourage more resources for an interdisciplinary approach that includes transportation, housing, parks and economic development in addition to land use and urban design that will result in right of way improvements, urban design, zoning and land use. We also strongly recommend enhanced efforts designed to create transitions between the new development and the retail core on California Avenue that serves as West Seattle’s downtown heart.
The “small planning effort” refers to the Triangle planning process, which launched with an advisory-group’s first meeting two weeks ago (WSB coverage here) and continues when they meet again tomorrow night, 6 pm, Senior Center of West Seattle. Meantime, this same “white paper” also has a group of neighborhood plans around the city listed as “important” to update – those 6 plans include Delridge (see the plan here), with this explanation:
Recent assessments have shown that current infrastructure exists to support additional jobs and housing growth in this neighborhood. A neighborhood plan update would look fully at the opportunity this presents and also allow for planning that considers whether, where and how additional growth should occur.
The city’s neighborhood plans were developed more than a decade ago; an updating process has begun, but because of budget constraints, only a few are expected to be tackled each year for the foreseeable future. West Seattle’s other three neighborhood plans are Admiral, Morgan Junction, and Westwood/Highland Park, but the Planning Commission did not rate any of those three as either “urgent” or “important” to update soon.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
As an all-star group of community activists and businesspeople gathered for the first in a new series of meetings to map a vision for The Triangle – the mostly industrial/commercial area east of The Junction, bounded by 35th/Fauntleroy/Alaska – what wasn’t discussed loomed almost as large as what was.
The two-hour-long meeting was about three-fourths through when Harbor Properties‘ Denny Onslow angled into the issue: “The parking issue is the 500-pound gorilla in the room. We can’t ignore it, or say we’ll address it later.”
Harbor has one of the biggest stakes in The Triangle right now, with what is currently the biggest in-progress construction project in West Seattle, Link, which will supply about 200 of the potential 2,000 new residential units the area might eventually hold, and will not solve “the parking issue,” as it is designed with fewer than 1 space for each of those units.
But the Triangle already has its parking-challenged moments, even before new residents start moving in.
Last fall, we reported that the city was moving toward an official planning process for the West Seattle area east of The Junction known as The Triangle, bounded by Fauntleroy/35th/Alaska. A senior planner is now assigned to the project and an advisory group has been assembled, with its first meeting planned this Wednesday, 6 pm, at the Senior Center of West Seattle. According to the meeting information sent by planner Susan McLain, the first gathering will include an introduction to the project and discussion of “land uses, connections, public-realm designs.” This is the first major city-facilitated Triangle discussion since the one at Merrill Gardens-West Seattle (WSB sponsor) in November 2008 (WSB coverage here). The Triangle planning process has a city webpage, which also includes notes from that November 2008 meeting. A lot has changed in The Triangle since then, including the start of construction on Link and the arrival of new businesses including Mountain to Sound Outfitters (WSB sponsor), Cycle University, 37th Shoe Repair, and The Wax Bar. But it hasn’t been an idle time – last fall, leaders of the neighboring Fairmount Community Association led walking tours of the area, including this one we covered in November with City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen. Meantime, the new advisory group is expected to meet at least four times between now and June.
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Tonight, another one of the new West Seattle businesses we’ve been tracking is just hours from opening … The Wax Bar opens tomorrow morning at 37th/Fauntleroy, between the shoe repair and brake-service stores. Founder Karen says they’re planning to open the doors at 9 am. We first confirmed in December that The Wax Bar – which is expanding from Ballard – was coming to West Seattle. We got the original heads-up when they applied for a liquor license – which, as they told us, is needed because their twist is that they serve beer: Waxing, skin care, and beer. They’re online at thewaxbarseattle.com and opening tomorrow morning at 4450 37th SW (map).
From last night’s Southwest District Council: A new turn in a long-simmering concern about the the West Seattle RapidRide bus route. Fairmount Community Association‘s Sharonn Meeks and Fauntleroy Community Association‘s Vlad Oustimovitch obtained the group’s support to take the concern to King County Executive Dow Constantine, asking him to reopen the discussion about how RapidRide will get from Morgan Junction to the West Seattle Bridge. Currently, plans call for it to go up California SW through The Junction, then turn to SW Alaska and again to 35th SW and SW Avalon before getting to The Bridge; some have long suggested Fauntleroy Way would make more sense. Why take another look now? There’s one big reason – read on:Read More
Last week, the crane base rolled in; today, it’s time for the rest of the crane to show up at the site (38th/Alaska) where crews are building Harbor Properties‘ 200-apartment, 14,000-square-feet=of-retail Link in The Triangle. The crew told WSB’s Christopher Boffoli last week the crane will rise to 118 feet. Work on Link began in November, when the auto and school buildings on the site were torn down. (Thanks to Sharonn for pre-dawn word the crane had arrived as scheduled.) P.S. Just noticed Link finally has the stirrings of its own website. 1:04 PM UPDATE: Update from Emi Baldowin at Harbor: The installation won’t be completed till more of the crane arrives Monday.
For the first time in almost a year, there’s a construction crane in the Junction/Triangle area. Last one to leave was at Capco Plaza (here’s our February 2009 report). Before that, the crane for Harbor Properties’ Mural (WSB sponsor) left in November 2008. And today, the crane’s going up for Harbor’s next project – Link, along 38th between Fauntleroy and Alaska. WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli spotted it a little while ago, and got some information from the crew: The base will be set around 11, with its bottom “probably at least 30 feet below grade. So it will probably take them a couple of hours to get enough pieces of crane in place so that it stands out over the other buildings.” And he asked the big (literally) question: How tall will this crane be? 118 feet. More numbers: Link will have 200 apartments and 14,000 square feet of retail space; its construction began in November, with demolition of the auto and school buildings that were on the site. 12:38 PM UPDATE: Checked with Emi Baldowin at Harbor. They are putting up the crane base today but the rest of the crane is scheduled to go up on January 28th.
(WSB camera-phone photo by Christopher Boffoli, added 11:37 pm)
ORIGINAL 11:20 REPORT OF 35TH/AVALON “HEAVY RESCUE RESPONSE”: WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is on his way to the scene. Scanner indicates it’s a crash at the Starbucks drive-through – and one radio transmission indicated “substantial damage.” 11:32 PM UPDATE: Christopher says three vehicles are involved and at least two people will be taken to the hospital. He adds, “SUV took out one of the columns at the drive-through.” 12:01 AM UPDATE: More info and another photo from Christopher. Police at the scene say alcohol may have factored into the crash. He adds: “The SUV took out one of the two columns holding up the roof that hangs over the Starbucks drive through. The column looked hollow so I’m not sure how much weight they are meant to bear. The roof is holding on the remaining column. SFD is there now shoring up temporarily with lumber.” In this photo, you see the column – and the spot where it was torn from the building:
As for traffic, one lane is blocked but it’s not causing much trouble. A different look at where the SUV tore the column away:
Christopher says there was no damage to the building besides that column area. Police were evaluating the light pole the SUV hit:
As for the store’s status, we’ll check on its status in the early morning. Police had called a manager who was reported to be en route. ADDED 2:43 AM: Video from Christopher – in it, you see the other vehicle that was hit – the third vehicle originally reported “involved,” as its driver notes in comments, was not actually part of the collision.
8:41 AM UPDATE: Went over to check on the morning-after situation. The drive-thru is closed, with repair work under way (and yellow tape across the lane entrance, leading to some U-turns in the lot); the walk-up is open.
1:12 PM NOTE: Christopher, who covered the crash early today, went by a little while ago and says the drive-thru appears to be open again.
Thanks to Courtney for the tip that Redline Music and Sports in The Triangle had some roof trouble because of the rain and was temporarily closed. We went over to check; owner Scott tells us some soggy drywall over the bar needed to be replaced. Workers are on the job now; they’re close to done with the repairs, and Redline expects to reopen for business around 9 tonight.
Our newest sponsor says customers discovering them have been high-fiving them and saying, “It’s about time West Seattle got a full-service ski shop!” And Mountain to Sound Outfitters offers a lot more – here’s what they want you to know:
(From left: Chris Petry, Jon Steel, Ryan Basilone, Greg Whittaker)
Mountain to Sound Outfitters is a new business from the operators of Alki Kayak Tours and the Seattle Ski Shuttle. Our passion is to get people out actively enjoying the natural beauty that surrounds us. We have created customers in the ski and paddlesports world, but till now, were not able to provide the retail goods for the snow-riding and kayaking community, nor were they available to the West Seattle community or anywhere south of downtown Seattle. Now, our brand-new shop offers full-service Ski and Snowboard Service, Ski and Snowboard Rentals, and Retail Ski and Snowboard Gear.
Owner Greg Whittaker has 15 years of experience working as a ski technician and custom boot-fitter and is stoked to provide the service to Seattle – with the technical expertise and machinery to flatten, tune, repair and wax boards, mount skis, and work on any binding. We also have one of the largest rental fleets in Puget Sound, and can offer daily or seasonal ski and board rentals. One specialty that we are really excited about is our THULE dealership. We can provide vehicle racking solutions for any vehicle – you don’t have to drive to North Seattle any more – now you can support local business and get quality service for vehicle racking.
Mountain to Sound Outfitters also hopes to support the community by facilitating a non-profit West Seattle Snowsports Council to get middle-school and high-school students up into the mountains weekly. With the connections we have created with the ski areas, we can make it an affordable endeavor for local West Seattle young adults. Overall, Greg says, “Both in the kayaking world, and the snow-riding world, we are helping people discover the natural beauty in our area and giving the technical tools, instruction, and access to the Mountains and the Sound.” (The ski shuttle is in full swing, by the way, leaving at 7:30 am Monday-Friday, returning around 6:30 pm.) You’ll find Mountain to Sound Outfitters at 3602 SW Alaska (map) and online at m2soutfitters.com.
We thank Mountain to Sound Outfitters for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news on WSB; find our sponsor team, and info on joining, all here.
Notice something missing in that photo? At West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park 
along 35th SW at Alaska, overlooking the West Seattle Golf Course, the totem pole’s gone, with only that blue steel post in place. (Here’s a Flickr shot of what you SHOULD be seeing there; [added 6:48 pm] at left, a Rotary photo.) After a WSB’er e-mailed us yesterday to say she noticed it missing, we put in an inquiry to the Parks Department to ask if it had been taken away for maintenance – and also went over, not just to get the photo you see above, but also to see if there was a note about work being done. Now we’ve just learned, Parks thinks it may have been stolen. We just talked with Terry Boden, who works on maintenance for parks in this area; he says he checked throughout the department to see if anyone has any knowledge of the totem pole being taken away for maintenance, but hasn’t turned up anything – so he’s planning to call Seattle Police to report it as a theft. As donors and stewards of the 33-year-old park, Rotary Club of West Seattle has been investigating too, Josh Sutton tells us – checking out a report of a stuck truck getting towed from the scene, possibly while trying to take the pole away; in fact, while there yesterday, we noted these tracks in the grass:
Parks received that report too and hasn’t been able to confirm it. So if you know anything about what happened to the totem pole, Terry Boden would like to hear from you – he’s headquartered at Lincoln Park, 206-684-7457.
In The Triangle, demolition crews have finished knocking down all the buildings on the future site of Harbor Properties‘ Link (200 apartments/14,000 sf commercial, background here), along 38th between Alaska and Fauntleroy. That photo looks north; here’s a Google Street View image looking east at the now-gone ex-Huling/Gee service building:
When we went by about an hour ago, crews were pummeling away at the remaining below-grade concrete walls on the south side of the site. It’s the biggest active construction site in West Seattle right now; probably the second biggest is the new Fire Station 37, under construction for 2 months now at 35th/Holden.
We stopped by to check out the Triangle site (38th/Alaska) where work has begun on Link (background here), taking these photos just as day 2 of demolition work was concluding at mid-afternoon Tuesday. The old Huling repair-shop building (which more recently had been used to build/store Hi-Yu floats) is about half-gone – above, the view from SW Alaska, looking north; next, the view from 38th, looking east through what’s left of its customer-service area (note the slogan on the wall):
And on the north side of the site, the remaining ex-school buildings are just a pile of splintered wood:
The head of the construction project, developer Harbor Properties tells us, is the same one who ran Mural (WSB sponsor), the apartments/retail building that opened this year across from Jefferson Square. Right now, this is the only project Harbor – which works around the city – has under construction. Before they started work on Monday morning, they visited nearby homes and businesses, they say, to make sure everyone knew who to contact in case of concerns about anything at the site.
(Photo courtesy Harbor Properties)
As reported here yesterday, construction is beginning for Link, Harbor Properties‘ 200-unit, 14,000-square-foot-commercial building along a block of 38th running north from Alaska (map). Harbor says the former school building in the photo above and the former auto shop on the site’s south end will both be demolished over the next 10 days; other equipment, including excavation gear, will arrive within a week; the big “tower crane” should be up by mid-January; construction is projected to last about 17 months. ADDED 1:30 PM: Teardown work started on the north side almost simultaneously – here’s how it looked by midmorning:
We have a few more project details to add shortly, after a followup chat with Harbor execs.
One month after announcing it had secured financing for the project, Harbor Properties‘ Emi Baldowin reports that construction work is scheduled to officially begin tomorrow at the Triangle site where it’s building Link. There’s already heavy equipment staged on the north end of the site, as you can see in our photo (taken along Alaska, from which point the site runs north along 38th [map], with to-be-demolished buildings including an ex-Huling garage and the former home of West Seattle Montessori School [WSB sponsor, now at a new location]). Link will have 200 apartments and 14,000 square feet of retail; at last month’s Fairmount Community Association meeting, Harbor’s Denny Onslow said they expected construction to go “really fast” – which still means just under a year and a half.
As mentioned earlier this morning, it’s a great day to help make sure nobody’s going hungry this Thanksgiving. For the Eastridge Christian Assembly turkey-and-groceries giveaway this morning, the line before it started at 9 stretched about two blocks down 38th north of Fauntleroy. At the head of the line, more than 30 volunteers were getting ready to hand out about 500 turkeys:
Eastridge pastor Josh Crandall told us he’d talked to some of the people in line and found out that some had come from miles around.
The church buys the food with money donated by its members – in addition to this giveaway, they were doing the same thing this morning at their Eastside campus. Meantime, we mentioned earlier that the White Center Food Bank has someone on hand all day for last-minute donations including turkeys – we dropped in and found Mike and Audrey there to help:
They’re expecting to have people at WC Food Bank till about 5 but it’s a good idea to call ahead. We’ll update local food banks’ status and hours on Monday, too; here’s our most recent update from the West Seattle Food Bank (for which you can donate nonperishables by stopping by West Seattle Bowl during tonight’s Turkey Bowl, after 6 pm).
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