11:37 AM: When 135+ people showed up for Tuesday night’s unofficial community-organized workshop about proposed Mandatory Housing Affordability rezoning (WSB coverage here), that raised capacity concerns about next Wednesday’s official city open house – concerns that community leaders voiced to the city weeks ago, after getting early word that the 5:30-7:30 pm event on December 7th was booked for Shelby’s Bistro and Ice Creamery (4752 California SW) in The Junction rather than a large meeting venue.

Now, to try to add room for a prospective sizable turnout, the city has just confirmed via Twitter what commenter Kay posted last night – it’s booked space across the street at Uptown Espresso (California/Edmunds) too, so this is now a two-location open house. The marquee topic is your chance to comment on and ask questions about the draft rezoning maps for West Seattle and South Park, but the city also is offering “casual conversation” on other topics (we hope to get the full list soon) This is a drop-in event, so go whenever you can on Wednesday, to either site, between 5:30 and 7:30 pm (and be sure to sign in, because that’s where the city gets the official count).

ADDED 12:49 PM: The open house has long been billed as including “other topics” but no list has been made public yet. However, we now know another long-term city plan will be among those topics you’ll be invited to comment on next Wednesday – Seattle Parks‘ “2017 Development Plan, Gap Analysis and Long-Term Acquisition strategies for open space.” We missed the reference to the December 7th open house (and others around the city) when this news release arrived yesterday. You can read more about this here – if there are parks/future parks/possible future parks in your neighborhood, you’ll want to weigh in on this too.

ADDED 3:58 PM: And we’re continuing to get more information about what other city programs/services will be featured at the open house. This is the official lineup, but we’re still seeking specifics. (The first one, of course, involves the rezoning we’ve been reporting on.):

Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda: DRAFT Neighborhood proposals to create more affordable housing. See a city-wide map HERE.

Parks and Recreation: Come and learn about using walkability and other transportation metrics to map how new parks and green spaces will be chosen in the future.

SDOT: Learn about how Move Seattle is shaping transportation projects and programs in your neighborhood. Learn more about Rapid Ride, what it is and what to expect. Also, shape your Greenway by telling us where you want to see new connections and safer crossings for people walking and biking.

SDCI/SDOT: Parking Reform are in the works. Learn more about flexibility and sharing off-street parking, on-street parking, carshare and bicycle travel choices and frequent transit service.

We’ve also heard directly from SDOT that the re-activated Fauntleroy Boulevard project – funded in the mayor’s new budget – will be part of what it’s showcasing. Still checking for more specifics!

Story by Tracy Record
Photos/video by Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publishers

“We didn’t make this stuff up, but we’re here to help you know about it.”

That’s how Deb Barker introduced the standing-room-only workshop that she and Cindi Barker led last night at Highland Park Improvement Club, with more than 135 people there to find out more about the rezoning proposals that are part of the city’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA).

(Deb Barker, foreground; Cindi Barker, background)

Deb and Cindi – which is how we’ll refer to them due to the surname coincidence – are both with the Morgan Community Association, one of West Seattle’s many all-volunteer community councils, and both have long been involved with land use-related issues. In recent years, they have offered several workshops and briefings to help their West Seattle neighbors make sense of major projects and/or processes, and last night’s workshop was one such case.

The city went public a month ago with draft rezoning maps for the “urban villages” around Seattle, five of which are in West Seattle/South Park. (Here’s our first report, published October 20th.) But no major official announcement accompanied the maps’ online release, and the only official city meeting scheduled in West Seattle so far is an “open house” one week from tonight, for which some postcards have been sent out promising “conversation” on a variety of city initiatives but not including any mention of “rezoning.”

Cindi and Deb stressed repeatedly last night that the intent of the workshop was to prepare people for that December 7th open house, which includes an official chance for feedback on the draft rezoning maps, as well as to offer guidance on how to read the maps, how to efficiently comment online, and other information including the rezoning proposal for areas outside the “urban villages.”

Basically, the city is proposing to upzone “urban villages” – and multifamily/commercial properties citywide – for a HALA initiative called Mandatory Housing Affordability.

Our video below, of the hourlong presentation at the heart of the meeting, picks up after the introduction by Deb Barker (who is retired from a land-use-planning career in a nearby city, and also has served on and chaired West Seattle’s all-volunteer Southwest Design Review Board).

Cindi Barker – who has been involved as a citizen volunteer with the HALA process going back about two years – first offered a primer on MHA, with the help of city-provided slides (again, this was NOT an official city-organized meeting, though Brennon Staley from the city Office of Planning and Community Development was on hand to answer questions as needed). Here’s the full slide deck that she and Deb used through their hour-long presentation (embedded below, or review it as a PDF here):

MHA basics: The city is offering more development capacity via upzoning, in exchange for developers either building a certain percentage of “affordable” housing in their projects, or paying fees to fund it to be built everywhere. “The city believes it will increase housing choices through the city,” Cindi added.

“Affordable” per the MHA definition means a rent that would represent about a third of the monthly incoe of someone making no more than 60 percent of the Area Median Income (half make more, half make less). Right now, that would be $1,009 for a one-bedroom unit. 6,000 of those units are to be created via MHA (which is just one part of HALA itself) in the next 10 years, contributing to a total of 20,000 affordable homes that the mayor is hoping will be created through a variety of programs.

Cindi went on to explain the volunteer citizen “focus groups” whose members were involved in the runup to the maps’ release, working with “principles that guided (the) zoning changes” (read them here). She then explained the types of zoning – residential small lot (“very much like cottage housing”), Lowrise 1, Lowrise 3, Neighborhood Commercial – with a diagram showing details of height, density, and other characteristics that would be allowable under each one. (Look for “MHA Development Examples” halfway down this page for more background on the zoning types.)

Continuing to explain how to read the maps – she pointed to the titles in each area, “existing zoning” on the left side of a vertical line, followed by “draft zoning,” and then a designation such as (M) or (M1) showing how much affordable housing it’s expected to produce. In some cases, as she explained, the zoning will leap more than one level.

If you’re in an urban village on a single-family lot, “residential small lot” is likely what you’re proposed to be upzoned to. You could have two homes on the lot instead of one, if it’s a 5,000-ish-square foot lot. Now that you’ve gotten a crash course in map-reading, here are the four West Seattle maps again:

(Direct link to draft West Seattle Junction Urban Village rezoning map)

(Direct link to draft Westwood-Highland Park Urban Village rezoning map)

(Direct link to draft Admiral Urban Village rezoning map)

(Direct link to draft Morgan Urban Village rezoning map)

And here’s an interactive map you can use to see other areas proposed for rezoning, as well as to zoom all the way in to your street.

Back to the meeting. As it moved into an early round of Q&A – there was an early question about “how does parking play into this?”

“Parking is not what we’re here about tonight – (though) parking is what we ultimately all care about,” Cindi said. She noted that the Environmental Impact Statement would have to address that topic. “That process is going to start (in the first half of next year).” Deb added that there will be parking topics at the city’s December 7th open house (we’ve talked about that before too – here’s the page for what the city is currently considering).

Highland Park Action Committee chair Gunner Scott added at that point a suggestion to bring that up with your city councilmember (District 1 rep Lisa Herbold was not in attendance, as she is traveling, but at least one of her legislative assistants, Andra Kranzler, was announced as present).

Next question, from Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council chair Amanda Kay Helmick, wondered about the chance to comment on the “livability” portion of HALA. That too is part of the early Environmental Impact Statement “scoping,” Cindi said. “Plug into your community associations and media” to watch for deadlines and opportunities.”

Another question: “Where did ‘mandatory’ come from?” Cindi’s reply: “Mandatory for developers.”

Then: “How many trees are we going to lose?” The workshop leaders did not have an answer for that.

Following that, concerns about the size of the venue the city chose for the December 7th meeting (Junction restaurant Shelby’s), given that 130+ people showed up just for this informal briefing. Cindi and Deb noted that they told the city as soon as they heard of the venue that it would be too small “but we were shot down.” Some attendees vowed to call the city and voice their concerns.

Continuing the presentation, Cindi said the Morgan Community Association has some questions they are pursuing with the city: “We need affordable housing, but it is not clear if the Grand Bargain is “the best bargain” – is 7% enough to ask from developers? Also: “Can the 6,000(-home) goal be reached without ‘double-plus upzones’?”

She also pointed to a chart just posted to the city’s website, showing that it only expects 1,000 units to be built “on site” among the projects – if you divide that by the 38 urban villages, that’s 27 affordable units for each one – and the rest elsewhere, “in much larger chunks of buildings” via the fund that will be overseen by the city Office of Housing, “centralizing it … and they’re going to build it where the nonprofit organizations can find the land to build it.”

They also have concerns about how MHA upzoning relates to existing neighborhood plans (linked here), created in the late ’90s to “guide the livability of growth anticipated in the new Urban Villages.” Each of those plans, she pointed out, “provides the goals and policies the city committed to in support of the Seattle Comprehensive Plan.” And the proposed upzoning is being done outside the context of the neighborhood plans. In Morgan Junction, for example, the zoning changes “are in direct conflict with our Neighborhood Plan,” she noted.

An attendee then wondered, “How do we find out who the HALA focus group (members are) and how they were (chosen)?” Cindi said, “They put out a call for volunteers.” (We published it, as did many others – here’s our story from February.)

Helmick asked the next question: “Is this a new form of redlining?”

Another good question to officially bring to the city, Cindi replied.

“If the city wasn’t willing to listen to you guys to change the venue – if I write to Lisa Herbold and, oh say, 90 percent of us decide they aren’t thrilled with this – is the city really going to listen to us and make changes in this program?” asked the next person.

“It feels like this program is going to happen – the mayor is very supportive of it – but … you’ve got to get there and give them input” to potentially have some effect on the details, Cindi stressed.

Deb noted that other neighborhoods around Seattle are affected too – Google some of them and you might see an “interesting yard sign,” she said.

Next question observed that, considering the HALA plan was set into motion before the presidential election, is the city taking into account possible changes in the federal government and funding?

OPCD’s Brennon Staley answered that one: “Obviously the changes in federal policy might affect (the non-MHA 14,000 units of “affordable housing”) … this (MHA) is probably not going to be affected by federal policy all that much.”

How does this affect people outside urban villages? Answer: All multifamily/commercial property is affected citywide, not just in the UVs, it was stressed. (Here again is the new interactive city map, which was included in our Monday night story preview.)

After the presentation and Q&A, the second phase of the meeting was freeform – going over to tables and looking at the urban villages’ maps.

The organizers put together some multi-dimensional renditions, and advised that people write questions down so they are prepared to ask city staffers questions at the city Open House next week.

Right now, you can offer feedback by choosing (from the dropdown) a map at hala.consider.it – not a popular option, apparently, as Cindi observed that only 11 people had done that for Morgan.

Besides the December 7th meeting, the only other official meeting expected in this area is one in South Park for which a date is not yet set – likely to happen in January.

Just before everyone headed over to the maps, Phil Tavel, MoCA vice president, urged people to attend the December 7th meeting no matter what: “If you have any issue with feeling that you were left out … show up, be heard, be seen.”

WWRHAH’s Helmick then took the microphone and told people to please understand that everything happening here tonight is all-volunteer. Her organization, WWRHAH, meets next Monday night, 6:15-7:45 pm at the Southwest Library, and will be looking at the Westwood-Highland Park Urban Village draft rezoning map (one of the four we included above) as part of the meeting.

MORE RESOURCES

*The links mentioned by Deb Barker and Cindi Barker last night are now in this post on the MoCA website.

*The city’s page for the HALA focus groups also has many direct links you might find of interest.

WHAT’S NEXT BEFORE ANY REZONING BECOMES OFFICIAL

*The December 7th city “open house” in West Seattle
*Continued comment on the draft rezoning maps, via hala.consider.it (and e-mail, halainfo@seattle.gov)
*The city will revise the maps and come out with “final” versions next year that will require City Council approval; the latest estimate for that is next June

As the city continues seeking feedback on its draft upzoning maps for the Mandatory Housing Affordability component of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda … two things to mention tonight:

First, one more reminder that TOMORROW is your chance to get briefed on everything from how to read these maps to how to effectively comment, via a community-organized workshop for all of West Seattle and South Park, 6:30 pm at Highland Park Improvement Club (12th SW/SW Holden). We previewed it here and here.

Second, the city has gone public with some of the feedback it’s received so far, from the “focus groups” whose members were recruited earlier this year. Rather than assemble the groups geographically, they were organized by types of “urban village” they lived in. The focus groups’ November meetings are being done online, and include slide decks with information including feedback from their previous meetings. Tonight, the group from “lower-density urban villages” including Morgan Junction, South Park, and Westwood-Highland Park met, including this slide deck with background information preceding the draft maps, each of which has short comment surveys on the side:

If the Scribd format doesn’t work for you, see the deck on the city website here.

Last week, the “hub urban village” focus group had its online meeting, and the slide deck from that one – including the West Seattle Junction map and preliminary group feedback – is below:

You can see that deck on the city website here.

The slide deck with feedback for the “medium-density urban village” group, including Admiral, isn’t available yet – that group has its online meeting Thursday.

While the focus has been on the urban villages, this also will affect multi-family zoning outside UVs, and you can take a look at this interactive map for a closer look at your neighborhood. (NOTE: That map ALSO will allow you to zoom in to street level, helpful if you’ve had trouble reading the draft maps so far.)

Again, tomorrow night’s workshop in Highland Park is an excellent chance to hear from, and talk with, local neighborhood leaders who have been immersed in this process. At any time, you can get feedback to the city via its special website for this – hala.consider.it – and/or via e-mail at halainfo@seattle.gov. And then there’s a city “open house” meeting about the rezoning maps, with other topics promised, next week – 5:30-7:30 pm December 7th at Shelby’s Bistro and Ice Creamery in The Junction (4752 California SW).

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER ALL THAT? A final set of maps will go to the City Council next year (June is the latest estimated timeframe) – councilmembers’ approval is needed before zoning can be changed. And the city also is working on an Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed zoning changes – environmental impacts aren’t just what you would traditionally think of as “environmental” but also aspects such as traffic and noise. The draft EIS is due in February-March, according to a timeline shown during tonight’s online meeting.

Three notes from today’s edition of the city’s twice-weekly Land Use Information Bulletin:

12-UNIT APARTMENT BUILDING @ 3026 SW CHARLESTOWN: In July of last year, we mentioned an early-stage proposal for a “10-12-unit apartment building” on this parcel uphill from Avalon [map]. Now, there’s an official proposal for an apartment building, and this notice in today’s LUIB invites you to comment on it. (While the notice calls it a 3-story, 12-unit building, there’s conflicting information elsewhere on the city website, including documents that say it’s four stories – which is allowed in the site zoning – with 11 units over six parking spaces.)

12-UNIT APARTMENT BUILDING @ 3017 SW CHARLESTOWN: Almost directly across the street is a similar proposal – 12 apartments on three floors over 6 parking spaces; same development-team contact, with a separate notice announcing a comment period through December 4th. A single-family house is planned for demolition on this site.

PARKING LOT NEXT TO PECOS PIT: Last month, we reported on a meeting focused on the old substation building east of Pecos Pit BBQ (WSB sponsor). One of the issues that came up was whether the city had gone through the appropriate permit process for Pecos Pit to use the substation property (3243 SW Genesee) as overflow parking. According to online records, it had not, but a notice in today’s LUIB indicates an attempt to fix that – an application for a temporary land-use permit to allow parking there “for up to six months.” You can comment on this application through December 4th.

Four development notes this morning:

DATE SET FOR ARBOR HEIGHTS PROJECT @ DESIGN REVIEW: We first told you back in April about a plan for nine live-work units replacing a former church building at 4220 SW 100th in Arbor Heights. The first Southwest Design Review Board meeting on the project is now penciled into the city schedule – 6:30 pm January 5th; details including the design proposal should appear on this page soon.

And from today’s edition of the city’s twice-weekly Land Use Information Bulletin:

KEY APPROVALS FOR ALKI TOWNHOUSES: A 7-unit townhouse project replacing houses at 1706 and 1708 Alki Avenue SW has received key approvals, and that opens an appeal period. Details are in the notice.

APPROVALS FOR 41ST SW PROJECTS: One year after we reported on a new 7-unit proposal for what once was the site of a community-challenged 40-apartment proposal at 4439 41st SW, it’s received key approvals, opening an appeals period. The notices are for two addresses – a four-unit townhouse building at 4437 41st SW, two townhouses and a single-family house at 4439 41st SW.

STREAMLINED DESIGN REVIEW FOR 4534 40TH SW: A four-townhouse proposal at 4534 40th SW is now open for comments as part of the Streamlined Design Review process – no meeting, but if you have something to say, you have two weeks to say it. The notice explains how.

(King County Assessor’s Office photo)

Two and a half years ago, a two-building, 80+-apartment proposal for 3257-3303 Harbor Avenue SW [map] sailed through its first Southwest Design Review Board meeting. But it never came back for round two, and now city files indicate the plan has been scrapped entirely. A newly filed, early-stage plan for the site calls instead for 32 townhouses, in two rows between Harbor and 30th SW. Documents indicate the project will go through Administrative Design Review – no meeting, but a chance for public comment via e-mail, once the project proceeds further into the system.

This site already had a history before the now-dead apartment proposal – it had been owned by fugitive real-estate investor Michael Mastro, and had a development plan when it went on the market in 2007 under the working title Aqua Bella. County records show a bank took it over in 2010 and sold it to a real-estate firm in 2013.

P.S. Immediately west of this site, there’s a new proposal at 3239 Harbor SW for four townhouses and four live-work units.

ADDED: The new architect for 3257-3303 is Lemons Architecture, which also is part of the team for the not-yet-begun project at the former Alki Tavern site.

(Direct link to West Seattle Junction draft HALA rezoning map)

If you’re on that map and interested in a city briefing about the proposed rezoning that’s part of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda – Tuesday is your big chance. The Junction Neighborhood Organization has announced its meeting on Tuesday night will include a presentation by, and Q&A with, senior planner Nick Welch of the city’s Office of Planning and Community Development. JuNO leader René Commons says Welch will “present the upzoning plan for our neighborhood and provide detail around the timing and process of proposed rezoning for increased density.”

The HALA rezoning is toward the HALA goal of Mandatory Housing Affordability; it will affect all property in the city that is currently zoned multifamily and/or commercial, as well as single-family properties that are in urban villages.

Draft maps for all the urban villages in the city – including the four in West Seattle (The Junction, Admiral, Westwood-Highland Park, and Morgan Junction) – were released online last month without an announcement, and the “outreach” since then has been scattered. Besides this guest appearance at the JuNO meeting, your major chance to find out more about what is (or isn’t) proposed for your neighborhood is a citizen-led, West Seattle/South Park-wide event coming up on November 29th (here’s the announcement we published last Monday). Following that, the city has an open house-style event planned for 5:30 pm December 7th at Shelby’s Ice Creamery and Bistro in The Junction, but no presentation, and the maps aren’t the only topic planned.

So if you are in the Junction “urban village” or the areas planned for expanding its boundaries (see the map), come to the Senior Center/Sisson Building (California SW/SW Oregon) on Tuesday (November 15th) at 6:30 pm to get a briefing, and answers to your questions. The questions and comments received by the city regarding the draft maps are expected to lead to final proposals

That pile of debris is all that was left late today of the 96-year-old triplex at 4122 36th SW [map], where a microhousing building that drew concerns from dozens of neighbors is set to start going up. (Thanks to AA for the tip that demolition was under way.) We first reported on the plan in July 2015, when it was described as a four-story building with an unspecified number of “small efficiency dwelling units.”

(Rendering from design-review packet by architects Alloy Design Group)

It’s now a two-building, 4-story project, with some conflicting numbers – the official description mentions 20 units, but lines on the city docket mention wiring for “33 microunits.” (We’ll check with SDCI on Monday to confirm that’s just a mistake – the design-review packet reinforces the 20-unit count and shows floor plans.) One thing that’s remained consistent is that the project does not include offstreet parking spaces. The city file includes a generic acknowledgment of neighbors’ concerns about that, and points them to this city webpage, which says city planners are working on a citywide plan with these principles:

*Provide integrated and accessible transportation choices that are readily available for Seattle’s growing population – such as ORCA passes, car and bike sharing and shared parking.

*Support Comprehensive Plan goals to encourage growth in Urban Centers.

*Retain and enhance Seattle neighborhoods’ walkable and livable urban qualities, which are essential and preferable to automobile‐oriented public places and buildings.

*Prioritize housing affordability to preserve and enhance the ability of persons of all economic means to be able to live in Seattle. Parking is a significant cost factor for developers.

*Help ensure that racial and socio‐economic equity is a key consideration in setting parking policies.

*Manage on‐ and off‐street parking most efficiently.

*Promote designs for better quality, more secure, and more comfortable bicycle storage facilities.

*Achieve local and regional environmental objectives through sound choices to achieve air quality, climate change, and natural environmental protection goals.

To the south of 4122 36th SW, the single-family house at 4126 36th SW is set to be torn down and replaced by a two-unit rowhouse building that will have offstreet parking. The developer of that project had the lot split, and plans show that two parking spaces will go onto what is now technically a separate lot off the alley.

If you haven’t already taken a close look at the four maps below, now is the time. The city has yet to make a wide announcement about them, but this is the window for comments and questions. They are the West Seattle “draft maps” as part of the city’s plan to upzone properties for a component of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda called Mandatory Housing Affordability – focused on the areas known as “urban villages”; beneath the maps, a special event at which your neighbors are offering to help you find out more about “what’s going on”:

(Direct link to West Seattle Junction map)

(Direct link to Morgan Junction map)

(Direct link to Admiral map)

(Direct link to Westwood-Highland Park map)

We first published those maps when they were released by the city, virtually unannounced, almost three weeks ago. Comments are being taken right now at this city website; an official city open house in West Seattle is planned December 7th, but before then, two community advocates with deep knowledge of land-use issues are leading a West Seattle/South Park meeting to help you understand the maps and the process. They have just formally announced it:

The Morgan Community Association (MoCA) will host an informational session to help you understand Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Affordability rezones proposed for the five District 1 Urban Villages, in advance of a December city-sponsored Open House. This learning session will enable you to go the Open House knowing what is proposed and prepared to give input or ask questions of City staff.

For the past year, the City of Seattle has been developing plans to fund affordable housing. One of the proposals is the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) concept. Under MHA, new development in Seattle will contribute directly to affordable housing by either building affordable homes on site or making a payment to the City to fund affordable housing throughout Seattle. To put MHA requirements into effect, the City must make zoning changes that will allow more development within Urban Villages and other areas zoned for multifamily and commercial development. Proposed areas of rezoning are depicted in newly released maps, and City staff will want input on proposed District 1 rezones at their December 7 Open House.

It is a complicated issue, with lots of ‘moving parts.’ To help you figure out what is going on, we’re setting up a user-friendly informational session with goals of:

° To give enough background information so people understand the MHA proposed program;
° To understand how to read the proposed rezone maps;
° To remind people of their Urban Village Neighborhood Plan Goals and Policies and relationship to MHA principles;
° To give people tools so that they enter the City’s Open House able to give informed input and/or ask questions to get the information they need.

Please join us –

Rezoning for Affordability in District 1: The City Wants Your Input – Do You Know What’s Going On?
Tuesday, November 29, 2016, from 6:30 – 8:30pm
Highland Park Improvement Club
1116 SW Holden Street

o Street parking is available nearby
o Metro Routes 125 and 128 stop at 16th Ave. SW at Holden; walk east on Holden to 12th Street
o Light refreshments will be available
o There will be a coloring corner for kids.

Again, though MoCA is sponsoring it, it’s for everyone in West Seattle and South Park (whose “urban village” is to be upzoned as well).

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Less than a week after the city went public with proposed rezoning maps for the city’s “urban villages,” the feedback process remains diffuse.

Last night, for a firsthand look at how part of it is working, we went to one of the “focus groups” that have been meeting monthly on related matters involved with the initiative known as HALA, the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda. (We wrote about the recruitment process last winter.) This group has been focused on areas including the West Seattle Junction. More on that shortly, including an alternative way to comment if you are having trouble with the site the city set up at hala.consider.it.

And today, the city announced that Mayor Murray will preside over a live Q/A about HALA via the mayoral Facebook page tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 10:45 am. Since it’s not a two-way video connection, you are asked to post questions now, either via this “event” page or via your Twitter account, with the hashtag #AffordableSeattle.

Now, to the background. Read More

(June WSB photo of Ponderosa Pine at 3038 39th SW)

Two weeks after the city announced it would grant a “special exception” permit for a house to be built on a 3,166-sf lot at 3038 39th SW [map], taking out a Ponderosa Pine acknowledged as an “exceptional tree,” two appeals have just been filed with the city Hearing Examiner. This one is from a neighbor, making the argument that the lot previously used as a “side yard” had not been established as a buildable lot:

(If you can’t see the Scribd embedded version, here’s a direct link to that document on the city website.) And this one is from the Seattle Green Spaces Coalition:

The online file for that one is here.

We first reported in June about the neighborhood’s campaign to save the tree. Since the appeals have just gone into the system, no hearing date is set yet.

SIDE NOTE: While working on this, neighborhood advocates have been talking with Councilmember Lisa Herbold about a larger issue – the city’s requirement of a minimum payment for staff time to work on requests for interpretations, saying the resulting multi-thousand-dollar minimum can be onerous; as discussed briefly in today’s morning session of the Budget Committee, her proposal for a rule to require that requesters are charged only for the time needed:

Accompanying the budget, SDCI has submitted a bill that would adjust fees and charges (see the introduction for more details). This action would amend the bill to reduce the minimum number of hours charged for a code interpretation letter. A code interpretation is a process whereby someone can request a formal decision on the meaning, application, or intent of any development regulation in the Land Use or Environmentally Critical Area code. Examples include questions of how structure height or setback is properly measured, or how a proposed use should be categorized. Failure to request an interpretation can preclude raising the issue on appeal. Today, a request for a code interpretation letter is charged, at minimum, for 10 hours of work; hours worked beyond the minimum are charged the Land Use hourly rate (currently $280/hour; proposed to increase to $315/hour). The average number of hours charged for interpretations is 31.25 hours, however, in the rare case where the number of hours is less than 10, this change would ensure that the requesting party is only charged for time needed to produce the letter.

The proposal is not specific to this case; its fate will be determined when the budget is finalized in November.

We’ve received a couple questions about this site-clearing work underway in southeast Admiral.

It’s the site of the 14-house 3601 Fauntleroy Avenue SW [map] development. As we reported in August of last year, development proposals have been in the works for this site for at least nine years – in 2007, it was proposed for 21 houses, and then the plan resurfaced last year with 14 houses. After it received key approvals this past May, neighbors filed an appeal, then withdrew it following a settlement with the developer last month. The arborist report filed with the city says that the only “exceptional trees” on the site are four madrones in the “east steep slope buffer” that are not expected to be affected by the construction project; the report says the rest of the ~100 trees “in general” are “structurally weak … diseased … smothered in invasive species.” If you’re following the permit on this project, you’ll see here that the 14 houses will have addresses on SW Spokane.

Development updates from today’s edition of the city’s twice-weekly Land Use Information Bulletin:

4437-4439 41ST SW: Back in December, we mentioned the latest scaled-down plan for this Junction site once proposed for a 40-unit apartment building. According to today’s notices, the 7-unit plan remains; you can comment on the land-use-permit applications through August 10th. The notices are here and here.

These next projects, also announced via today’s Land Use Information Bulletin, are going through the no-meeting versions of Design Review – so your comment period starts now:

4 TOWNHOUSES AT 3032 CHARLESTOWN SW: Here’s the official notice of “administrative design review” for this proposal. It explains how you can comment, through August 10th.

5 TOWNHOUSES, 1 SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE AT 3710 21ST SW: Here’s the official notice of “streamlined design review” for this proposal. It also explains how you can comment, through August 10th.

5 TOWNHOUSES, 1 SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE AT 3722 21ST SW: This too is proposed for “streamlined design review”; here’s the official notice, which also has information on how to comment, through August 10th.

Also in today’s bulletin, two matters of land-use policy that you might want to take a closer look at, because they’re expected to lead to zoning changes; comment periods are now open:

POTENTIAL AMENDMENTS TO ‘MANDATORY HOUSING AFFORDABILITY’ PROPOSAL, RESIDENTIAL VERSION: Read about them here, and if you have something to say, August 15th is the deadline.

WHAT SHOULD ‘MANDATORY HOUSING AFFORDABILITY’ MULTI-FAMILY/COMMERCIAL REVIEW INCLUDE? Before the city’s environmental review of this part of the plan gets going, the city is asking what it should include. Here’s how to have a say.

Four West Seattle development notes this afternoon:

(Rendering courtesy Living Care Lifestyles)

QUAIL PARK: The 60+-bed memory-care center that’s long been in the works for 4515 41st SW in The Junction is about to begin construction, according to David Haack with parent company Living Care Lifestyles. If you have questions about the project, a community meet-and-greet is planned at Senior Center of West Seattle 2:30-4 pm on Wednesday, July 13th. Two weeks after that, they’re planning a groundbreaking ceremony on July 27th, time TBA. It’s been almost four years since we first found early word of the plan, which went through Design Review in 2014-2015.

Three projects covered here previously have formal notices in today’s city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin:

DESIGN REVIEW DOUBLEHEADER FOR 9021 17TH SW & 2749 CALIFORNIA SW: We’ve already published word of both of these reviews set for a July 21st Southwest Design Review Board doubleheader – the four-story, 32-apartment building at 9021 17th SW at 6:30 pm (as reported here two weeks ago; formal notice here; and the four-story, 112-apartments-and-retail building at 2749 California SW (as reported here Monday, formal notice here) at 8 pm. If you can’t make it to the meetings, you can comment on the projects by following the instructions in the notices.

APPLICATION FOR 2116 ALKI SW: We mentioned this site back in January, when it was proposed for six condos and nine parking spaces. In today’s Land Use Information Bulletin, this notice announces its owners have applied to build a 3-story, 6-apartment, 11-offstreet-parking-space project. You have until July 29th to comment; here’s how.

(WSB photo)

Almost four years after an 18-house development proposal surfaced in the city permit system for the site above – now identified as 2768 SW Holden [map], previously 2646 SW Holden – there’s an “open-record hearing” downtown tomorrow morning. (We first mentioned it a month ago.) This has to do with splitting the site, currently on record as three lots, into 18, before the homes are built. The hearing is for anyone with something to say about the proposal and is set for the city Hearing Examiner‘s chambers starting at 9 am Monday, 40th floor of the city Municipal Tower downtown (700 5th Avenue). The project has been making its way through the city system since a “site plan” was filed in summer of 2012; the 18-house plan passed “streamlined design review” in early 2013, and other key approvals were granted in 2014.

The site stretches across more than one and a half acres between SW Holden and SW Webster, with one house remaining on the site (barely visible in our photo above). It had been on and off the market for a while and records show it sold within the past month for $2.2 million, not far below its previous asking price, to Jabooda Properties, an LLC with Mercer Island and Renton addresses. Neighbors have voiced concerns along the way including traffic, noise, and drainage effects; each house is planned with a two-car garage, and the subdivision entrance/exit will be from SW Holden. City planners’ report recommending approval is here.

From today’s city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin, three West Seattle notes:

REVISED PLAN FOR 2626 ALKI SW: For those wondering what’s up with this mixed-use development, long slated for the corner of 59th SW and Alki Avenue SW:

(WSB file photo of future development site)

first announced at an Alki Community Council meeting three years ago – here’s an update. It went through two Design Review meetings in 2014 with at least one more required, yet, to date, not scheduled. In 2015, its official land-use application was submitted. Now, one year later, the prospective developer has turned in a revised application, according to this notice in today’s bulletin. It’s now summarized as “a 3-story structure containing restaurant, 12 apartment units and parking for 23 vehicles”; at the time of the last Design Review meeting almost two years ago (WSB coverage here), the description was “14 residential units, 5 live-work units, commercial space, and 23 parking spaces.” This opens a new comment period for the project – send comments to prc@seattle.gov by July 6th.

3601 FAUNTLEROY APPEAL: The recent approvals (reported here in May) for this proposed 14-house development in East Admiral have been appealed. Here’s the notice. A hearing is set August 23rd in the city Hearing Examiner‘s chambers downtown.

3838 59TH SW ROWHOUSE: The bulletin includes the “environmentally non-significant” decision allowing a 3-story, two-unit rowhouse building on a sloped site (“environmentally critical area”) uphill from Beach Drive. The decision is appealable, and the notice explains how, with a deadline of July 7th.