Alki Beach is Proposed to be a Neighborhood Center by Councilmember Rinck.

[Esteban Pumprino]

CM Rinck and a consortium of “non-profit Housing proponents, including builders, have proposed to amend the Seattle Comprehensive Housing Act to include Alki Beach as a Neighborhood Center. This NC designation is not appropriate for our saltwater beach community and will actually make it less enjoyable for visitors and residents. Designated as an NC, the point and beach area will be subject to pressure for higher density, which is already happening under current zoning law, from multi-family builders and their backers. If you believe this is not a good thing for Alki Beach, please email each of the nine councilmembers and Mayor Harrell.

The email below from Jessica Lang of the Housing Consortium was the follow-up to the meeting I attended last Saturday. Just to set the record straight, there was not unanimous support for Alki Beach becoming a Neighborhood Center (NC). Having said that, we did not have much in the way of local resident turnout.

In my opinion the meeting was more of a sales pitch than for fact-finding and I resented that. In addition to councilmember Rinck’s staff, of which there were several, the majority of people in the room represented housing organizations looking to build (definitely conflict of interest), density advocates, transit proponents, and one person that would outlaw cars completely. I have no argument with the NC (aka Urban Village) concept, in fact I rather like the idea, but I believe, as I think you do, that Alki Beach is not an appropriate location for that purpose.

Our councilmember, Rob Saka, is against an NC being sited at Alki Beach and would like to have as much public support behind him when the NCs, as part of Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan, are debated at council.

An email campaign from a significant number (several 100, at least) of residents opposing the NC, targeting individually and collectively the nine Seattle councilmembers and the mayor, will be critically important. Please reach out in your own words (feel free to copy parts of this if you wish) through your email distribution lists to enlist as many “No Alki NC” email writers as possible.

Here are some arguments, and I’m certain there are others, that may be used in the emails.

The beach and point area have limited parking as it stands. This will be exacerbated if multi-family housing as proposed under NCs is permitted, especially if off-street parking is not required in new structures. The new Alki Elementary School will double its number of students and staff with only 15 parking spaces allotted. This will put added pressure on what is already an untenable situation and the Beach is very difficult to reach via most modes of public Transportation.

Metro routes that do service the area already crowd Alki Avenue at the beach. During certain times of the day, they take up almost a full block of parking space, furthermore, where they park for “driver rest breaks” detracts from access to and the view from several businesses. Additional bus routes will create a traffic nightmare.

A grocery store / market is an integral component of a NC. Both Safeway and Metropolitan Market are little more than a mile away, with bus routes serving both. There have been two attempts in past years to establish grocery markets, both failed.

We all know what’s going on these days with drug stores; it’s not likely one would be enticed to move into Alki, given their financial instability and ongoing consolidation.

What type of business would have to move into Alki with a sufficient number of full-time, decently paid, employees to attract retailers of non-staple, non-discretionary goods to move in? Where would that business be housed?

Alki Beach is a Top Ten Urban Beach, a historic Seattle gem, and a revenue generating tourist destination. let’s not let that be ruined.

Add other points…
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Email Addresses:

Council Members:
Sara Nelson – sara.nelson@seattle.gov
Rob Saka – rob.saka@seattle.gov
Bob Kettle – robert.kettle@seattle.gov
Dan Strauss – dan.strauss@seattle.gov
Joy Hollingsworth – joy.hollingsworth@seattle.gov
Mark Solomon – mark.solomon@seattle.gov
Martiza Rivera – maritza.rivera@seattle.gov
Debora Juarez – debora.rivera@seattle.gov
AlexisMercedes Rinck – alexismercedes.rinck@seattle.gov

Mayor:
Bruce Harrell – bruce.harrell@seattle.gov

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