Design illustrationThe project planned for the site across from MacPherson’s produce stand, the former Christian Resoration Center building (and before that, Tradewell grocery store), has been awarded a unanimous recommendation of conditional approval from the Department of Planning & Development’s Design Review Board.
The project calls for “an L-shaped 4 story structure consisting of 3 stories of residential uses with approximately 30 units above 6,000 square feet of ground level commercial space” in one of three configurations.
The project’s design update has the building set back from 15th Avenue South and offers a large gathering place at street level, and includes a canopy above the entrance. Also, stormwater planters on the courtyard and street levels of both 15th and South Oregon Street, and a water feature along Oregon west of the garage entrance. The review board recommended a more prominent and safe entryway along 15th, adding a canopy or marquee above the entry, window glazing in the north-facing commercial space, etc. They wanted to see a clear access plan for commercial visitors parking in the garage space and plans for landscaping management and maintenance.
Metro has released their proposed service revisions. These changes will be discussed at the special joint meeting of the King County Council’s Physical Environment Committee and the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee meeting April 28th.
At 6:00pm on April 28th, in the Bertha Knight Landes room at city hall (600 4th Ave.), the Seattle Planning Commission and councilmember Sally Clark are bringing in Helle Søholt from Copenhagen-based Gehl Architects to speak on the topic of creating walkable and bike-able neighborhoods, especially around transit sites.
From the announcement:
How do we transform auto-oriented communities to make pedestrian-friendly communities? Helle Soholt of Gehl Architects will discuss the vibrant mix needed for creating successful communities. Copenhagen-based Gehl Architects is a world leader in urban design.
For more info please contact Barbara Wilson, Executive Director with the Seattle Planning Commision: 206.684.0431 or barb.wilson@seattle.gov
While the Link rail line has yet to even officially open, a train/car collision has already occurred earlier tonight. KIRO TV has a slideshow of the accident involving a light rail train and a little Toyota Yaris in the at-grade portion of the route along MLK Way at South Dawson Street. Almost certainly, this won’t be the last.
SDOT is closing the Jose Rizal bridge for a little while tomorrow:
12th Ave S Bridge (Jose Rizal)
Thursday, April 16
SDOT will close the northbound, right-hand lane on the 12th Ave S (Jose Rizal) Bridge from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday April 16th. Trolley busses will be able to get through.
The closure is required for maintenance work on the bridge.
A north Beacon stairway to be improved at this weekend's Earth Day Work Party. Photo by Vicki Grayland.
Dominic Holden discusses the 15th and Beacon car wash, and suggests that whoever filed a complaint about the car wash violating zoning is misguided: “The building, as far as I can see, has no windows facing the sidewalk. No window shopping, candy shopping, or book shopping will be happening in that garage. The pedestrian potential there—at least for now, with that building in this economy—is probably as good as it’s going to get.” Most of the commenters, however, disagree — Slog
Sound Transit is hosting another Lunch Bus trip at 11:30 am on Friday, April 17. The Lunch Bus is a guided tour of the Link light rail initial segment construction, followed by lunch at a local eating establishment. You are responsible for buying your own lunch. Tours depart and return at the southwest corner of 5th Ave S & S King Street in the International District. You must RSVP today — see the website for info.
Beacon Ridge Improvement Community is hosting an Earth Day Work Party this Saturday, April 18, from 9:00 am until noon. Neighbors will help clean up and beautify the public stairways at South Walker, Hill and Holgate Streets between 16th and 17th Avenues South. Refreshments will be provided. Please wear appropriate clothing and footwear, and bring tools if you have them, marked with your name (weeders, shears, shovels, trowels, rakes and brooms). Questions? Contact David at bricchair@comcast.net. Interested in becoming more involved? BRIC needs committee leaders and board members. See David if you are interested.
Franklin High School students boarding a Metro bus. Photo by Oran Viriyincy.The latest version of Metro Transit’s proposed service changes (discussed earlier here) will be announced this Friday. You may want to mark your calendar for Tuesday, April 28, when the public will have a chance to comment on the proposed changes at a special joint meeting of two committees of the Metropolitan King County Council: the Council’s Physical Environment Committee and the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee.
The meeting will be at 6:30 pm in Council chambers on the 10th floor of the King County Courthouse, at Third and James Street downtown.
As posted in the Council’s press release on Tuesday:
The council is scheduled to vote within the next six weeks on proposed Metro bus service changes for the southeast Seattle area and southwest King County that could occur next September or February.
Metro is proposing to change bus service once Sound Transit’s Link light rail service begins. The purpose of these changes is to connect neighborhoods to Link stations, avoid duplication of transit services, and make bus service more efficient.
These changes could affect Metro routes: 7, 7 Express, 8, 9 Express, 14, 32, 34 Express, 36, 38, 39, 42, 42 Express, 48, 60, 106, 107, 126, 128, 140, 154, 170, 174, 179, 180, 191, and 194.
Though the official version of the service changes will be posted on Friday, rumor has it the changes will include:
36: will run every 10 minutes on Saturday. Route will operate to Othello station.
38: service 8:00 am – 4:30 pm Mon-Sat with no Sunday service. The route will run between Beacon Hill and Mt. Baker stations only. No SODO service.
39: will continue to operate, but off-peak service (mid-day, nights and weekends) will go to every 45 minutes. Peak service to remain every 30 minutes.
60: Peak directional service (AM Northbound and PM Southbound) will go to every 15 minutes.
The public may comment before the council vote by testifying at the April 28 public hearing. You can also e-mail comments to janice.mansfield@kingcounty.gov, call (206) 296-1683 (TTY Relay 711), or mail a letter to: King County Council Physical Environment Committee, King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, Room 1200, Seattle, WA 98104.
The April 28 meeting will be carried live on King County TV on Comcast and Broadstripe cable Channel 22.
Photo of Daejeon Park pagoda by Bridget Christian.Following up on the earlier post about the car wash located at an intersection not zoned for auto-centric businesses, 15th and Beacon: an inspector from the DPD visited the business on April 13, and apparently found it in violation, reporting: “‘Violation Alert’. Violation of the Seattle land use and zoning code observed. Change of use permit required for new car wash business. Also help wanted sign for auto detailers, stereo installers & auto tint installers.”
“A sister-city delegation was recently here to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their connection with Seattle, and they brought to our attention that their city is now officially known as Daejeon.
If you look around on the internet, you see the city referred to most places as Daejeon, some places as ‘Daejeon (Taejon),’ ‘Taejon or Daejeon,’ and some places (the online Encyclopedia Britannica) still give Taejon as the primary spelling, saying ‘also spelled Daejeon.’
…In both cases, correct pronunciation of the first syllable is a long “I”, so DIE-john.”
Apparently the Korean government adopted a new romanization style a few years ago: the Revised Romanization of Korean. In this change, Pusan became Busan, Taejon became Daejeon, and Taegu is now Daegu. The new romanization style is intended to represent the sounds of Korean more accurately. So the new sign at Daejeon Park represents the current spelling of the Korean name; the park name hasn’t changed, just its spelling in Roman characters.
Many of you were unable to attend the March 28th North Beacon Hill workshop on Neighborhood Planning held at El Centro de la Raza. We are one of three SE Seattle locations which will have updates to our neighborhood plans, due to our proximity to light rail stations. (This) link takes you to a simple survey that is being used to gather input from the residents of the community. It asks what you want Beacon Hill to be like in the future, what appeals to you about the Hill, etc. Please take the time to fill it out – it only takes about five minutes.
At the workshop, copies of our Neighborhood Plan were made available to each table group. Neighborhood facilitators helped groups to identify those improvements to the Hill that are part of the Neighborhood Plan. We also looked at those aspects of the plan which have yet to realize completion, for example Jefferson Park, a boulevard on Beacon Ave. that extends south to Jefferson Park, and other improvements. Please look at the plan on your next visit to the Library. An ad hoc committee of the North Beacon Hill Council is now meeting to define those elements of the Neighborhood Plan which have high priority. If you would like to join this committee, contact Freddie Merrill at frmerrill@seattleschools.org or Robert Hinrix at robphin@yahoo.com.
Your input to the future of Beacon Hill is important. Thanks for taking five minutes to fill out the survey.
Taejon/Daejeon Park in the snow last December. Photo by Matthew Rutledge in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.
Travis notices something different in Taejon Park: it’s now Daejeon Park — Madness Hamster
Speaking of Seattle Parks and Recreation, they are holding an open house at Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Avenue South, on Thursday, May 7, to discuss the possibility of standardizing park operating hours. See the press release here.
Real estate on Beacon Hill showed a mini-boom in March: “The average time on market for Beacon Hill dropped from over 170 days to 68 in a single month. That is the biggest drop I ever remember seeing” — Seattle Home Buying Guide
