Local Events

Mark your calendar for summer festivals

Cotton candy vendors sell their wares at the 2011 Beacon Hill Festival. Photo by Wendi Dunlap/Beacon Hill Blog.

Early warning! Mark your calendar for a couple of the Hill’s major summer events.

On June 2, the Jefferson Community Center is hosting the 20th Annual Beacon Hill Festival, with entertainment, local food, carnival games, bounce toys, and a silent auction. Proceeds of the event will go to support programs and scholarships offered at the center. All ages are welcome.

Vendors, non-profits, schools, and others: for booth information, contact Doreen Deaver at 206-684-7481 or doreen.deaver@seattle.gov. Registration deadline for vendors is May 4.

On July 21, festival fun comes to South Beacon Hill with the Taste of Van Asselt. There will be food, live music, arts and crafts, face painting, and a 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

Event organizers are are looking for local restaurants to participate in this event
as vendors to sell their unique culture foods. Jewelry and craft artists are welcome to sell handmade jewelry and crafts as well. All vendors will be required to have a City of Seattle business license. Musicians are also sought to perform. For more information,
call 206-386-1921.

Crime

SPD officers tour greenbelt investigating recent gunfire

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On Monday, about 40 officers from the Seattle Police Department and the Department of Corrections searched the “Jungle,” the greenbelt on northwest Beacon Hill, looking for possible weapons and shooting victims after nearby neighbors reported the sounds of gunfire within the greenbelt. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee (formerly with The Stranger, Seattle Crime, and Publicola, now with the SPD) wrote an interesting post (with photos) on the search at the SPD Blotter blog:

After a day of crisscrossing overgrown, muddy pathways along the west side of Beacon Hill Monday, three South Precinct officers stand on a leaf-covered hillside just below Holgate Street, digging up a patch of dirt.

They’re looking for a body.

The officers, along with dogs trained to find weapons or human remains, spent seven hours trekking through the woods and interviewing more than 150 people living in and around the greenbelt. No weapons were found, and the only remains found turned out to belong to an animal.

The Community Police Team will revisit the greenbelt with social workers and representatives of the Department of Neighborhoods over the next week to assist those living in the “Jungle” in connecting with needed social services.

Urban Planning

North Beacon Hill rezoning passed by City Council

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Possible 65' development on Beacon Avenue, depicted in the Neighborhood Plan Update.
Monday, on an 8-0 vote, the Seattle City Council passed Council Bill 117375, an ordinance that rezones about 12 acres of land in the North Beacon Hill Residential Urban Village as well as expanding the boundaries of the North Beacon Hill Station Area Overlay District. The rezoned and expanded areas may be seen on this PDF. You can see video of the Council’s comments and their vote on this ordinance here.

Most notably, some areas immediately surrounding Beacon Hill Station have been rezoned to NC2P-65. This means Neighborhood Commercial 2 (“A moderately-sized pedestrian-oriented shopping area that provides a full range of retail sales and services to the surrounding neighborhood”), Pedestrian-Designated zone (“Preserves and encourages an intensely pedestrian-oriented, retail shopping district where non-auto modes of transportation, both to and within the district, are strongly favored”), 65 feet tall. (Information about the definition of the various commercial zones may be found here.) Previous zoning in much of this area was NC2-40 or NC2P-40, though the El Centro property which was also rezoned was previously zoned SF5000 (Single-family, 5000-square-foot lot size).

Some locations saw a change in their zoning from either LR2 (Low-Rise 2) or SF5000 to LR3. The definitions of the different low-rise zones may be seen in this chart.

This change means we could begin to see buildings up to 65′ tall in “downtown” Beacon Hill. Currently, we know of only two potential projects planned for the area; the 17th and McClellan apartment/retail building (which will be built to 65′ now that the zoning has changed) and the El Centro south lot project which is in the early planning stages.

Local Events

Eggs for the hunting at local community centers

Photo by makelessnoise via Flickr/Creative Commons.
This weekend brings several egg hunt events at Beacon Hill and nearby community centers.

At Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave. S.), Friday, April 6 at 8 p.m., there is a Teen Flashlight Egg Hunt for those 12 and older. The event is free, but bring a flashlight and a bag. Meet at the community center gym at 8 sharp. The hunt will be outdoors.

Saturday, April 7, is the Spring Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast. Breakfast will be served from 9-11 a.m., and the Egg Hunt starts at 10 a.m. sharp. The Egg Hunt is free, but breakfast is not: $4 for pancakes, $5 for pancakes and sausage, or $6 for pancakes, sausage and eggs.

The Van Asselt Community Center is also holding a Spring Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast Saturday from 10-11:30 a.m. The egg hunt for kids aged 2-8 is free and starts at 10 sharp, and the pancake breakfast will follow the egg hunt. The breakfast is $3 per person for all-you-can-eat pancakes with syrup, butter, and juice.

Down the hill, both the International District/Chinatown and Rainier community center are also holding free egg hunts Saturday morning at 10 a.m. (April 7) for kids under 11. The International District/Chinatown Community Center is located at 719 8th Ave. S. The Rainier Community Center is at 4600 38th Ave. S.

Education, Local Events

Cleveland PTSA invites you to fundraising auction

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Aerial photo of Cleveland High School in 2001, courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives.

The Cleveland High School PTSA invites everyone to help raise $10,000 by participating in the Cleveland High School Red and White Night Soaring Eagles Auction, Saturday, April 28, from 5:30-9 p.m. at Brockey Center on the South Seattle Community College Campus (6000 16th Ave. S.W.).

You can be part of this fundraising event in several ways: by buying a ticket to attend, by donating an item for the silent or live auction, or by donating cash directly. To buy tickets or donate, go to this website and follow the steps there.

Volunteers are also welcome. To volunteer, contact Heather Graves (hmchavez4@gmail.com).

Urban Planning

Clubhouse, station block development both cause controversy

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Susanne Rockwell of Seattle Parks discusses the planned new Jefferson Park Golf Clubhouse to a skeptical audience at last night's NBHC meeting. Photo by Wendi Dunlap/Beacon Hill Blog.
The locals were a bit restless at last night’s North Beacon Hill Council meeting. The agenda included presentations about the new Jefferson Park Golf Clubhouse plan and about the development planned for the southeast corner of the Beacon Hill Station block, and both projects seemed to raise some hackles.

The Golf Clubhouse caused the most ruckus. Susanne Rockwell of Seattle Parks and Recreation was there to present the plan, and started off the evening on a defensive note, introducing the plan by saying Jefferson Park “is not an Olmsted park,” and emphasizing that the improved views from the clubhouse would provide “more eyes on the street” — as well as views to the golf course on the other side of Beacon Avenue. One neighbor asked if the new views of downtown would only be enjoyed by those at the driving range, and Rockwell answered that passers-by on Beacon Avenue would be able to enjoy them too.

The plan presented seemed to be the same as the one previously discussed here, where you can find a link to presentation materials. Rockwell answered some general questions about the project, and mentioned that the likelihood of an addition of new parking parallel to Beacon Avenue, though it is in the plan, is “slim.” This brought applause from one member of the audience.

After this the tone of the meeting grew tense. Several members of the audience challenged Rockwell’s assertion that Jefferson park is not an Olmsted park. Rockwell replied “There was not an Olmsted plan for the park.” There was disagreement and shaking of heads in the room. One neighbor commented that the planned building is not attractive: “If the clubhouse was being replaced by something really beautiful, it would be an enhancement… [those drawings] look pretty crummy to me.” Later in the meeting, after Rockwell left, neighbor Roger Pence called the planned structure “a strip mall turned on its side.”
Continue reading Clubhouse, station block development both cause controversy →

BH in the News

PacMed on the auction block

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The historic PacMed building. Photo by Erick Mota in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. Thanks, Erick!
Grab your pocketbooks and warm up those credit cards: the Seattle Times reports that the landmark PacMed building on the north tip of Beacon Hill, one-time home to Amazon.com, is going up for auction. But it’s not on eBay, and the starting bid may be a little rich for the average Beaconian’s blood: $2 million.

According to the Times, the holders of the building’s loan, Wright Runstad, have put the loan up for bids at Auction.com, a site that specializes in real estate auctions both online and live. A new owner of the loan might move to foreclose, or to renegotiate the $20.5 million outstanding debt on the building.

Wright Runstad has been unable to find a tenant to replace Amazon. The building was considered for a new King County juvenile court and jail last year, and City University also considered relocating to the historic building, but both plans fell through.

The auction will start at 10 a.m. on April 16.

News

Station banners to return soon

(Editor’s note: This post was scheduled to go live on the morning of April 2 but due to a software error, did not actually publish. Sorry for the delay.)

On March 10, 2011, one of the metal banner artworks installed on the plaza at Beacon Hill Station collapsed in a windstorm. Luckily, no one was hurt when the metal banner and pole hit the ground, but all three of the banner poles were removed as soon as possible after the collapse. It’s been more than a year, and Beacon Hill community members were beginning to wonder if the colorful banners were history.

We checked with Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray last week, who gave us reassuring news: “The short answer to your question is yes, the flags are returning after a thorough refurbishing. Should be back up this spring.”

The flags are part of a larger work at the station by artist Carl Smool, Community Threads, which includes etched textile “carpets” in the plaza’s walkway and on a cut-metal louver on the outside north wall of the station building as well as the three cut-metal banners that flew above the plaza until the windstorm last year.

Sound Transit security staff look at the fallen art banner at Beacon Hill Station, March 10, 2011. Photo by Wendi Dunlap/Beacon Hill Blog.
Education, Meetings

Meeting at Mercer to discuss school levy priorities

Seattle Public Schools will host a community meeting at Asa Mercer Middle School on Tuesday, April 10 from 6:30-8 p.m., to discuss possible building construction projects to include in the Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) levy package. This is the third in a series of community meetings over the next couple of weeks throughout the city to work on the BEX IV package, which is expected to be voted on in February 2013.

The meeting will include presentations by Capital Projects and Planning staff, followed by a question and answer session. Comments from the community will be collected to consider when the District puts together the BEX package.

If you can’t be there but still have something to say, emailed comments are welcome to capacity@seattleschools.org.

The BEX III levy was approved in 2007, and included renovations at Chief Sealth International High School, Hamilton International Middle School, Ingraham High School, Nathan Hale High School and Rainier Beach High School. It also included new construction at South Shore Pre-K-8 and Denny International Middle School.

Asa Mercer Middle School is located at 1600 S. Columbian Way.