Tag Archives: dpd

Local Events, Meetings

Places to go, things to do: events and meetings coming up

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Photo of last year's International Children's Day festivities at El Centro, courtesy Elliott Jones.

There are a lot of events and meetings coming up soon that we want you to know about. Updated with late-arriving reminders of ROCKiTspace events and El Centro’s Cinco de Mayo celebration. Here goes:

Sunday, April 18:

Monday, April 19:

  • North Beacon Hill Planning meeting with Marshall Foster, city planning director from the Department of Planning and Development, 5:30 to 6:30 pm at the Beacon Hill Library, 2821 Beacon Avenue South.
  • Beacon Family Bike and Pedestrian Plan meeting, 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the Beacon Hill Library.

Saturday, April 24:

  • Beacon Idol round two, 7:00 pm at ROCKiTspace, 3315 Beacon Avenue South.
  • Seattle Public Schools Family and Community Engagement Symposium, 9:00 am to 3:30 pm at Aki Kurose Middle School, 3928 South Graham Street — free workshops on helping your child with math, science, reading, writing, dealing with bullying, and college and career readiness with keynote speaker Dr. Susan Enfield; breakfast (8:30 am), lunch, and childcare provided.

Wednesday, April 28:

  • International Children’s Day celebration, 5:00 to 8:00 pm at El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Avenue South, featuring children’s activities and cultural games, refreshments, and presentations; for more info contact Enrique Gonzalez at 206-957-4605 or email execasst@elcentrodelaraza.org.

Sunday, May 2:

Thursday, May 6:

Saturday, May 8:

  • Meet Laila Lalami, author of the 2010 Seattle Reads selection Secret Son, 4:00 to 5:30 pm at the Beacon Hill Library.

Thursday, May 13:

  • Cheasty Boulevard Plan meeting, 7:00 to 8:30 pm at the home of Amit Ranade and Jennifer Faubion-Ranade, 2615 South Edmunds Street.

Friday, May 14:

  • Neighborhood Plan Update meeting, Mercer Middle School. (We don’t have the starting time for this one yet, but we will post it when we do.)

Sunday, May 16:

  • Beacon Hill Music Backyard Party fundraiser, 3:00 to 7:00 pm — RSVP requested, email beaconhillmusic@gmail.com for more info.

Monday, May 17:

  • Beacon Family Bike and Pedestrian Plan meeting, 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Beacon Hill Library.

Saturday, May 22:

Wednesday, May 26:

  • Jefferson Park Skateboard Park, Beacon Mountain Playground, and Jefferson Playfield update with the Parks Department, 6:00 to 8:30 pm at the Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Avenue South.

Saturday, May 29:

Thursday, June 3:

Saturday, June 5:

Sunday, June 13:

Thursday, June 17:

  • Cheasty Boulevard Plan Open House with guided walks, 7:00 to 8:30 pm at the end of South Alaska Place.

Monday, June 21:

  • Beacon Family Bike and Pedestrian Plan meeting, 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Beacon Hill Library.

Saturday, July 17:

Big thanks to Frederica Merrell for assembling many of these meeting times and locations in a handout from the April NBHC meeting.

Urban Planning

Neighborhood planning process moving forward

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Mike O’Brien’s Seattle Public Utilities and Neighborhoods Committee (SPUNC) approved Resolution 31204 Tuesday afternoon, moving forward to begin a year of public comment and other work toward finalizing the Neighborhood Plan Updates for North Beacon Hill, North Rainier, and Othello.  The full text of the resolution is available here. You can watch the SPUNC meeting online at the Seattle Channel website.

Council members charged the Department of Planning & Development (DPD) and Dept. of Neighborhoods (DoN) with “making everyone happy” by creating an implementation process and urban design guidelines.  The resolution calls for extensive community involvement, including continuing outreach to underserved communities.

DPD and DoN will also be offering the opportunity for interested parties to share ideas online.  The timeline calls for the development of Action Plans from April to August 2010. Work groups will begin forming to develop Urban Design Framework Plans from June to November 2010.

There is a public meeting scheduled on Friday, May 14 at Asa Mercer Middle School, 1600 South Columbian Way.  Childcare and translation services will be available. Further information about the meeting will be coming soon.

Urban Planning

11 of 13 issues dismissed from North Beacon Hill DNS appeal

The Hearing Examiner has dismissed all but two issues from the North Beacon Hill DNS appeal filed on January 29 by Frederica Merrell, stating that the dismissed issues are “broad, conclusory allegations unsupported by any stated facts,” and that they do not meet municipal code and Hearing Examiner requirements that issues raised in an appeal be clear, concise, and specific. Additionally, the ruling states that the issues “fail to give the Department and Intervenor fair notice of the claims being asserted.” Two of the issues were dismissed outright earlier this month, and nine more in a decision given on Monday.  The hearing will now address the two issues that remain.

The two remaining issues are:

#6: “The DPD failed to meaningfully consider the probable impacts of the future development that would be allowed by the proposed changes to the Comprehensive Plan and zoning.” The ruling states, “Although the appeal failed to specify the probable impacts being referred to, the Appellant stated in her response to the motions to dismiss that this issue is addressed to the impacts of additional density on public services.” With that clarification, the issue was deemed sufficiently specific to be considered.

#8: “The DPD did not use notice procedures that were reasonably calculated to provide notice to property owners and other affected and interested individuals, tribes, government agencies, businesses, school districts, and organizations of the proposed amendments to comprehensive plans.” This issue was also clarified by Merrell; the March 11 ruling states that “the Appellant clarifies that the notice issue concerns the changes, alleged to be substantive, that the Department made while consolidating goals and policies after public notice of the DNS.”

For a full explanation of the decision, read the Examiner’s ruling here.  The appeal is still scheduled to be heard on Monday, April 26, 9:00 am at the Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 5th Avenue.  The Othello appeal hearing has been rescheduled to May 24, and the North Rainier appeal was dismissed earlier this month.

See also Cienna Madrid’s recent post about this in the Slog.

(Editor’s note: Issues #6 and #8 appear to be the same as issues #4 and #6 in the original January 29 version of the appeal.)

Urban Planning

First ruling on neighborhood plan appeal released

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Sue Tanner, the Hearing Examiner, has released her first ruling regarding the appeal Frederica Merrell filed last month against the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) regarding the Determination of Nonsignificance (DNS) of the North Beacon Hill neighborhood plan update process. Here is the full text of the ruling.

Tanner dismissed two issues in the appeal outright because they are outside the jurisdiction of the Hearing Examiner’s office (the issues were related to planning process).  She upheld one issue that DPD and El Centro de La Raza had requested to be dismissed, regarding whether DPD provided adequate notice for attendance at a meeting.

The revised schedule for the appeal is included in the document.  The final hearing on the appeal is currently scheduled for April 26 at 9:00 am.

Cienna Madrid at the Slog has reported on this as well, and notes that one of the other two nearly identical appeals filed last month, the North Rainier (Mount Baker) appeal, has been dismissed because the appellants did not respond to the motion to dismiss. The Othello appeal continues and is scheduled for May 24 at 9:00 am.

BH in the News, Urban Planning

The Stranger weighs in on SE Seattle appeals

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Organizers set up tables at the Festival Street opening last December in front of El Centro's empty south lot. Photo by Jason.
Cienna Madrid at The Stranger has written a story about the recent appeals filed against the North Beacon Hill, Othello, and North Rainier (Mount Baker) neighborhood plan updates. The article discusses El Centro de la Raza’s plans to develop the land just south of their building, plans which are—for now—on hold. State law allows neighborhood plans to be amended only once a year. Whether the appeals are upheld or not won’t be determined until it is too late to meet the deadline for this year, so the appeals are automatically forcing a one-year delay to any plan changes.

Madrid interviewed Estela Ortega from El Centro, Bill LaBorde of Transportation Choices Coalition, City Councilmember Sally Clark and David Goldberg of the Department of Planning and Development, and also attempted to speak with North Beacon appellant Frederica Merrell and the appellants from the other Southeast Seattle neighborhoods—for the most part, however, the petitioners aren’t talking. (The exception is Jenna Walden of the Othello group, who suggests that the reason for her group’s appeal is that it is a protest against marginalization of neighborhood groups.)

The resulting article pulls no punches; it concludes, “…Merrell and her cohorts appear to be more concerned with winning than pursuing the best interests of their neighborhoods and the city.”

Responses from The Stranger‘s readers on the website have been mixed.

The article is here. Seattle Transit Blog also posted about the Stranger article.

(ed. note—Frederica Merrell occasionally contributes opinion articles to the Beacon Hill Blog.)

Meetings

Artists, merchants and neighbors meeting to improve the Hill

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Several meetings are coming up in the next week for groups of neighbors with big plans for Beacon Hill. Robert Hinrix writes:

Calling all Beacon Hill Artists!

We’re investigating starting an Arts Council for our neighborhood. While there are some artists groups up here on the hill, there is none willing to tackle the issues of how to schedule and promote the Lander Festival Street. We also want to promote other arts-related events up here on Beacon Hill—how about a craft market, or an outdoor cinema? And we want to create a forum for artists and musicians to share information: about grants, shows, projects, and ideas. Our first meeting will be next Monday, March 1, 6:30 at the Beacon Hill Library (2821 Beacon Avenue South). If more discussion is needed after the library closes, we’ll have to retire to our friendly neighborhood pub!

Let me know if you’d like to be included in future events but can’t make the meeting.

Robert also mentioned in a comment on this blog yesterday:

One thing we’re trying to do up here is start a Beacon Merchants Association. This would replace the Chamber of Commerce which is essentially defunct. Better communication among existing businesses could help them and the greater community. We’re just in the process of forming, having had one preliminary meeting. Our next meeting will be this Friday at noon at Baja Bistro (2414 Beacon Avenue South). Our intent is to capture home businesses as well, so if you’re a business owner drop by to get more info and contribute your ideas. Anyone wanting to be added to the list can contact me directly.

You can reach Robert at roberthinrix@gmail.com.

The North Beacon Hill Council’s March meeting will include a presentation from Findlay Church regarding the development at 14th and Bayview. Another presentation will be given by the Department of Planning and Development regarding proposed new development guidelines for the City of Seattle.

The NBHC meeting is on Thursday, March 4, 7:00 pm at the Beacon Hill Library. It is open to all who wish to attend. Here’s the agenda:

  • 7:00 pm: Welcomes and introductions
  • 7:05 pm: Presentation by Findlay Street Church on proposed construction of church and market rate housing on 14th Avenue South
  • 7:20 pm: Questions and answers
  • 7:35 pm: Presentation by the Department of Planning and Development on proposed city development guidelines
  • 7:40 pm: Questions and answers
  • 8:05 pm: Update on Public Safety: South Precinct Seattle Police Department
  • 8:15 pm: Community concerns, announcements
Beacon Bits, Urban Planning

Beacon Bits: Bees, bandwidth, and Buddhist temple fire

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Temple fire — The February 9th fire at the Buddhist temple on South Juneau Street near MLK resulted from a furnace malfunction and caused an estimated $75,000 in damage and displaced several people, but thankfully resulted in no injuries.

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Slow video — Perhaps the most obvious sign that your broadband isn’t quite up-to-snuff is that streaming video stuh-stuh-stutters and re-buffers repeatedly. Sometimes this isn’t entirely an effect of the quality of the lines or the speed your provider is capable of providing to you; sometimes it’s the result of your ISP deciding that, rather than spend the money to improve its switching and delivery infrastructure, it will instead artificially limit how fast you’re allowed to receive high-bandwidth content like internet video. Google now provides a little insight into this situation with YouTube Video Speed History graphs, showing the average delivery speed for YouTube videos to your ISP (and, if you visit YouTube enough, your IP address) compared to the average speed for your city, state, country, and the world.
From BoingBoing via Joel Lee. Thanks Joel!

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Local honey — Spotted on Craigslist:

…I keep bees. I have honey for sale. This is pure, raw, unfiltered honey. It has never been above bee hive temperature, it has never had anything added, and it has local Beacon Hill pollen in it. It is DELICIOUS! (If I do say so myself). I have two kinds: a lighter honey which is mostly maple and mild in flavor, and a dark fall honey which is complicated in flavor and almost spicy. If you plan to buy a bottle or two, I do have a sample jar of each so you can taste it before you buy it and decide which you like best. 🙂 Comes in 8oz oval squeeze bottles. $6/bottle. Providing your phone number will make it faster to arrange pick up.

The only contact information provided is the Craigslist reply email.

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Food health inspections — The Health Department inspected a number of north Beacon Hill establishments recently, visiting Amazon, the Amazon coffee shop, El Delicioso (inside ABC Market), La Bendicion, La Cabaña, Chinatown Cafe #12 (inside the Red Apple), and Golden Daisy. Special congratulations to La Cabaña and the Amazon coffee shop for a perfect zero-violation scores. Anyone know if the Amazon coffee shop is open to the public?

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Attention on appeals — Publicola points back here, covering the Hearing Examiner appeal strategy and the opposition to it.

Urban Planning

14th and Bayview early design guidance meeting

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14th & Bayview development map
Seattle Department of Planning and Development
A development is being proposed at 14th and Bayview, project #3005359. DPD’s summary describes the project briefly as “a three-story building containing 18 residential units and religious institution assembly space at grade.” The single family home there would be removed and replaced by the new structure.

The design review meeting is scheduled for 6:30pm on Tuesday, February 23rd at the Wellspring Family Services building at 1900 Rainier Avenue South.

Chris Bailey wrote about this project on the mailing list:

This is a complex project with full design review and is a good opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the design guidelines developed for North Beacon Hill. You can find the neighborhood design guidelines here.

Thanks to Robert Hinrix and Chris Bailey for the info!

Urban Planning

North Beacon plan update appeal is one of three

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Frederica Merrell’s appeal filed recently against the Determination of Nonsignificance (DNS) of the North Beacon Hill neighborhood plan update (also discussed here and here) is not unique. The Beacon Hill Blog has been made aware that Merrell’s appeal is one of three nearly-identical appeals filed on January 29 by residents in each of the Southeast Seattle neighborhoods that recently went through a neighborhood plan update: Othello, North Rainier (Mount Baker), and North Beacon Hill. (Read the Othello appeal here, the North Rainier appeal here, and the North Beacon appeal here.) The appeals are nearly word-for-word identical, with only a few minor differences (such as the sections describing each distinct neighborhood and the appellants’ connection with them).

The Othello appeal was filed by Ron Momoda, Patricia Paschal, and Jenna Walden. The North Rainier appeal was filed by Pat Murakami and Barbara Marino. Most are well-known neighborhood activists in Southeast Seattle, and several were active last year in speaking out against House Bill 1490 and Senate Bill 5687, which would have created incentives and requirements for transit-oriented development and density near light rail stations.

The three appeals all request the same thing: that DPD’s Determination of Non-Significance (DNS) for each neighborhood’s plan update be vacated, and that DPD be required to take other actions including additional community notification, review, and validation, and environmental impact analyses.

The North Beacon appeal has been the subject of some heated controversy in the comments sections of the BHB posts linked above, with some commenters suggesting that the appeals are specifically intended to cause the entire update process to be scrapped, or that they were filed in order to block any upzoning or increased density, while some others say the update plan was flawed from the start, and that appeals such as this are a necessary and important part of the process of making this update work for North Beacon Hill.

El Centro de la Raza, who have had plans to develop their property just north of Lander Street, have filed their own motion to intervene and dismiss Merrell’s appeal.

The recently published Neighborhood Plan updates (the North Beacon one is here) were developed through a process that began in Fall 2008 and continued through 2009 with community meetings and open houses in March, May, and September.

(ed. note—Frederica Merrell occasionally contributes opinion articles to the Beacon Hill Blog.)

Urban Planning

El Centro requests DNS appeal be dismissed

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El Centro de la Raza has requested to the City of Seattle’s Hearing Examiner that the appeal of the Determination of Non-Significance filed by Frederica Merrell be dismissed, citing their own involvement in the neighborhood planning process, the impact on their property, and appeal issues said to be ‘not ripe’ for the premature involvement of the office of Hearing Examiner. If not dismissed, they have requested that the appeal be restricted solely to the legal issue of the proper execution of Washington Administrative Code sections 197-11-055 (Timing of the SEPA process), 197-11-060 (Content of environmental review), and 197-11-228 (Overall SEPA/GMA integration procedures).

The full letter as provided to us by Estela Ortega of El Centro de la Raza is after the jump, or available as a PDF here.

Continue reading El Centro requests DNS appeal be dismissed →