HPAC’s Official Comment for City Light’s Public Hearing on Surplus Properties

We submitted an official comment on the Surplus Properties that we felt reflected the sentiment felt at our September meeting:

We would like to request a re-zone of the Dumar site (16th and Holden) from residential to NC1-30 to match the other corner properties’ zoning before it is sold. This would not only help City Light earn more money for the sale, but also make sense for this corner property on an arterial. The entire neighborhood would benefit from a re-zone as it would encourage a more walkable community. We would like to see the whole neighborhood benefit from this sale rather than the sale benefiting just a single developer.

We would also like to encourage the sale of the White Center site (9th and Henderson) to King County Wastewater Division as a site for Green Stormwater Infrastructure. There is great need for space in our neighborhood for stormwater infiltration and we feel that this site would lend itself well to that sustainable endeavor. We also feel that this would be in the best interest of the entire community, who would be involved in the design process if it were to go forward with King County, rather than selling the benefit to a single developer. This site has a rich history and was donated to the city by a community member- we would like to make sure the neighborhood is returned some benefit in its sale. 

We encourage City Light to consider these requests from Highland Park and Riverview as they have the power to positively contribute to the sustainability of our neighborhood, and to provide benefit to the most number of people. 

If you are interested in submitting an official comment, please go to this website to submit your comments, you’ll see a link on the right side of the page that says “submit comments here.” It is also helpful to send your comments to City Council. Thank you!

Surplus City Light Properties Discussion at HPAC

Seattle City Light has some surplus properties in our neighborhood that they are considering selling and are seeking public comment on the idea. More information can be found on Seattle City Light’s surplus properties website.  We asked them to come discuss these properties with us at last night’s HPAC meeting. We also asked Seattle Parks to comment on them: they are not interested in these properties as they are not located in any gaps in park locations according to their gap analysis studies.
One site is the old Trolley property at 8820 9th ave SW- near 9th and Henderson:
This is the site of the old Highland Park Lake Burien Trolley Barn and was the Sub station that provided power to the Trolley. A bit of history about this property sent to me by a Highland Park resident: This land was originally donated to the community of Highland Park by Clyde and Grace Sherman to build the car barn and substation so the community could have transportation and power.  The Sherman’s lived next door to the south in the tall house that still exists.  The Trolley line was independently owned by local community shareholders but when there was a land slide near the Abrahamson brick yard on West Marginal Way the local shareholders could not finance the replacement of the tracks and the land became the property of the City after a deal was made to repair the tracks and and run the line for a certain  number of years.  This became the first City owned street car line.
King County may be interested in this property near 9th and Henderson for Green Stormwater Infrastructure / Roadside Raingardens. If this were to happen, there would be community input and involvement through design. We heard support from community members that this would be a good use of the property- it is a very preliminary idea and no studies or decisions have been made. We also heard support of an idea to install a solar powered phone charging station available to the community in case of emergencies at this site.
The point was also made that this  property was donated to the city by a member of the community, and proceeds from the sale of the property should come back to the community in the form of funds for our underfunded parks projects. City Light, however, has some very strict orders/laws that dictate where the proceeds from the sale go.
The other property is located  across from the Seven Eleven at 1605 SW Holden:
We heard from the majority of the community members present that they do not want this property to become a park.
There was a lot of discussion about this property on 16th and Holden. Most of those present at the meeting would like to see this property’s zoning change from residential to commercial in an effort to create more of a walkable community for our neighborhood. The opinion is that maintaining residential zoning on one corner of a busy arterial intersection does not make sense and would not be the best use of the space for the community. The point was made that City Light could get more money for their property if they rezoned it prior to selling it, and the neighborhood would be happy to see that change happen prior to the property changing hands.
There was also a request for the City to re-look at zoning along the entire stretch of Holden from 16th to 9th, as it seems haphazard in its delineation.
If you are interested in commenting on these properties, there is a public hearing coming up on October 2nd from 7pm to 9pm at High Point Community Center. I know it’s so hard to attend all these meetings- so you can make an official public comment online too. Please note that last night’s meeting was just a discussion and not considered a public hearing, so our comments need to be submitted formally. Please go to this website to submit your comments, you’ll see a link on the right side of the page that says “submit comments here.” You can also write to Sally Clark, our City Council president, while you’re at it!  They are the ones that will ultimately be signing off on this, so it is imperative that they know we have an opinion on the properties.
West Seattle has 6 properties total, and a coalition has formed peninsula wide that is trying to slow down these sales until it is known what is the best use of each property for the community. The “West Seattle Green Space Coalition” was present at our meeting asking for signatures on their petition to slow the process down.  While it doesn’t seem like “green space” is what is best for our community in regard to the 16th and Holden site especially, HPAC is supportive of the idea of slowing the process down to determine the best use of these properties for each community in question.

Announcements and Notes from September HPAC meeting

Our Parks:

West Crest / West Seattle Reservoir Park will begin construction in late winter, scheduled to be finished by summer of 2014. There are still some decisions being made about re-using and moving the existing play equipment, and we will be informed when those decisions have been made.

We received a NPSF grant to address pedestrian safety along Cloverdale via a crushed rock stair and trail from 6th to the dog park parking lot at 5th. SDOT’s “Safe Routes to Schools” are considering the spot for a possible sidewalk from 7th to 5th. (The improvements at West Crest will include a sidewalk connection from 7th to 8th)

We also received an Opportunity Fund grant from Seattle Parks to address missing connections into Highland Park Playground/Spray Park east to Cloverdale/10th and north to Thistle. The schedule is still being determined for that project.

Green Seattle Day, a day to celebrate and restore Seattle’s urban forest, is on November 2nd, and West Crest Park is one of the sites for tree planting! October 5th is the day to help clean up the urban forest to get ready for the big day, from 9am – 1pm. More information is available on their website.

Highland Park Improvement Club:  The Club was recently awarded a King County grant (thanks to the efforts of Sustainable Seattle), to help de-pave part of the parking lot, install another raingarden, more planting, and a courtyard. If you are interested in participating, join us for a Greening Committee meeting on  October 2 at 7pm to discuss next steps.

Rainwise: if you have questions about RainWise and how to get a rebate for a rain garden and/or cistern for your property, attend a RainWise Workshop in South Park coming up on Thursday, October 17th, from 6:30-8pm at the South Park Community Center. More info available here.

Roadside Raingardens: Green Stormwater Infrastructure is coming to Highland Park! Areas for roadside gardens (not on your property like RainWise ones, but within the Right of Way along the street) are being studied in Highland Park. King County presented a plan with potential locations that will be online soon, so we’ll update our website when that happens.

Surplus City Light Properties: Info added  in this post.

September 25th HPAC meeting

The agenda is getting packed for our SEPTEMBER HPAC MEETING on the 25th at 7pm. We will have several guests: 
  • David Barber from Seattle City Light speaking about their two surplus properties in our neighborhood and seeking our input. More info on this website, addresses in question are 8820 9th ave SW (near 9th and Henderson)  and 1605 SW Holden (across from 7-11). With our input, we could help create some really positive transformations for Highland Park.
  • John Phillips and Kristine Cramer from the King County Wastewater Treatment Division are coming to discuss roadside rain gardens in the street right of way in Highland Park. 
  • Jo Sullivan from King County will be there again to give us an update on the success of Rainwise so far in Highland Park and answer any questions folks have about raingardens and qualifying for rebates. 
  • Seattle Parks department will be there to give us an update on Westcrest park improvements and to answer questions.
  • Kim Frappier from Forterra (Formerly Cascade Land Conservancy) will be sharing that Westcrest is participating in Green Seattle Day on November 2nd, come hear about that and ongoing forest restoration work in Highland Park.
  • Hannah Kett from Sustainable Seattle has some announcements about exciting changes coming to HPIC! 

Seattle Night Out is Tuesday, August 6th

The City of Seattle will be celebrating the 29th Annual Night Out Against Crime on August 6th this year. Last year, 1,366 events were registered to participate- registration is open now on this website. Register now to have your street closed for a block party! The event is a unique opportunity to bring your neighbors together, welcome new neighbors, talk about crime prevention and Block Watch efforts, and mainly just have a great time with food, music, games – whatever you want. 

Free Trees for your Yard!

We  hear a lot about people wanting more trees in Highland Park- now’s your opportunity to get some for free! The Trees for Neighborhoods program helps Seattle residents plant trees around their homes. Participants in the program receive up to 4 free trees , watering bags, and training on proper planting and care. The application for Trees for Neighborhoods program will open on July 31st, see their website for more information. It’s as easy as that! 

June HPAC cancelled for Greenway Meeting July 9th

Our regularly scheduled HPAC meeting will not be happening in June, because SDOT will be hosting a Neighborhood Greenway Meeting instead that we encourage everyone to come to. If you are at all interested in having a Greenway come through Highland Park, and would like a say in which street the route is on- now’s your chance,  please join us.

It will be on TUESDAY, JULY 9th, from 6-7:30 pm at Highland Park Improvement Club on 12th and Holden. (please note, this is not our normal HPAC meeting day or time, so mark your calendars!)

What’s a Greenway? Neighborhood Greenways are residential streets where signs and pavement markings are used to guide people along the route; and speed and volume management measures discourage cars from avoiding main streets by cutting through on neighborhood streets. These amenities can be especially beneficial for families, children and seniors who might find these routes more comfortable than busier nearby streets. Find out more about them here.

SDOT’s preliminary evaluation for Holden/HP Way

Preliminary evaluations for 2013 Neighborhood Street Fund applications are complete! Check out Highland Park/Holden intersection here. Next step is ranking by District Council, and then on to the Mayor for approval for those projects chosen to move forward to design in 2014, and construction 2015. Text of SDOT’s review of this project is here: 

The proposed NSF project would install a roundabout at this location. New curb, gutter and sidewalk would be installed and the intersection would be repaved to construct the intersection improvements. New roadway lighting would be installed around the perimeter of the roundabout and existing utility poles may need to be relocated to facilitate this installation. Landscaping or grass could be provided in areas in the newly created green spaces. A complete new drainage system is anticipated to fit the new grading and curb location. It is anticipated that the amount of new and replaced roadway pavement would require this project to provide stormwater detention and water quality facilities. Additionally, the project would be required to implement Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) to the maximum extent feasible. GSI features could consist of new tree installations or potentially some small swales depending on the final grading.

HPAC’s response to Council’s Letter to McGinn about Nickelsville

Here is our response to the City Council’s note to Mayor McGinn, here’s what’s going on, and here’s what we have to say about it:

We appreciate the council finally recognizing that the illegal encampment known as Nickelsville is not a good model for how our City should be treating our homeless. While we wish we had seen this letter and strong leadership over two years ago, we applaud that someone in our City government is finally seeing that this encampment has an unsustainable vision. We encourage the Mayor to respond quickly, preferable with a sooner move out date in an effort to honor  the community’s request. We would also like to see the Human Services department pay regular visits to our greenbelt throughout the summer to offer the same outreach, services, and provisions to the people living there.

Grants coming to life!

Check out the slideshow on West Seattle Herald and the blurb in West Seattle Blog for info about the new raingarden at HPIC- we’re in the middle of applying for more grants with Sustainable Seattle’s help, so stay tuned for some awesome changes coming to 12th and Holden!

We also have some great news about the Opportunity Fund. We applied for funds to create better access into the new spraypark at Highland Park Playground, and are on the list of finalists that are being passed on to the Mayor for final sign off! So, we’re looking forward to a Cloverdale/10th connection (which is also a pedestrian connection to Westcrest), and a path north to Thistle. Now not only will we have an awesome spraypark, we’ll actually be able to get there safely! It’ll take a while for it to happen, but it’s coming.