May 13th Meeting
A reminder that our meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 13th from 6:30-8pm at Ginomai (corner of 42nd and Genesee in the old West Seattle Christian Church School).
Blue Star will be present to update us on the construction of the approved Whole Foods project and how it will impact our neighborhood. They will also give us some new information on the proposed project in the ex-Huling Showroom property.
Conner Homes will then present information on the proposed project on California/Alaska/42nd that went to design review in April. We have sent them comments and suggestions based onthe presentation, and they are open to further discussion.
Our website, www.wsjuno.com, is temporarily down. The site was hacked so we are in the process of working with our provider to restore the information. I hope to report on Tuesday that it is up again - stay tuned.
Also, we will be having a garage sale this Saturday from 9-3pm in front of 4542 41st Ave SW. Proceeds from the garage sale will go towards our $300 501c3 application fee and process. If you have any items you would like to donate to the garage sale to help us raise money, feel free to stop in on Saturday. All unsold items will be given to a local charity.
I look forward to seeing you all soon!
Sincerely,
Erica Karlovits
President, JuNO
May 9th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Our site is back up! Thanks Kyle!
May 14th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Great meeting last night! Here are the notes from the West Seattle Blog coverage. I will add more notes soon . . .
http://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=7523
It was wonderful to see so many new faces!
May 15th, 2008 at 10:51 am
These are the comments that JuNO sent to Conner Homes ahead of the meeting:
The Junction Neighborhood Organization hase reviewed the information presented at the design review meeting on April 10th and has listed below our comments/suggestions concerning the project.
Our comments on the project proposal:
The Building proposed on the Corner of California/Alaska:
1. California frontage - Should be 2 floors max at corner, with some additional floors stepped back with height bulk on alley frontage. No more than 5-6 floors total.
2. Retail entrances should be on California and Alaska to make a more interactive pedestrian experience.
3. Residential entrance/lobby should be on Alaska or alley.
4. Alley proposal interesting, but more focus should be on pedestrian experience on California and Alaska.
5. What is the community giveback for the development of garage under alley?
6. Parking garages should include increased (above required) parking for residential units, parking to accommodate retail employees, and customers (at least as much as will be taken away, more is better).
7. Design should include art, landscaping and benches.
8. Overhangs/awnings to inprove the pedestrian experience during inclimate weather.
9. Massing should allow for sunlight to reach California; moderate the vertical and horizontal lines to allow pockets of light to reach the street.
10. Corner should be setback to allow more pedestrian friendly approach at traffic light.
11. Building materials - brick.
The building that will sit on the corner of Alaska and 42nd:
1. Same general recommendations as above, however a bit more height than the 2-3 stories recommended on California (still within zoning) is tolerable.
2. Corner should be setback to allow more pedestrian friendly approach at traffic light.
3. Need to see more alternatives for garage entrance (alley and street options - light at 42nd and Alaska is going to be challenging once all projects are complete).
4. Retail entrances on both Alaska and 42nd.
5. Building should look very different from Alaska/California building so it is not one large mass as viewed from street.
6. Retail that incorporates outdoor seating for restaurants/cafe would be a great addition to the neighborhood. Five feet of sidewalk set-backs would accommodate this.
Additional recommendations concerning the impact to our neighborhood during construction include:
1. Offstreet/Offsite parking for all construction workers during all construction. Specifically, no construction worker parking on nearby residential streets.
2. Pedestrian right of way and sidewalks should remain open during construction.
3. No impact to existing on-street parking during construction.