May 2012 General Meeting
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012, 6:00pm Virginia Mason’s Lindeman Pavilion, on Level 1, in Virginia Mason's Volney Auditorium (please note our meetings will now regularly be held at Virginia Mason)
- Soheila Ghassemikia from Seattle City Light, to discuss reliability improvements on First Hill
- Donald Harris from Seattle Parks to discuss First Hill park space in light of the recent acquisitions by Alecta
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April 2012 General Meeting
Tuesday, April 9, 2012, 6:00pm Virginia Mason’s Lindeman Pavilion, on Level 1, in Conference Room C and D (please note our meetings will now regularly be held at Virginia Mason)
- Holland Residental will be on hand to give us an update on their 1200 Madison project.
- Bob Derry from Stepherson & Associates will give us an update on the First Hill Street Car construction
- Alecta will give us an overview of their development plans on First Hill.
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February 2012 General Meeting
Tuesday, February 14th, 6:00pm,
Tuesday, February 14th, at 6:00pm, in Virginia Mason’s Volney Richmond auditorium*, which is in the Lindeman Pavilion on Level 1. PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE FROM SWEDISH HOSPITAL. The street address is 1201 Terry Avenue. You enter the building on the second floor, due to the hill, and take the elevator or stairs down to the first floor. There is parking in the garage in this building also, for a fee. Here is a link to the campus map and instructions:
https://www.virginiamason.org/body.cfm?id=226&fr=true
1) FHIA has arranged for Metro Transit to speak to us concerning the changes planned for Route 2 in September 2012: “Route 2's northern segment, from the point where it now turns from Seneca to 3rd Ave will be deleted; instead, it will be routed down Madison/Marion just like the 12. 2 will maintain its current frequency, but will be staggered to provide very frequent service from Colman Dock to the three-way intersection of 12th Ave, Union and Madison: 7.5 minutes during the day Mon-Sat and 15 minutes on evenings/Sundays. This is a very high level of service, some of the best in the city.” You can learn more about these changes by selecting Route 2 North/South at:
http://metro.kingcounty.gov/have-a-say/projects/restructuring-system.html
2) A Swedish pension fund adviser named Alecta has bought three properties on First Hill that are zoned for high-rise housing. The locations are:
- In late 2010, Alecta bought a site at Boylston Avenue and Seneca Street, where a previous owner planned a luxury condo tower called SkyGarden.
- It also bought a half-acre next to Harborview Medical Center where Mastro Properties had planned a 26-story apartment project called Harbor Vista at Terry Avenue and Jefferson Street.
- In 2012 Alecta paid $5.4 million for a quarter block at 800 Columbia St near 8th Avenue. The city of Seattle issued permits to Pierre Thierry to demolish the office building, remove the surface parking lot and cap the sewer at this property.
Our speakers will be William Justin and John Schwartz who are part of a design team that is helping Alecta explore design options for the Boylston and Terry sites. These speakers are not currently engaged in work on the third site at Columbia.
Design Review for 802 Seneca Set for February 1st
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/AppDocs/GroupMeetings/DRProposal3012797AgendaID3434.pdf
A group of neighbors including Freeway Park, Exeter House, Town Hall, Royal Manor, VMMC, Benaroya Research and Horizon House have formed a “community coalition” to raise concerns about the above design. They were successful in asking that the Design Review scheduled for January 4th be changed to a Design Guidance meeting, where four alternative concepts were presented by Laconia to the City’s Design Review Board.
The Design Review Board did not accept the developer’s proposal for a tower surrounded at its base by open space areas. Instead, the Board felt it important that a podium level of several residential floors be provided that would come out to the sidewalk along Seneca Street, while still providing a generous connection to Freeway Park along the 8th Avenue side of the site. The tower would then be atop the podium. The Board stated that it does not have the authority to reduce the building height that is allowed by code, but would seek to reduce the sense of building mass and height through various design measures.
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December 6, 2011
Concerns Raised On Revised 802 Seneca Project
New 330' height, lack of loading areas, environmental impacts questioned
First Hill Neighbors:
I wanted to share with you a letter that Horizon House will be sending to the city Department of Planning and Development (DPD) regarding our concerns for the Seneca Tower project. This is provided as a resource to you in the event you decide to send your own letter.
The new project proposed for 8th & Seneca would be a 330-foot tall tower. The prior project for this site was 240 feet tall. The public comment period on the new proposal expires at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 14th. If you have concerns about the proposal or believe it needs further study, please consider submitting a comment letter to the City. Public comment is important for aiding the City review process.
Comments should be submitted to: Ms. Shelley Bolser at Shelley.bolser@seattle.gov or by mail to her at:Department of Planning & DevelopmentP.O. Box 34019Seattle, WA 98124-40190
Horizon House has identified the following areas of concern, which you may also wish to reference in your comments:
1. Need for adequate public review opportunities. The City may allow the new project to skip the first step of the public design review process that is normally required, since there was a prior project approved on this site. However, the two projects are substantially different in both height and design. A meaningful examination of different design options would be foreclosed by skipping steps in the public review process.
2. The application materials include only minimal information about environmental impacts. There is no discussion of shadow impacts on Freeway Park or potential light and glare impacts on I-5 or nearby buildings. Complete and accurate information on environmental impacts is important, and an Environmental Impact Statement should be required.
3. The proposed project would have two driveways on the lower level of8th Avenue. This area is already intensively used for load and unload activities for existing buildings. The applicant's proposed "solution" to this conflict is to prohibit those load and unload activities so that access to the new building is not impeded. The application does not address how the load/unload needs of existing buildings are to be met, once displaced by the new project. Also, the proposed project does not include room in its garage for delivery and service trucks or move in/move out trucks. The "solution" is to establish a loading zone on Seneca Street in front of the new building for delivery and service trucks, and to have move in/move out vehicles use the lower level of 8th Avenue. Rather than internalize its traffic impacts, the project would push those impacts onto existing residents and buildings. A thorough analysis of traffic impacts, and measures to mitigate those impacts, is warranted.
4. The proposed project includes six departures from City code standards, including making each floor of the building wider than the maximum allowed. These departures need carefully scrutiny, and the justification provided to date is insufficient.
In addition to sending comments to the DPD planner, Shelley Bolser, it would be beneficial to directly communicate concerns to Diane Sugimura (DPD Director) re not skipping Early Design Guidance (EDG) phase. It would be helpful if Diane received 2 or 3 neighborhood-based comments urging DPD not to skip EDG. Diane does personally read her email and her email address is: diane.sugimura@seattle.gov. Her phone number is: 206 233 3882.
Bob
Bob Anderson, CEO
Horizon House
900 University St.
Seattle, WA 98101
boba@horizonhouse.org
(206)382-3601
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New Street Parking Rates/Regulations on First Hill
Pay Stations will be reprogrammed starting February 16th
From Allison Schwartz, Seattle Department of Transportation...
I wanted to provide the First Hill Improvement Association with details of the upcoming parking rate change. The rate will change to $4 per hour beginning this week (potentially Weds), and should take 4-5 business days to complete. Before the new rate goes into effect, SDOT will be applying a new rate sticker to each pay station.
As I mentioned at the December FHIA meeting, on-street rates in many Seattle neighborhoods will be changing to meet the city’s new policy direction of setting rates to make an average or one or two parking spaces available on each block. By improving access, people will spend less time circling the block, which also means less congestion and vehicle emissions. The rates for First Hill were set based on the results of a Citywide Paid Parking Study that occurred in November 2010. More information about the study and rate-setting methodology is available online at http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/parking/paidparking.htm. These changes are the first steps in a multi-year effort to set parking rates using a data-driven and outcome based process.
Other parking changes:
There are also two other parking initiatives underway to improve customers service and access to businesses. As part of Mayor McGinn’s Nightlife Initiative, pay stations will open at 10PM instead of 4AM to sell parking stickers for the following morning. This gives drivers a little more time to get home safely and retrieve their vehicles the next day. Pre-paid stickers are good from 8-10AM.Next-day pre-payment changes are occurring at the same time parking rate changes happen. More info can be found at http://www.seattle.gov/nightlife.
The second initiative will not affect First Hill. It is the extension of paid parking hours until 8PM in neighborhoods with active nightlife and high evening parking demand. This extension will occur between May and September. First Hill’s paid parking hours will remain in effect from 8AM-6PM, Monday through Saturday.
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions you might have, and/or if issues come up along the way. Questions can also be directed to project manager Margo Polley at (206) 684-8329 or paystations@seattle.gov.
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General Meeting Schedule for 2012
Meetings will be held at Swedish Medical Center, B-Level Conference Room #1, across from the cafeteria
Tuesday, January 10th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, February 14th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, March 13th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, April 10th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, May 8th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, June 12th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, July 10th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, August 14th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, September 11th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, October 9th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, November 13th, 6:00pm
Tuesday, December 11th, 6:00pm
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A Brief History of the First Hill Improvement Association
"Welcome to First Hill...Seattle's First Neighborhood". This greeting meets motorists and pedestrians from all directions as they enter the First Hill neighborhood on major arterial routes. These signs were erected in 1992 to help raise awareness that there is a distinct First Hill neighborhood, separate from Downtown and Capitol Hill. A neighborhood that is home to thousands of residents, from struggling students to the very well-to-do; three of the city's largest medical complexes; a major university; and an organization that works in the interest of all of these diverse groups, the First Hill Improvement Association.
First Hill had it's beginnings as Seattle's first true residential neighborhood in the 1890's, and today is the city's most diverse neighborhood in terms of the variety of housing stock and the mix of businesses found in the area. The First Hill Improvement Association (FHIA) was founded in 1958 by a group of concerned residents, who fought attempts by the State Department of Transportation to have just one overpass connecting First Hill with downtown Seattle. Their efforts brought 4 overpasses, and created the foundation for a community group that has fought for the interests of the area for over 50 years.
The FHIA launched this web site in 2003 to help promote the area and keep citizens abreast of events in the community. We encourage everyone to visit often, and stay in touch with what is happening in the neighborhood, find out how it affects you, and how you can help make a difference.
We encourage your feedback. Contact us and let us know how we're doing, and what your concerns are. We'll be happy to have you join with us and help make First Hill not only "Seattle's First Neighborhood", but Seattle's BEST Neighborhood.
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How to Contact Us...
Due to low utilization and the increasing use of e-mail, FHIA has discontinued its dedicated phone service. To contact FHIA Board Members, please use the following links:
President, Mike Hatchett mike.hatchett@polyclinic.com
Vice-President, Jim Erickson jerickson8@comcast.net
Communications and Finance Chair, Michael Gray michael.j.gray@comcast.net
Land Use Chair, Martha Barkman mbarkman@harborproperties.com
Major Institution Chair, Ted Klainer tklainer@u.washington.edu
Business Chair, Patricia Edmund-Quinn patriciaEQ@therapeutichealth.org
Neighborhood Plan Chair, Evyan Abookire eabookire@gmail.com
For general inquiries, please use our main e-mail address: mailbox@firsthill.org
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| The newly reconfigured Harvard-Seneca-Union intersection is one of the major projects spearheaded by the FHIA that was completed in 2009 |
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| New Pedestrian-friendly streetlights and new sidewalks on 8th Avenue, thanks to an effort lead by FHIA member Jim Erickson |
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