Please join us for our upcoming community council meeting! It’s been a while so we’ve got a lot of exciting topics to cover. And, for the first time, we’ll be meeting in our newly renovated shelterhouse at Pinehurst Playfield. Please spread the word far and wide!
What?
Pinehurst Community Council Meeting. Everybody is welcome!
When?
Thursday, March 8th @ 7:00pm
Where?
Our newly remodeled shelterhouse at Pinehurst Playfield.
12029 14th Ave. NE
Agenda:
7:00 – Grants / Community Funds
- Do you want new sidewalks? Traffic calming? What about improvements to your parks, neighborhood, and community? Thomas Whittemore from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is going to talk about all the different sources of funding out there. There are a lot more than you may think.
7:20 – Upcoming Changes to Northgate (Sound/Metro Transit)
- There are a lot of changes coming to Northgate soon. The planning for the light rail station is well underway and this will bring many other changes for Sound Transit, Metro Transit, as well as the zoning in the surrounding areas. Ron Endlich (Sound Transit) and Ron Posthuma (King County Metro Transit) will be speaking about the upcoming plans for the area.
7:40 – Crime
- Terrie Johnston (SPD’s Crime Prevention Coordinator) will be with us again to talk about crime prevention and to answer any questions we may have.
8:00 – PCC Bylaws and Officers
8:15 – Vote on Northgate Parking Garage letter
8:20 – Discussion and Feedback (Blog, Pinehurstfest, anything else)
Please post Northgate Parking Garage Letter
Hi Sue, we (Pinehurst Community Council) are basically in agreement with the Maple Leaf Community Council on this issue. We’re still drafting our letter. Sound Transit and Metro will be at the meeting, and we also want feedback from the community. Here’s Maple Leaf’s letter.
Wow, that’s actually a tough one.The Northgate Comp. Plan calls for a public parking garage in the core. It’s reasoning being “to discourage the creation of private long-term parking for each site in the core.” Surface parking is also a blight. However, I don’t think the Comp Plan anticipated our City Council to do away with parking requirements in urban centers altogether.
The current thinking seems to be if we don’t give folks a place to park they will take a bus or some alternative mode. Wish it was so, don’t think that will happen.
This is old, and I really don’t know where to stand on the garage issue. Have a read
Seattle and King County Elected Officials,
The Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board (SPAB) strongly opposes an increase in parking investment by King County in downtown Seattle.
As proposed, the existing automotive and parking facility at 5th and Jefferson would be demolished to make way for a new office building. County owned properties across the street on ‘Goat Hill’ would be used to build a new parking structure, replacing existing surface lots. After the project is completed, there will be a net increase of parking downtown.
We have included a letter coauthored with other organizations, which we support, and supplement it with the following letter.
SPAB’s arguments can be summarized in three points:
1. Parking encourages and creates SOV trips, discouraging transit usage
2. The Comprehensive Plan aims to reduce the use of cars over time
3. SDOT wishes to limit auto trips in this area to relieve a taxed traffic system
1. Parking encourages and creates SOV trips, discouraging transit usage
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, limiting the overall amount of parking is the most effective overall strategy for discouraging single-occupancy vehicle trips. (“Transportation Control Measures: Parking,” 1998).
Business districts throughout the country have discovered that empty parking stalls abound. As long as you are willing to pay or walk there really isn’t a lack of parking. Anecdotally we’ve heard that the King County parking garage at King Center does not currently operate at capacity. It is perhaps a ten minute walk for County employees to walk between King Center and the proposed development.
Building additional parking will depress the ‘market rate,’ and make the cost more palatable to a set of users that are deciding between convenient parking, fringe parking, and alternative transportation.
A more complex look at parking would divide it between carpool, SOV commuter, and short-term. Certainly no additional SOV commuter parking should be provided. Attempts to justify other increases must be closely scrutinized to understand cascading effects.
2. The Comprehensive Plan aims to reduce the use of cars over time
The Seattle Comprehensive Plan specifically includes goals to decrease commuting by single occupancy vehicles, and broadly reduce the use of cars over time.
Seattle’s downtown has many workplaces, shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues. These create attractiveness for auto-dependent citizens to park downtown. Satisfying that demand will undermine attempts to encourage other citizens to use transit, and render our investments in monorail, light rail, and buses less valuable.
This parking garage will be two blocks from light rail, three from monorail, and is one to four blocks from most bus routes in the region. Employees and citizens visiting County offices will be well served by a short walk to transit.
3. SDOT wishes to limit auto trips in this area to relieve a taxed traffic system
In review of Martin Selig’s planned development at 5th and Yesler, city traffic engineers seemed very worried about impacts on the 6th and James intersection, which leads to an I-5 on-ramp. Apparently this intersection is already operating beyond capacity in rush hour, and negatively affects traffic downtown. The proposed King County parking garage is directly adjacent to Martin Selig’s property. Selig was only able to avoid concerns by ensuring that transit usage will be strongly encouraged. Additionally, a Diamond Parking shuttle will transport employees who choose to pay for parking to and from an offsite lot. (DPD folder on property 0942001155)
6th and James is already a difficult intersection for pedestrians. Crossing actions are limited to improve automobile flow. Impatient turning vehicles present hazards for people in crosswalks. Increasing traffic volumes will make these problems more dramatic at this intersection and many others in the area.
The King County lot is proposing to place an overabundance of parking directly adjacent to a parking starved building. This will have an obvious detrimental impact on traffic overall, and provide a discouragement to using transit. It should not be exempt to transportation policies rightly applied to other properties in the area.
Conclusion
The south portion of downtown is in transition. The city’s new government campus on the north and International District residential on the south are changing the area between Cherry and Dearborn for the better. In the past, an overabundance of parking has caused this to be inhospitable except to transients and auto commuters. King County officials must resist the urge to make a quick buck off of single-occupancy vehicle commuters, and Seattle officials must ensure that Comp Plan goals are consistently strived towards and uniformly applied.
Thank you for reconsidering an expansion of parking at 5th and Jefferson,
Rob Ketcherside
Chair, Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board
cc: Seattle Mayor Nickels, Seattle City Council, King County Executive Ron Sims, King County Co
Thanks for the comments. And the current letter is up on the blog now:
http://www.pinehurstseattle.org/2012/03/07/letter-for-consideration-at-meeting-tomorrow/
I look forward to more feedback at the meeting. 🙂