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Read this before you decide what you think about the Northgate Rezone proposal

Paul Krugman at the New York Times wrote a great Op-Ed piece, Stranded in Suburbia, this week. He discusses the impact on current and future high oil prices on how we live and design our cities – denser communities with good public transportation.

(thanks to Hugeasscity blog for pointing this out)

Need a Bike Helmet?

Bike Helmet Sales and Fitting
For adults and children over age 1. Come have your own bike helmet fit properly or buy a new one for $10-wearer must be present for fitting. Sponsored by Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in conjunction with Cascade Bike Club.

Date/Time: Saturday, June 9, 2007
Place: Metropolitan Market
5250 40th Ave NE, Seattle
Contact: Katie Fath 206-987-2836

Cascade Bicycle Club/Seattle Parks and Recreation

2008 Bike Helmets Sales Dates

  • June 21, July 19, August 16, Septmeber 20, Evans Pool, 10am – 2pm, 7201 E Green Lake Drive North, Seattle, WA 98115 (206.684.4961)
  • July 15, 2nd Annual Northgate CC Birthday Party , 6pm – 9pm, Northgate Community Center
  • August 5, Bike Mania, 12 – 3pm, Magnuson Park, Hangar 30

Learn more:
Bicycle helmet usage in King County (includes information on free and low cost bike helmets)
Cascasde Bicycle Club Education Foundation – Helmet information ((includes information on low cost bike helmets)

Need Sidewalks? Crosswalks?

Pinehurst and other neighborhoods in North Seattle are working together to advocate for much needed sidewalks and crosswalks. This is a public health and a public safety issue that all of us feel strongly about. However, for our efforts to be successful, we need your help to show that our communities feel as strongly as we have been telling City officials that you feel about sidewalks and crosswalks.

How can you help:

Join us at the Tuesday, May 20th City Budget Meeting – A representative from each neighborhood (Meadowbrook, Cedar Park, Lake City, Olympic Hills, Pinehurst and Maple Leaf) will be at the meeting and will have stickers that will identify all of us as a group. Wear a sticker and stand up with our group when we make a formal statement asking City Council to find additional funds for sidewalks and crosswalks in our neighborhoods.

Seattle City Council – Community Budget Meeting
Tuesday, May 20th – 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Ballard Northwest Senior Activity Center
5429 – 32nd Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107
Complete and return a Seattle Walks Survey – Be sure to state in your survey that you want to see specific sidewalks or crosswalks installed. We will have surveys at the the City Budget Meeting on 5/20. Also, I can mail or bring a survey to you personally if you call (366-9472) or e-mail me.

Let me know of any sidewalk or crosswalk needs that you see in Pinehurst
E-mail me with the location and what you think is needed. Also, send a photo if you are able to do this. We are assembling a book showing all sites in our neighborhood to show to Council we we meet with them one on one in June.

Show your support for a Jackson Park Trail‏

If you were not able to attend a Green Legacy Levy meeting this week, please consider completing and returning the survey at this link. Be sure to state in your survey that you would like to see a Jackson Park Trail. If a Jackson Park Trail is included in the levy and the levy passes, it would go a long way toward making the project a reality.

Victory Gardens

My friend, Anne, passed on this link to a San Francisco program for victory gardens – community supported agriculture.

Pinehurst Summer Social – Update

We will be partnering with Seattle Parks Department/Meadowbrook Community Center for the event.

Participants so far include: Seattle Tilth, Feet First, Cascade Bicycle Club, Zipcar, Seattle Residential Green Building, Seattle Climate Action NOW, Lake City Farmers Market, Urban Land Institute, Seattle Great City Initiative and Cascade Land Conservancy. Also, Seattle City Councilmembers Richard Conlin and Nick Licata and King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson will try to attend the event.

If you have ideas for other organizations to include, or if you would like to help with outreach or with running the event, please let me know.

Bye Bye Megahouse…

Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin is in the process of introducing legislation that would close some unpopular loop-holes in single family zoning such as megahouses. The following is a summary taken from the DPD environmental checklist:

This proposal would amend the development standards in the Single Family zone to help ensure that the permitted size of new homes is reasonable and in proportion to their lot, and to address compatibility with neighborhood character.

Current Rules
Under the existing code, home size is primarily regulated by height and lot coverage:

Existing Height Limits
The height limit in single family zones is 30 feet generally and 25 feet on lots 30 feet in width or less. An additional 5 feet is allowed for pitched roofs. The height limit may also be increased on sloped lot where the height limit on the downhill side is increased an additional foot for each 6 degrees of slope, and on lots where the average height of adjacent houses is greater than
the existing limit.

Existing Lot Coverage Limits
Allowed lot coverage is 35% of the lot area or 1,750 sq ft, whichever is greater.

Proposed New Rules
The proposed amendments would achieve the following:

  • Reduce the maximum lot coverage on lots less than 5,000 sq. ft. from 1,750 sq. ft., as is allowed currently, to 1,000 sq. ft. plus 15% of lot area. This change would help ensure that development on smaller lots is more proportional to the lot while still accommodating reasonable development on small lots.
  • Modify the sloped roof allowance to increase the minimum allowed pitch from 3:12 to 4:12 (rise:run). Roofs with pitches of 3:12 are not commonly found in Seattle and are generally out of character with existing development.
  • Limit the additional height permitted for sloped lots to a maximum of five feet to reduce the size of large homes on steep slopes and make this provision consistent with that currently found in multifamily zones.
  • Remove the corner lot coverage allowance and reduce the alley lot coverage allowance to 10%. These allowances currently permit overly large homes on corner and alley lots.
  • Allow dormers constructed above the maximum permitted height, but below the peak of a pitched roof in some cases. Dormers provide architectural interest by breaking up roof features while allow more usable upper floors.
  • Delete the provision accommodating taller structures as a product of averaging the height of adjacent existing single-family structures. This provision is confusing and rarely used and 30 feet is considered to be a reasonable height limit, regardless of surroundings.

In addition to the bulk controls mentioned above, this proposal would also implement a number of changes designed to help ensure the compatibility of new development with existing development. These changes would:

  • Limit hardscape surface areas to 65% of lot area.
  • Waive parking requirements for single family residential uses on parcels less than 3,000 square feet in size, or 30 feet in width where access to parking is permitted through a required yard abutting a street. Parking requirements on small lots can result in irregular housing configurations where the garage may occupy the entire first floor and may prevent all on-street parking where separation of curb cuts is not sufficient to allow parking between them.
  • Prohibit garage walls from being any closer to the street lot line than 80% of the street-level façade that is not a garage. This is intended to reduce the visual impact of garages.
  • Limit the width of garage doors on a street-facing façade to 50% of the structure width or 10 feet, whichever is greater. This is intended to reduce the visual impact of garages.
  • Specify that minor additions such as eaves and unenclosed decks shall not prevent development of adjacent historic lots. This modification would clarify the intent of the historic lot exception to allow development of adjacent lots under common ownership that were historically developable as separate lots by ensuring that subsequent minor additions do not prevent their development.
  • Allow additional lot coverage for rear garages on lots with parking access through the front yard. Rear garages reduce the impact of garages on the streetscape.

The proposal would also amend the sloped roof allowance to increase the minimum allowed pitch in Residential Small Lot zone and for Institutions in Lowrise zones to make them consistent with changes to Single Family zoning.

This ordinance would apply to all Single Family residential zoned parcels in Seattle. The proposal would also impact limited sites in Residential Small Lot zone and Lowrise zones that may be affected by changes to minimum roof pitch in the slope roof allowance.

Pinehurst Green Safeway – status

What is the status of the Pinehurst Safeway project?

Safeway needs to accomplish three things:

  • Obtain internal Safeway corporate approval for the project – This is slated to happen by the end of June, 2008.
  • Get through design review – Safeway sailed through the early design guidance process (though they still have a lot of follow-up to answer comments and suggestions from the Design Review Board). Safeway is waiting for corporate approval to move forward to the next phase of design review.
  • Receive a rezone from Seattle City Council – Safeway has started this process, but is waiting for corporate approval to move forward.

Support Seattle Parks and Jackson Park Trail (what you can do)

Attend An Open House to support a renewal of the Seattle Parks Levy – and a possible Jackson Park Trail
The current park levy in Seattle, the Pro Parks Levy, expires this year. The Green Legacy Coalition has organized in support of a parks renewal levy package in 2008. The Pro Parks Levy brought us neighborhood gems such as Cal Anderson Park, Ballard Commons Park, the Central Area’s Homer Harris Park, Greenwood Park, and Northgate Park, as well as many other new green spaces and natural area restoration projects – over 40 acres in all.

The Benefits of a New Levy
As a rapidly growing city, Seattle needs a fresh round of investments in green infrastructure – parks, sports facilities, walking trails, creek corridors, and natural drainage systems. Green infrastructure isn’t a luxury; it’s essential to meet our human needs and environmental responsibilities. In addition to the environmental benefits, the continuation of the Pro Parks Levy promotes:

  • More active community spaces, leading to a healthier public.
  • More people enjoying our improved parks and green spaces, resulting in “eyes on the street” and a safer environment.
  • Giving people more choices to walk instead of driving, when parks are connected to walking paths and streets.

Now’s the Time to Help
The Seattle City Council has empanelled a Parks and Green Spaces Levy Citizen’s Committee to assemble a new levy package and to recommend when the levy should go to vote. Please attend a public meeting and speak up to help get the Pro Parks levy on the ballot. Help us show that there is broad public support for continued investment in the ecological, community and economic benefits that green spaces bring to our Emerald City. The Green Legacy Coalition’s desire to fund green infrastructure is not guaranteed to get in the levy language. If you think these are good ideas, please say so at a public meeting, or by writing to parksandgreenspaceslevy@seattle.gov.

If you would like to see a Jackson Park Trail (or other projects), be sure to mention this at the meeting and in the survey that you will complete at the meeting. Or, write to parksandgreenspaceslevy@seattle.gov and note your support for this project.

Public workshops
Monday, May 12, 2008 – 6:00-10:00 p.m.
Berth Knight Landes Room
600 Fourth Avenue – 1st Floor
Seattle, WA 98104

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 – 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Northgate Community Center – Multi-Purpose Room
10510 5th Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98125
(206) 386-4283
Contact: Angie Anderson

Thursday, May 15, 2008 – 6:00-10:00 p.m.
Rainier Community Center – Multi-Purpose Room
4600 38th Avenue So.Seattle, WA 98118
(206) 386-1919
Contact: Kendra

Seattle Times Articles on Housing and on Development

There is a good article in today’s Seattle Times about the difficulty of median income (middle class) families to find housing they can afford in Seattle.

There is a also an article on the impacts of sprawling development on our regional environment.