Ravenna-Bryant Community Association
NEWSLETTER
Spring 2000 MEETING
Monday, April 17, 2000 6:45 pm
Ravenna Eckstein Community Center, 6535 Ravenna Ave. NE
It’s spring — and time for the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association general meeting! Come meet and greet your neighbors, hear about free trees, and learn about residential parking zones for areas impacted by the Seahawks at Husky Stadium.
AGENDA
6:45 Meet and greet the neighbors
7:00 Laurie Ames, Department of Neighborhoods, will speak about the Tree Fund and examples of projects in Ravenna and Bryant organized by neighbors and funded by the City.
7:15 Julie Erickson, parking czarina, will speak about Seahawk and Husky game day Residential Parking Zones (RPZs)
8:00
• Announcements and board elections
• Status of design and environmental review of proposed 700' apartment building on Blakeley
• Status of proposed Blakeley Crescent Park
• Future meetings about proposed Roosevelt High School renovation
• Update on Ravenna Park restoration
• Update on University of Washington Master Plan
8:45 Other business, adjourn
The Seahawks are Coming...
Apply for a Residential Parking Zone
This fall the Seahawks will be playing their home games at Husky Stadium. As a condition of their permit to use the stadium, the team will be paying for game day residential parking zones (RPZs). Parts of the Ravenna-Bryant neighborhood are already approved for RPZs. People outside the approved area can still request them but must wait until after the first game, so that the city can measure the game day impact, to see if the area qualifies.
Even if you live in a pre-approved area an RPZ is not automatic. Sixty percent of the households in at least five contiguous blocks must sign a petition requesting an RPZ. (Each unit in an apartment building is a household.) The Seahawks have agreed to circulate petitions.
Any Seahawk RPZ will also include a Husky game day RPZ. When requesting a game day RPZ people can choose: 1) an RPZ which will end for both Husky and Seahawk game days when the Seahawks leave Husky Stadium, or 2) an RPZ which will include both Seahawk and Husky game days and then which will drop the Seahawk game day RPZ in two years, but will continue the Husky game day RPZ. (The University of Washington pays for the Husky RPZs.)
Still wondering if you’re in the pre-approved area? The area is bound on the west by 25th Avenue NE, on the north by Northeast 57th, on the east by 47th Avenue NE and to the south by Surber, which is in Laurelhurst.
Requests for RPZ’s should be sent to Julie Erickson, Seatran, 600 Fourth Avenue, Room 708, Seattle, 98104.
Still have questions? Don’t know what kind of parking problem your neighborhood needs to qualify for an RPZ? Not sure you want one in your neighborhood? A representative from Seatran will be at the spring meeting to answer questions.
Blakeley Sprouting a Large Development and a Park
One of our neighborhood’s busiest areas faces some significant changes. Here’s information on two pending projects.
Blakeley Development Spurs Neighborhood Concerns
Developers are making headway on building a 700-foot long, 5-story mixed-use building on NE Blakeley Street. The building would supplant several buildings along Blakeley, including Almvigs, and may have traffic and parking repercussions. Mary Whitfield provides a brief update/review of this Blakeley project:
The last design review meeting was on January 24. At that meeting the design review board continued to express concerns about the height, bulk and scale of the project. They recommended, among other things, that the project be split into at least two structures. On January 18, the developers (Intracorp) completed the required Environmental Checklist in order to determine if the proposed project would have any adverse environmental impacts; none were found. With respect to potential traffic impacts, the response was "there are no traffic impacts." On January 26, Intracorp applied for a Master Use Permit (MUP). MUP signs have been placed along Blakeley and the Burke-Gilman trail.
Because of concerns about traffic and other environmental impacts, petitions were circulated to request a hearing on the need for a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). With the help of Jeannie Hale from the Laurelhurst Neighborhood Association, and Amy Stephson and Alison Walker from Ravenna-Bryant, we were able to submit over 80 signatures to DCLU.
Since that time there has been no real news. The DCLU project planner, Marina Tarussov, indicated that the EIS hearing would happen sometime in April but no date has been set. Although another public design review meeting is required, no date has been set for that meeting either. A rumor is circulating that Intracorp has hired new architects. Hopefully that means that they are committed to taking the concerns of the design review board seriously, and are busily drawing up new plans for two to five separate structures. If that’s the reason for the lack of news, I can wait.
Thanks to everyone for their interest. I’ll do my best to keep you informed if and when any news comes my way.
— Mary Whitfield, mwhitfie@grcc.ctc.edu
The Blakeley Crescent Park
As a tradeoff for the inconvenience of having NFL football in our backyards for two seasons, the Seahawks are donating some money for a small park. Blakeley Crescent Park will be located near the intersection of 25th Ave NE and NE Blakeley. Plans for the park are underway. More information, and discussion, will be available at the RBCA Spring Meeting.
Free Trees Available to Seattle Residents
One of our guests at the Spring Meeting will be Laurie Ames from Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods. She will speak about Seattle’s Tree Fund and the Small and Simple Projects Fund which are available to Seattle residents.
The Tree Fund awards free trees to neighborhood groups to plant along residential planting strips or in Seattle city parks. Trees along the planting strips add beauty to our streets and tend to have a calming effect on traffic. Groups can apply for 10 to 40 trees chosen from an approved list and coordinate plantings with a city arborist.
The Small and Simple Fund supports neighborhood planning, organizing, improvements, and public school partnership projects. Ms. Ames will tell us about some of the projects that have been funded in our area though these funds and provide information about applying. For a complete set of guidelines about funds available through the Dept. of Neighborhoods, visit this web site:
http://www.cityofseattle.net/don
New UW Master Plan Due Soon
The UW is midway through preparing a new Campus Master Plan that will govern development of the Seattle campus over the next decade. Key elements are: identifying open spaces to be preserved; identifying developable building sites; and transportation planning.
The draft transportation plan has just been issued (www.washington.edu/community/cmp/news.html). At present it calls for the University to hold the line on total parking spaces and total auto trips to and from campus. It has done that for the last ten years despite a growth of some 5,000 in the campus population. A further growth of 10,000 has been mandated by the Legislature. Continuing to hold the line will require stronger disincentives to auto commuting, which may be difficult for the University to adopt.
The University’s plans, and other issues in the greater University area, are reviewed at regular monthly meetings by the City-University Community Advisory Committee (CUCAC). The RBCA representatives are Bill Clark (bill@iphc.washington.edu) and Michael Bittner (mbit@u.washington.edu).
Northeast Branch Expansion Moves Up a Year to 2002
The Northeast Branch received great news last December when it was announced that we had been moved up in the schedule for our expansion from 2003 to 2002. The bond measure passed in November 1998 and will fund the expansion and renovation of the existing Northeast Library.
Fortunately, the Seattle Public Library already owns the property where the expansion will take place. The expanision process will begin sometimes during the first half of 2001. If you are interested in receiving updates, call the Capital Program at 386-4624, or e-mail capital.program@spl.org.
A Note from Saxe Floral
Nancy Javete of the Saxe family gives us an update on their property and plans:
We at Saxe Floral and Greenhouses would like to clarify our current direction as a business and longtime member of the community.
Recently, our family has been going through a period of transition. The family patriarch, Louis F. Javete, passed away August 12th, after over 50 years of living and working in the community. He was the driving force behind the business and will be dearly missed. Over the last decade there have been substantial shifts in our industry, making it more difficult for smaller nurseries, like us, to be competitive as growers. It is imperative for us, as a business, to evolve. We are focused on what is best for our business, our family and our community.
Saxe will continue to operate in its current form for the near term. Over the next few years we will downsize the physical area in which the business operates. We will relocate the floral shop to 25th NE, while we construct outdoor and indoor retail space for the flower shop and nursery with apartments above on NE 65th. Long term, the second phase will be the building of townhouses with open spaces, which we feel will be an excellent addition and enhancement to the neighborhood.
We look forward to continuing as an integral part of the Ravenna-Bryant community. Thank you for all your support and your thoughts and warm wishes on the passing of my husband and our father.
—
Nancy Javete, Saxe Floral & Greenhouses
What the Next Six Years Hold for Seattle Parks
On April 13, 2000 there will be a hearing before the Board of Parks Commissioners on the Draft 2000 Parks Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan covers open space acquisitions, community centers, athletic fields and all other Park Department activities for the next six years. The hearing will be at Board’s office at the corner of Denny and Dexter beginning at 7 p.m. If a project is not included in the Comprehensive Plan it will probably not happen in the next six years. The RBCA has written to urge that Blakeley Crescent Park be included in the Plan. If you feel a particular park, field or acquisition should be included send your comments to the Parks Board or come to the hearing.
For further information about the Draft Comprehensive Plan, e-mail Beth Purcell at beth.purcell@ci.seattle.wa.us
The Parks Department also has been working, with a number of citizens, to develop a fall levy to fund the acquisition and maintenance of some Seattle parks. This group, called the ProParks Committee, has recommended two measures, costing approximately $160-200 million, be included on the fall ballot. One would be a property tax measure for maintenance and operations, and the other a bond measure for capital projects. While there is some overlap between the Comprehensive Plan and the proposed levies, the two are not the same.
The plan lists hundreds of possible projects — all in its appendices. Unfortunately, while the plan is online, the appendices are not (the plan is online at http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/). To see the appendices you must go to your branch library or have a copy of the plan mailed to you. You can get a copy of the plan mailed to you by e-mailing Kevin Stoops at kevin.stoops@ci.seattle.wa.us. or calling him at 684-7053.
The ProParks Committee has also scheduled workshops on the recommendations it has developed for the proposed fall parks and open space levy. The workshops will be your opportunity to comment on the criteria for selection of projects and the actual slate of projects. The workshop scheduled closest to our neighborhood is on Thursday, April 13, at the Meadowbrook Community Center, 10515 35th NE from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
RBCA E-mail News & Web Page
The Ravenna-Bryant Community Association (RBCA) has a web page at http://www.scn.org/neighbors/rbca/
Visit the site to find out about upcoming meetings and other items of interest to our neighborhood.
RBCA also has an e-mail news list to keep you informed in a timely and low cost manner. If you subscribe to this list, you will receive occasional e-mails from the RBCA board. Instructions on how to unsubscribe are included in every note. RBCA will not give out your e-mail address nor allow junk mail to be sent. To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@scn.org. Put anything or nothing in the subject line (it will be ignored.) In the body of the message, type
subscribe rbn.Your message will look like this:
To: majordomo@scn.org
Subject:subscribe rbn
Thank Yous…
Cynthia Sullivan…
King County Councilmember Cynthia Sullivan has helped our neighborhood with many issues over the years. Andrew Schmid, who is on her staff, regularly attends neighborhood meetings both to take information back to Councilmember Sullivan and to answer questions about the byways of county government.
Councilmember Sullivan recently awarded the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association a $700 grant for neighborhood outreach and development of the community association. We greatly appreciate it.
Whole Foods…
Appetizers for the biannual meeting are being provided by Whole Foods Market, your new neighborhood natural foods grocery store. Whole Foods Market is located at 1026 NE 64th Street in the Roosevelt neighborhood. Hours are M-Su, 8 am - 10 pm and the coffee bar opens at 7 am. Stop by this new store when nearby.
Items of Interest
Design Review Board Opening
Design Review Boards conduct public meetings and evaluate projects for conformance with both citywide and neighborhood specific design guidelines. The Blakeley project is in the midst of design review now. Members receive no compensation and often deal with contentious issues. If you are interested call Patrick Doherty at DCLU, 233-3852. Also, please let RBCA know — we would gladly discuss your application with you.
The Big, Big Book Sale
The annual Friends of the Library Book Sale will be held Saturday, April 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, April 16 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is a preview for Friends of the Library members on Friday, April 14 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Memberships can be purchased at the door. The sale is at Sand Point/Magnuson Park. (Take Metro #74 or 75.) Follow the signs and come recover from tax day with bargains on books!
Small and Simple Project Fund Applications
Small and Simple Projects are neighborhood-initiated projects the city supports by providing cash to community groups. The City awards match community contributions of volunteer labor, professional services, materials or cash. Projects can include playgrounds, community planning efforts or even the Fremont Troll.
Small and Simple Projects must be completed within six months (although extensions can be granted) and are for $10,000 or less. Deadlines for this year’s project applications are Monday, May 15, Monday, July 17, Monday, September 18, and Monday, November 20. Call the Department of Neighborhoods at 684-0464 for an application or contact your Neighborhood Service Center. Ours is located at 4534 University Way. The deadline for the Large Projects Fund, which deals with applications of more than $10,000 is Monday, July 17.
Volunteer Activities
Earth Day, April 22
Here are a few of the Earth Day activities:
To volunteer at Green Lake restoring habitat near the Bathhouse Theatre, call Theresa at 615-0691. To help restore several creek sites, see web site http://www.cityofseattle.net/util/urbancreeks/. To volunteer with restoration projects in Southeast and Central Seattle Parks, call CAMP at 812-4988. Projects include cleanup, planting, removal of non-native species, habitat restoration, sapling care, and trail building.
For other Earth Day activities (volunteer and celebration), see web site http://www.earthdayseattle.org/main.html. It also lists activities on days other than April 22.
Spring Volunteer Activities
Spring Clean 2000, April 1 - May 14
Organize your own volunteer group to do a Spring Clean 2000 project sometime between April 1 and May 14, 2000. Projects can be anything to clean up and beautify our schools, streets, parks, creeks, watersheds and other public spaces. The city of Seattle will support your efforts with bags, free disposal passes, certificates, publicity, project design, additional volunteers, and coordination. Call 233-7187 or visit web site http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/util/ept/springclean.
Seattle Works Day, May 13, 2000
Participate with over 3000 others on this one day of volunteer work to improve our community in more than 60 projects. Schools will be painted, graffiti removed, parks spruced up, and neighborhoods cleaned. Sign up as an individual or bring a group. Call 517-2658 or visit web site http://www.seattleworks.org.
Children’s Home Society
Children’s Home Society of Washington, 3300 NE 65th, is always looking for caring people who may be interested in volunteering. Please call Volunteer Coordinator, Kathy Gill, at 695-3223.
Join the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association
RBCA and its members work on important issues for you. Like any organization, we want new contributing members, and need volunteers for tasks such as distributing the newsletter and working on community projects and concerns.
Annual dues are only $10. Your dues allow us to produce and distribute this newsletter and keep you informed. Return this form with your dues to: Ravenna-Bryant Community Association, Ravenna Eckstein Community Center, 6535 Ravenna Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98115. You will receive the newsletter and other special mailings, and know that you have made a contribution to help your community.
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