This article appeared in the March 2007 issue of the Wedgwood Echo

From the President:
Condominium Project Galvanizes Community

Though phone numbers for Wedgwood Community Council trustees appear on the back of each Wedgwood Echo, we rarely receive calls. But sometimes there's a flurry—like eight years ago when Matthew's Red Apple lost its lease and QFC was on its way in.

The Bagley Lofts, a Murray Franklyn project in Wallingford at N 45th and Bagley Ave N. This project has 43 units, half the number proposed for the Wedgwood project. Photo by David Atcheson.

This time, the calls are about a four-story condominium proposed at 35th NE and NE 86th, the site where the Jewish Community Center building now stands. Since we first wrote about the project two months ago, we've listened to concerns of neighbors in person, by phone, and through email. We also participated in an "early design guidance meeting" hosted by Seattle's Department of Planning and Development and attended by about 60 people.

Many of the concerns relate to the following:

• the height and scale of the project (44 feet and 88 units)
• traffic and street parking
• privacy and sunlight for immediate neighbors
• neighborhood character

One far-reaching concern is what the project may portend for the rest of the Wedgwood business district. The zoning classification that allows a 44-foot structure at 35th and 86th, NC2-40, also overlays the rest of the nearby retail zone (think Café Javasti, All That Dance, and the Wedgwood Broiler). Are the proposed condos the first in a wave of new development?

Due to the community interest and concern, the development company (Murray Franklyn) has opted for a second early design review meeting tentatively scheduled for mid March. Check www.scn.org/wcc/ or www.seattle.gov/dpd/ (project #3006103) for meeting details as they become available. You can also call Land Use Planner Lucas DeHerrera at (206)615-0724 and ask to be added to the notification list.

Not all of the concerns can be addressed through design review. Some, like traffic and street parking, will be addressed in an environmental review under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). The larger question of how our neighborhood develops will have much to do with how well our community can articulate a vision and organize around it. We'll need your help do that, so please stay in touch.

- David Atcheson
  WCC President

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