CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 7:04 PM.

ATTENDING: John Clarke, Karl Weyrauch, Bonnie Zinn, Heather Newman, Shawn Whitcomb, Jennifer Biely, Don Torrie, Maggie Weissman, Jeannie Hale, Pat Wright, John Burge, Jean Colley, Stan Sorscher, Barb Ragee, Susan Torrance, Mark Trumbauer, Mark Holden, Todd Cahill

Excused: Mimi Levin, Shahina Piyarali, and Jim Romano

GUESTS: Andrew Schmid, Karen Ko, Gordon Hom, Lachlan Foss, and Bonnie Miller

Andrew Schmid, from Metro, gave a progress report on the Trans Lake Washington project. He said plans now include less mitigation of traffic effects on surface streets in Montlake and other neighborhoods close to the project. Paul Klemond has learned that cameras may be installed on surface streets with images available on the internet, similar to existing camera images managed by Seattle and Metro. One of the camera locations being considered is the northern pedestrian overpass on Montlake Ave.

Laurelhurst Substation: Earlier this year, Stephen Hagen, Real Estate Services Manager with Seattle City Light, briefed the Northeast District Council about plans to surplus substations in northeast Seattle. The sites will be surplused due to changes in technology on the way electricity is delivered. Some of the sites, including the substation in Laurelhurst are slated to be transferred to the Parks Department. Others will be used for low income housing or sold for other purposes.

Transfer of the substation in Laurelhurst to the Parks Department will allow expanded park area at the Playfield. Laurelhurst also has an interest in the substation located adjacent to the Sand Point Elementary School and has joined with other neighborhoods in supporting this location for the site of the proposed Sand Point Branch Library.

This transfer is currently budgeted for the 2007-2010 time frame. This would cover re-wiring the electrical service, and land costs as the property is transferred from City Light to the Parks Department. Some switching gear will remain on the site after the transfer. The land will be tested for contaminants before the transfer.

QFC Gas Station Proposal: Gordon Hom, Manager of Leasing and Property Management at QFC, and Lach Foss from Woodman Construction briefed the board about QFC's plans to install a gas station in University Village. Specifically, QFC has applied for a master use permit to construct a five-pump, self-service gas station near the back entrance to University Village. The project includes a 115 square foot kiosk (attendant booth) under a 4,000 square foot canopy and installation of two underground fuel storage tanks (120,000 gallons and 116,000 gallons). It will involve relocation of nine parking spaces, removal of five parking spaces and future demolition of the existing maintenance building. LCC requested an extension of the comment period for this project. The deadline to comment is now December 18.

Similar arrangements have been built in Lynnwood of SR 99 and in Sequim. The University Village station will be open from 6 AM to 10 PM.

Prior to the meeting, LCC furnished QFC with possible questions about the project:

1. What will be the increase in traffic? (Are there studies that indicate how many additional vehicles would be attracted due to the gas station? Have you undertaken a study for this location?) The developers predict no more than 39 additional trips in peak hours. Currently, 100's of cars per hour use 3 entrances to that corner of the site.

2. What is the vehicle circulation pattern that is expected as a result of the project? (What will the increase in cars be entering the back entrance to the Village, as opposed to the 45th Street entrance to QFC?) Developers expect much of the activity to come from shoppers already in the village. They are studying how cars will queue at the pumps. Circulation of traffic will be coordinated with patterns in the parking lot.

3. What measures will be taken to ensure that vehicles enter QFC from 45th as Blakeley is already highly congested? With the initial QFC expansion, we were promised that 45th would be the main entrance. Developers expect supply trucks to enter from Blakeley.

4. What, if any, mitigation measures have been identified for implementation? A traffic light on 45th was considered but opposed by DOT since other lights at the viaduct are so close. The group discussed sidewalks on Blakeley.

5. The kiosk will provide shelter for gas station attendants. Developers imagine that the advantage card will be involved in coordinated marketing plans between the gas station and the grocery store.

6. What measures will be taken to ensure that there are no problems with gas fumes? Developers plan 8-10 weeks for construction, with equipment meeting stage 2 vapor recovery standards. Storage tanks will have flexible materials with double-walls.

7. How is QFC working with U Village on transportation management issues?

8. What will the project look like?

9. What are the logistics of how people will purchase gas? Will this be by credit card? Do people have to go back into the store to pay?

Crime Report: Pat Wright expressed appreciation for the LCC letter in support of continued budgetary support for police and fire fighters. We expect 2 Crime Prevention representatives to be available for the North Precinct. The Villa Academy fixed their gates, which seems to have helped control late night parties in that area. The Park is working on cleaning up "tagging" and graffiti. Two officers have been moved from the gang unit to the North Precinct, which was related to a decentralization of some assignments to the precincts.

ADMINISTRATION
Changes to the Agenda:

Minutes: The board reviewed minutes of the November 11, 2002. Motion (Weyrauch): Approve the minutes as corrected by Pat Wright, seconded by Zinn. The November minutes were approved as corrected.

Treasurer's Report: The Treasurer's report will be postponed as Levin could not attend tonight's meeting. Levin reported that LCC has $78,485.48 in its checking account and $39,280.45 in the Blakeley Crescent Park account.

CALLS AND CONCERNS

1. QFC Gas Station: Jim Schnitzius emailed on 11/25/02 to raise concerns about the proposed QFC gas station at University Village. He thinks the gas station will be an eyesore and that the gas fumes will interfere with people sitting at nearby locations, some of whom may be drinking coffee or eating. He thinks the gas station will negatively impact other businesses at the Village. He also pointed out that a gas station is unnecessary because there are already three in the area-two on 35th and one on Blakeley. Schnitzius submitted comments to DCLU on the project.

2. Noisy Joggers: Perk Thornberg emailed on 11/22/02 to complain about UW joggers at 7:05 a.m. running up the hill on 41st. The UW is following up with athletic directors as this has been a problem in the past.

3. Cable Boxes: Mason Bender, who lives on Ivanhoe, emailed on 11/21/02 about a cable box that has been installed in his front yard without notification. The box is about 12-15 feet from the street (not in the parking strip) and he would like it undergrounded. LCC is following up on this and other cable boxes.

4. City Budget Issues: Maureen Anderson emailed on 11/19/02 to thank LCC for its work on city budget issues as reported in the November newsletter.

5. Cameras on Montlake Boulevard: Steve Shaiman emailed on 11/18/02 to suggest web cameras on Montlake Boulevard that show traffic congestion near the IMA Building. Before the expansion of the IMA, he had a clear view with binoculars from his house of traffic in the area. Shaiman has been put in touch with Paul Klemond who is working on this issue for Laurelhurst.

6. Stolen Christmas Decorations: George Majercak emailed on 12/04/02 to report his electric, illuminated Santa was stolen out of his front yard and a big teddy bear from his car. He lives on the corner of 43rd and 45th NE.

7. Tagging in the Neighborhood: Kent Mettler emailed today to report spray painting on lamp posts, signs and concrete walls especially in the area of the Playfield. He reported the problem to David Yim at the Park. Mettler suggested we tell neighbors how to report tagging-who to call. Hale responded that she would pass this along to the LCC Crime Prevention Rep.

8. Sidewalk Safety: Dean Johnson called requesting Sidewalk Safety forms. Weyrauch has followed up.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. Absent: Piyarali is on leave of absence until January. Romano and Levin could not attend tonight's meeting due to conflicts.

2. Thank You! Thanks Don Torrie for coordinating distribution of trustee packets and to Lloyd and Newman for their assistance.

3. Princeton Street Bridge Opening: Finally, the Bridge is almost done! Mayor Nickels and the Seattle Department of Transportation will officially open the Princeton Bridge and connect the neighborhood to Sand Point Way and areas businesses on December 13th at 10:30 a.m. Weissman will represent LCC at the event. The new bridge is similar in design to the former structure with one lane of traffic in each direction and a pedestrian sidewalk on the structure's west side. Metro Route 74 is scheduled to begin service on the pre-construction route across the bridge the following week. Work remains to be completed at the site on the Burke-Gilman Trail.

4. Parking at North East Branch Library: At its last meeting, Northeast District Council voted unanimously to write a letter opposing charging for parking after expansion of the North East Branch Library is complete. This issue came up at the City Neighborhood Council. Parking fees will be charged at the Capitol Hill branch to ensure that there is parking for library patrons. Library officials reported that there is no plan to charge for parking at the North East Branch.

   The consensus of the board was to write a similar letter opposing parking fees at the library.

REPORTS/ACTION

UW Master Plan Update: Councilmember Nicastro's Land Use Committee considered the UW Master Plan at its December 3rd meeting. Committee members reversed their earlier positions in the Council preliminary recommendation on all issues of concern to adjacent communities except the golf driving range rezone. Peter Eglick testified on behalf of LCC in response to the illegal ex parte communications that took place at the Chamber of Commerce attended by seven councilmembers. Out of fairness, petitioners were given an opportunity to rebut the illegal comments which related to University property acquisition in the adjacent communities.

An outline of Eglick's comments is included in this month's UW Master Plan packet. In his comments, Eglick recommended an incentive to encourage the UW to develop on-campus rather than in the neighborhoods-along the lines of reducing the square footage of development that will occur on campus by at least twice the amount of square footage of property purchased. Council President Steinbrueck supported this approach and it is possible that an amendment will be offered in this regard. The University and DCLU were given the opportunity to respond to comments from the petitioners, but had nothing to say in response to this recommendation.

Talaris Draft Environmental Impact Statement: Carol Eychaner, LCC Land Use Consultant briefed the Board on the Talaris' development, in preparation for the hearing to be held Wednesday, December 11, at the Center for Urban Horticulture. Carol introduced some history for the EIS, saying that in December 2001, Stephanie Haynes of DCLU had called for an alternative including mitigation of the effects on the neighborhood. The developers had added alternatives for single-family housing. Copies of the draft EIS were available from DCLU. The draft includes two plans for an Institute for Advanced Study and two single-family housing alternatives. The draft EIS contained poor treatments of height bulk and scale. In fact the document provides unusually low level of detail on any of the four proposed alternatives. Both IAS plans had the same footprint and use of space. One IAS plan called for more parking and unspecified additional mitigation of height bulk and scale.

The two single-family housing alternatives differed in density. One plan called for 81 units, although some lots were encumbered and not buildable as shown. The other SFH alternative had 60 or so lots, but no plan was provided in the draft EIS. The road layout, access and traffic circulation seemed to be tentative.

All four alternatives called for tree removal Ð up to 600 trees in the worst case. Many of the trees on the site are "significant" but none are granted special protection by law. No mention was made of daylighting of the creek running through the site. Carol pointed out that permitted use of phase 2 development would also be limited to an IAS. Discussion covered possible consequences of the UW lease lid being modified, and future expansion off the current UW campus.

At 9:15 PM, the Board went into closed session.

Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 PM.

Minutes prepared by Stan Sorscher
LCC Secretary