Guests: Sue Donaldson, City Council President; Cynthia Sullivan, County Councilmember; Nancy Waldman, Seattle School Board; Rob Fellows, Project Manager from WSDOT; Jeff Peacock, Transportation Consultant from Parametrix; Bridgett Chandler, UW Director of Community Affairs; Fred King, UW Acting Vice President for Capital Projects; Bill Talley, UW Landscape Architect; Doug Jennings UW; Peter Eglick, LCC Attorney, Diane Sugimura, Dept. of Design, Construction and Land Use; Nancy Oblanas, ERA Care Citizen Advisory Committee Working Group member; Jean Colley, VP of LCC and Working Group member.
Guest, Donaldson: Discussed why the Laurelhurst Community Center is not on the list for improvements from the bond measure. Sand Point (Building 47) will be getting significant money, which is why Laurelhurst didn't get any. Money for improvements at Sand Point is limited and this bond will make a big difference.
Discussed the need for good candidates for the City Council. She distributed a handout profiling the people who have declared to date. She doesn't support any of them. She says we need more candidates to come forward. Says everyone should serve in government at some time in his or her life.
Question on Sand Point: Are there plans to build indoor tennis courts? A: No. Also, the swimming pool is no longer useable. With enough money it could come back but pools cost a lot of money to maintain.
Discussed problems with the phone system. She is not confident the problem is fixed. Neighbor commented that an article in the evening paper said the problem not fixed.
Guest, Sullivan: Heidi Wills, who used to work for Sullivan is going to run for City Council. Sullivan says she is very capable and she supports her.
Discussed Seahawks use of Husky Stadium. Says goal is to have 40% of the people going to the games, going by bus. She is working on ways to minimize the impact on neighborhoods.
SB 5914: Says it was one of the least understood bills. It was called the density bill but it really was the opposite. The idea was to get some of the suburban communities to take on more of the low-income housing. Seattle neighborhoods have a disproportionate number of low-income homes. The bill will be introduced again in the next session.
Guest, Waldman: Addressed the recent problems with middle school assignments. Says the problem has been solved for this year (additional kids were admitted to Eckstein.) Now working on putting the additional resources into Eckstein to accommodate the extra students. The school board is looking at how to redo the student assignment process for next year. Says that everyone on the board has the best of intentions; the school is seen as the heart of the community. The board has just commissioned a survey to see how people feel about the School District. The board is trying to work with the city as a partner. Neighbors can check the school board web site at: www.ssd.k12.wa.us
Question: Can all elementary students who live in Laurelhurst go to Laurelhurst elementary. A: Yes, they live closest to the school so they would have priority.
Q: Why has there not been any decrease in the number of busses? A: This is the last year for voluntary busing. The busses will gradually taper off. Without bussing we can look at later start times for middle and high school.
Q: Can the public school placement notices be matched up with the private schools? A: That is one of Waldman's goals.
Nominating Committee: Board Members seeking re-election: Kate Lloyd, Susan Marten, Barb Ragee. Candidates seeking election: Emilie Cobb, Heather Newman, Karl Weyrauch. Motion: I move the slate of proposed trustees listed in the program be accepted by unanimous consent. Motion passes.
Hale gave a summary of major accomplishments and board activity over the past year:
Guest, Peacock: Addressed transportation problems and the seven solution sets currently being evaluated through the TransLake Washington Study. Ideas include: HOV lanes on 520 (adding a lane or converting a current lane); HOV on 522; adding a general purpose lane to 520 going each direction; light rail along 520; passenger ferries to the university area; transportation pricing (tolls, user fees, increase parking rates) as a way to decrease demand; a new bridge between Kirkland and Sand Point (perhaps underground)
Evaluating the options requires recognition of the impacts that transportation has caused as well as any impacts from changes. The Study is exploring opportunities to make up for past sins.
Question: What do you plan to do about added traffic on I-5? There is no more room! A: I-5 traffic will be addressed as part of the impacts of any changes.
Neighbor: The Montlake Cut is atrocious! A: We are looking at some modifications at the Cut. For example, adding a new access point around the Pacific Ave. area to take some of the pressure from Montlake.
Says the Study is aggressively pursuing the demand management side of the issue.
Guest, Chandler: Current focus is on the UW Master Plan and the City University Agreement (Master Plan is a part of that agreement). Looking at the impacts of increased enrollment as the State tries to accommodate increased demand. Looking at traffic impacts for example, how to improve the U-Pass system. Noted that the percentage of trips from the UW has actually gone down. Discussed the new process to involve the community in the Master Planning process (by invitation to meetings).
Guest, Jennings: Many neighbors complaining about the design of the new Industrial Arts building on Mary Gates. The building was intended to replace handmade buildings that were erected to cover kilns. Artists need a well-lit work place with high ceilings. Question: Why didn't you build it further back? Complaint that the entrance to Laurelhurst has been destroyed. The initial design included landscaping as the predominate street face. Since we wanted the landscaping to be done by university folks the planting got delayed. The plan is for the landscaping to be planted this summer. To address the lighting issues: the lights have been put on timers so they're not on overnight, louvers will be put on the vents in the roof to obstruct light, as the dept. moves in, things will be moved up against the wall and that will hide the light. Concern about glazes that give off toxic chemicals. The UW did a review of the glazes to make sure that the glazes are not considered hazardous.
Guest, Talley: Says things have not turned out the way they intended, they thought they were getting rid of something that was bad looking. Discussed the landscaping plans and improvements to the fence. Says the landscaping is modest; looking to put in tall structures like bamboo and tall pines.
A neighbor complained about what appears to be piles of metal salvage inside the building. Neighbor asking the UW to acknowledge the building as a mistake and work together to fix it.
Guest, King, IPF: The plan was made a couple of years ago to convert HecEd into a basketball facility. Its most important use is for winter training for track and basketball. After the Montlake site was chosen and the design of the facility became apparent, the resistance built up. They went through a new analysis and added some new sites. After the alternatives were presented, the Montake site was still the favored site. The most recent site being considered was actually a site that had been eliminated 2 years ago. The new coach doesn't have the same complaints about the site. It is the site of the grass practice field. From a problematic standpoint we think the site is good.
There are some issues: it is within 200 feet of shoreline which only allows 35ft high structures. Also when the UW bought the land they guaranteed that they wouldn't build anything on the site. The shadow of the building does impact the environment so that could be a problem. The response from initial inquiries was that each issue has a solution. Neighbor: How can we stay on top of the environmental studies? A: Stay informed through your representative to CUCAC; also public meetings.
Guest, Eglick, ERA Care Update: Reviewed history beginning with the '91 Settlement Agreement as a result of Battelle's plans for expansion on the site. The Settlement established buffers, limits on the amount of expansion and forever bans Battelle from selling to a major institution.
In 1994 Battelle indicated that they were going to sell. ERA Care eventually bought the property.
ERA Care's original development proposal was cottage-style. The design did not preserve the buffers. ERA Care concerned that the grading was going to be very expensive. Currently looking at a design for a 250-unit apartment-style building. Some assisted-living, some independent, all situated in three buildings. Another alternative was to maintain the site and expand its use as an institute for advanced study. The LCC has asked for more details on the apartment-style option. ERA Care says they could leave about 40% open space with the apartment-style design. But the option would require a rezone. ERA Care has said they would consider a contract rezone, which would limit uses. Another option would be to develop the site single family. ERA Care says they are still looking at all the options and they're putting plans together.
Neighbor: What's happening now? The Aljoya Conference Center is being managed by CRG. The lease agreement with CRG is for 5 yrs. A liquor license was recently obtained. There has been some renovation of the buildings. Aljoya is a nonprofit formed by ERA Care. It is possible that they may continue to use the site as a conference center but Eglick doesn't think the investment they've made could be sustained by a conference center.
Guest, Sugimura: A rezone would change the area to LR3. The zoning could be changed in the future as you can not bind future City Councils. Because Contract Rezones have conditions, those restrictions could bind development on the property. Question: Are those restrictions between the contractor and the city or is the neighborhood involved at all? The contract would be between the city and the owner. Today's City Council can say one thing today and a new Council could make changes. You can plug that hole by making a settlement agreement between the owner and the neighborhood.
Guest, Oblanas: The purpose of The Working Group was to lend expertise on what needs to be included in a successful retirement development. The Working Group has not been meeting because the plans have been stalled. Colley: The Working Group is still committed to working with ERA Care.
Neighbor: seems like this is a long way off of completion. How much delay before something happens? Eglick: Their attorney really liked the cottage-style development. It turned out to be quite a bit more expensive. An apartment proposal could be pursued. Guesses that there may be some uncertainty about the business plans at this point.
The setback restrictions go with the property as long as it is zoned SF. If the zoning on the property changes than the buffers are not required on the property. If rezoned to L3 we would lose the setback. Eglick: One of the "prices" of agreeing to a rezone would be the setback (agreed to in a new settlement agreement.)
Adjourn 9:40 PM Minutes by C. Sherman, LCC Secretary