The next Wallingford Community Council Meeting will be held Wednesday, February 2nd from 7 pm to 9 pm in the Wallingford Community Senior Center (WCSC) downstairs in the Good Shepherd Center at 4649 Sunnyside Ave N. This way we can review the new community technology center that has been set up!
After that, we will go over the transfer station designs we reviewed last month. This month we share our conclusions with SPU. See the end of this post for our recommendation letter, or click the picture below to see the preferred layout:
The rest of the agenda:
- 7:00 – 7:15: Round table introductions / announcements
- 7:15 – 7:45: Tour the new Community Technology Center in the Wallingford Community Senior Center
- 7:45 – 8:30: Seattle Public Utilities transfer station project manager Bill Bender will discuss recommendations regarding Transfer Station (dump) rebuild options
- 8:30 – 8:45: Discuss 2011 engagement with the Neighborhood Matching Grant program, the Neighborhood Projects Fund, and the Neighborhood Street Fund
- 8:45 – 9:00: Agenda for next month
That’s the same night as the Wallingford Art Walk, which starts at 6pm. So you can do both! See art, visit local businesses, jaw it up with the neighbors, and learn about current issues in your very own neighborhood. FTW!
Dear Mr. Benzer and NRDS Stakeholders:
On January 5, 2011, the Wallingford Community Council (WCC) met to discuss the proposed North Transfer Station (NTS) rebuild and expansion project located at 1350 & 1550 North 34th Street and Carr Place N in Wallingford. At the meeting, our WCC Members on the NTS Stakeholder Group presented the 5 options under consideration for the facility rebuild.
The WCC is committed to a vibrant neighborhood in South Wallingford that supports a mix of community, business and residential development to foster pedestrian activity in the area, link the neighborhood to Gas Works Park and the waterfront, maintain views, encourage small business growth, and preserve the character and integrity of the neighborhood’s residential areas. Seattle Public Utilities and the City must design a facility that will accomplish these objectives.
It is the opinion of the WCC that Concept 8/9B-Attached Recycling best addresses our concerns and meets our community objectives. The option:
- Sites the Transfer Station further south and no further east than the existing station and locates the Reuse and Recycling Facility next to the transfer station on the 1350 parcel.
- Offers the greatest separation between the adjacent residential neighborhood and NTS buildings and their internal operations.
- Caps the internal operations of the Transfer Station by stacking the customer entrance and recycling facility over the transfer trailer traffic to reduce noise, odor and pollution exiting the facility.
- Creates a cantilevered lid to redirect noise from the drive lanes.
- Maintains a significant landscaping area along N 35th and Woodlawn Avenue N.
- Provides Carr Place Parking Lot as a Community Amenity.
In addition, the WCC believes that the following should be committed to as part of the rezoning process:
- Commit to the new station footprint in the form of setbacks so that the facility does not creep outwards as part of design revisions or future remodeling.
- Limit the height of the rezoned lots to the height of the existing station to maintain and enhance view corridors.
- Specify an aesthetically pleasing roof as it is very visible to the community, ideally including a green roof or solar elements.
- Develop a quiet, pleasant and heavily landscaped pedestrian experience along Woodlawn Ave N and N 35th Street to encourage pedestrian activity in the area.
- Develop the streetscape along N 34th Street to encourage future commercial development.
- Provide an ongoing security, traffic, and environmental monitoring process and regularly publicize results.
- At the Carr place pocket park SPU should develop and fund maintenance for a playground, a P-patch, or a combination of the two.
- Add and operationally fund an engaging Education and Observation Component so the public and school field trips can observe the operations of the station and learn about the city’s efforts towards sustainability. To allow room for this we would like you to eliminate the community meeting room as an option from all designs- we do not believe a community meeting room is needed or desirable in a transfer station.
- Do not exceed existing station operating hours.
We are opposed to bringing forward Concept 2. Shallow landscape buffers, such as those proposed in Concept 2, should also not be marked as a community amenity in design proposals. Additionally, the Board believes the other two rezoning options will be higher impact to the community and require changes to be acceptable.
Thank you for your consideration,
The Wallingford Community Council