The first interdeparmental meeting between Parks, SDOT, SPU, EBCA, and consultants

Happy New Year and a big year this is going to be for the East Ballard neighborhood! This is the year YOU will help design a park along 14th Ave NW between NW 59th and NW 61st. Not just on paper, but one for REAL! This is going to be a park designed the way the community wants it, because YOU are going to mark your calendar and participate in 2 upcoming community meetings!

At Meeting #1, Seattle Parks Dept, the EBCA, and Mithun, the design consultant, will present the history of the project, site analysis and three design options. These park and street options will incorporate parking, traffic and safety, and water treatment strategies. The goal of this stage of the project is to create a schematic design and cost estimate to present at Meeting #2.

Meeting #1
TUESDAY JANUARY 24, 2012
7-9 p.m ST. ALPHONSHUS PARISH SCHOOL
5816 15TH Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107

Meeting #2
WEDNESDAY MARCH 7, 2012
7-9 p.m ST. ALPHONSHUS PARISH SCHOOL
5816 15TH Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107

If all goes as planned, City Council and Seattle Dept of Transportation will give us approval by the end of March and we could be breaking ground by late Summer!

These notes were taken by Dawn Hemminger and do not completely or  accurately convey exactly what was discussed during the walking audit along 14th Ave NW on November 30, 2011. These are Dawn’s impressions that the EBCA would like to capture for future reference. Official notes from Fehr & Peers should be following shortly.

See blog post for a summary of the event. The following are some specific topics that were discussed:

• Parking – If the right of way merges into 2 lanes side-by-side between NW 60th and 61st with the space used for the median moved to the east side for use in the Park, then what would happen to parking spaces? Is there sufficient side street parking potential? What type of on-street parking is most efficient for this section (angled or parallel)? Parking studies are definitely planned for this project.
• Trees – Go big if we can, but we first need to determine what we want to achieve in this corridor so that we can thoughtfully select trees and landscaping.
• Intersection treatments – The intersection at NW 60th feels to be the heart of the park (right in the middle of it). This is also a busy corridor for cross traffic between 8th and 15th. Note that NW 62nd may get a light at 15th one day as a push to connect East Ballard with Ballard Corners Park at 17th and 62nd. This is something to take into consideration as well. Since 14th is a collector arterial, there is concern that many considered intersection treatments, like an elevated crosswalk, different street material or piazza-style crossing (diagonal pedestrian crossing) may not be allowed. It sounds like SDOT may be amenable to these types of treatment for this situation. To slow down vehicle speed on NW 60th, there were discussions about potentially closing off NW 60th on the east side of 14th at the intersection.
• Bike traffic – 14th is on the city’s bicycle master plan for designated bike lanes in each direction. Could we have a dedicated lane on the east side going up hill and a sharrow on the west side going down hill? Today, the gravel from the medians, poor road conditions, and dangerous intersections are an impediment to recreational and commuter bicyclists.
• Existing planters – We would like to incorporate the existing planters that are in the median into the park design. Another possible alternative could be to move the planters to the medians south of Market to get neighbors in that area interested in caring for the street and to start work on extending the park boulevard further south.

Mithun and Fehr and Peers, the Landscape Architecture firm and Transportation Consultants for the 14th Ave NW Park Boulevard will be conducting a 4 hour walking audit along 14th Ave NW the morning of November 30. Representatives from the Seattle Parks Dept, Seattle Department of Transportation and the East Ballard Community will be attending. This will be the first time these groups will be getting together to talk about the park. We currently have 4 representatives from the East Ballard Community that are planning to attend. If you are interested in attending, please contact Dawn Hemminger at eastballard@gmail.com. Please note there will be opportunities in the near future to provide input on design at public community meetings.  We will continue to keep the community up to date via this blog. You can also provide constructive feedback via this blog.

18 neighbors of all ages gathered along 14th Ave NW yesterday for a bit a of fun and to do something good for the neighborhood. We’ve been doing this for so many years now, that it’s become an event to look forward to and a chance to catch up on what everyone’s been up to. We spent the morning picking up trash, digging weeds and sweeping gravel off the street to make our street safer and more beautiful  for all who use it. It’s amazing what just a small group of dedicated people can accomplish in 3 hours. Imagine what we’d be able to do if everyone else in the neighborhood found out how much fun this event is and shows up for our next cleanup event on April 21! The EBCA is counting on you! Check out the flickr photos for more scenes from this event.

photo by Ed Sozinho

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently initiated a national rulemaking to establish a comprehensive program to reduce stormwater runoff from new development and redevelopment and make other improvements to strengthen its stormwater program.  The EPA asked The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) to collect case studies on projects that successfully and sustainably manage stormwater.

Jennifer Britton, formerly from SDOT and now Assistant Professor at Montana State University, submitted a case study for our bioswale and pedestrian safety improvement project at 14th Ave NW and NW 58th to ASLA for consideration. We just learned today that our project was selected as one of 479 case studies from 43 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada!

This is very exciting news to learn that our efforts to improve our quality of life in the East Ballard neighborhood are now being given national attention. Thank-you to  everyone that helped with this project and to those who continue to take care of this site today.

We’ve been sitting on pins and needles these past few weeks while awaiting an announcement from the Parks Dept on their approval for a Landscape Architect firm that will work with our community to design the 14th Ave NW Park Boulevard. At last, we got the word from Parks this week, and I’m happy to announce that Mithun has been selected and they have accepted! We’re very excited about the team that Mithun has put together for our project and we can’t wait to roll up our sleeves and get to work!

This Spring/Summer, the park boulevard steering committee worked closely with Parks to assemble a list of 5 very highly qualified and talented consultants to interview. These groups were Kenneth Philp, KPG, Mithun,  Otak, and Swift.  Sadly, Swift declined to go for the job, but they did offer to provide us with some pro bono work which we greatly appreciate.

Our committee painstakingly pored over presentation materials from the 4 remaining consultants and took our job very seriously in scoring their work. Peter was selected as our representative on the interview panel that was shared with members from the Parks Dept and Seattle Dept of Transportation. The day was spent listening to presentations from these talented firms and then going over notes/scores,  and developing a consensus on who to recommend. We really appreciate the thoughtfulness of the interview committee, because this was not an easy decision.

On behalf of our steering committee, I want to express our most sincere thanks to those at Kenneth Philp, KPG and Otak who showed such incredible enthusiasm for our park and who took the time and effort to get to know us and our project a little better. I hope that our paths will cross again one day.

IMG_7425, a photo by eastballard on Flickr.

Thanks to everyone that helped make this year’s East Ballard August Night Out event such a big hit! 14th Ave NW and NW 60th was where the big party was. Shelby and Peter outdid themselves this year with a bouncy house, BBQ and a live band! Check out the flickr site for more pics from the evening.

If your street isn’t already having a potluck to celebrate August Night Out tomorrow night, then drop by 1 or all 3 participating East Ballard Potluck parties tomorrow evening starting at 6pm. Bring a dish to share and meet your neighbors. There will be fun and activities for all ages at the different sites. Be sure to pick up a passport and get it stamped at each location you visit. You can then exchange that passport for raffle tickets  and enter to win amazing raffle prizes* donated by Ballard businesses.

When
Tuesday Aug 2nd 6pm-10pm

Where
11th Ave NW between NW 60th and 61st
14th Ave NW between NW 61st and  62nd (8PM raffle. Be present to win!)
NW 62nd between 14th Ave NW and 11th

What
Pickup your passport at any participating block party and get a stamp at each location you visit.  Enjoy the potlucks, visit with friends and neighbors, enjoy the activities (I heard rumor of face painting and a bouncy house!), and learn about the 14th Ave NW Park Boulevard. Finally, turn in your passport at the last site to get tickets to enter the raffle and show up at 14th and NW 61st at 8PM for the raffle!

Donor Alert!
Each of these sites will be collecting the Ballard Market Receipts you’ve been saving up that will go toward care and maintenance of the planters on 14th. If you don’t have receipts, but still want to donate, we can also accept tax deductible donations of cash and checks made out to our 501c(3) fiscal sponsor, Groundswell NW!

*Raffle Prizes
Blowing Sands Glass, The Ballard Market, Ballard Sip and Ship, Azteca, Blue Glass, Taco Time, Kitchens and Things, Ballard Brothers, Matador, Landscaping Services, Eyes on The City, Sahara Pizza, Great Harvest, Sonic Boom Records, Nightingale Gallery, Top Banana, Pasta Bella and More!