First Miller Park Neighbors Meeting Report

About 25 of us met in Tamara Broadhead's garage/workshop on Veteran's Day. Many thanks

Co-chair Guillaume Mauger and neighbors in Tamara's basement

Tamara and Karl for the use of their room.

We all agreed that we did indeed want to establish "Miller Park Neighbors" as a group, and were happy when Guillaume Mauger and Julianne Anderson agreed to be co-chairs for now. 

General notion is to establish some bylaws, have elections and get official!  Nobody came forward to be secretary or recording secretary yet, but Julie Renick kindly shared her notes below, to which I have added a few links.

Andrew Taylor (blog author, general busybody and prospective representative to "East District Council").  Now, over to Julie (thanks, again):


Bylaws - We eventually need them. Here's a link to good sample bylaws in Portland.
No Treasurer, if we need money we can pass the coffee can.

Aegis - General Manager Rob Liebreich, lives in Montlake

Grand Opening 1/18/14, Neighbor on the block open house 1/3/14 3-5.
Facility will open in January.
They know it hasn't been easy during construction.
They want to build community & be part of the broader community.  Private company based in Redmond.  Has 30 facilities in WA, CA & NV.
Focus is on asst living especially dementia.
Stats:
104 apts
up to 125 residents
60 staff members
43 parking spaces split between residents (some still driving), visitors & staff.  Will offer ORCA passes to staff, expect most  to use transit.
There will be 2 other businesses on site, a mercantile & the "Queen Bee" coffee/crumpet shop.  Both open to public.

Discussion regarding construction impact.  Originally scheduled to end in September, now extending

Where the participants live

through November.  Issue with neighbors being unable to leave (or enter) their homes.  Street blocked up to 7 days a week.  Suggested that construction company blocks road all the time when it only needs it closed a few times a day.

(Don't know if it's the construction schedule or our talking to GM, but seems to better after meeting).

Meany - Debrah Walker presenting (here's her 1st meeting report)

Meany has traditionally had 350-500 students, expect it to grow to 850 students (middle school average).  Huge jump in students.  will turn into a neighborhood Middle School so may have fewer buses.
Neighborhood concerns revolved around so many students on such a small footprint.  School has no owned outdoor space.  Has traditionally used the park next door, but as school is closing & then reopening, may be possible to negotiate better mitigation in return for use of park space.

Will be a neighborhood school drawing from Lowell, McGilvra, Montlake, Stevens, Leishj.

Talked about possible RPZ, getting a whole plan review due to non conforming use.

2 year Construction schedule.  $16 million.  Some buildings to be torn down.  There is a 17 member panel meeting between now and March.  Debrah is on the panel.  Neighbor concerns regarding construction impacts.  Over half of homes do not have off street parking.  Want noise restrictions, street use restrictions.

Neighbors excited to end up with and partner with a "well functioning" middle school.

Discussion about the #12 route changing to Madison only.

Lots of discussion about 23rd Avenue road diet.  23rd changes from 4 lanes to 1 each way with a turn lane South of John.  Concerns about traffic in heavily used corridor.  Outreach only to Central area when impacts felt on Capitol Hill, Leishi, Rainier Valley, Beacon Hill & West Seattle. Used by buses that take long to time to load & unload, access buses use it daily as well.  Really a problem when added to 12th street road diet, Broadway street car impacts and schedule reductions and changes (#12).

Julie offered to try to contact new Mayor.  Project is funded for September 2014.  Sidewalk potion of project will make it irreversible once completed.  Not fully funded city still seeking grant money.  We will need to work with the politicians to address impacts and changes to the plan.

Talk about greenway.  questions about how many Holy Names students bike (maybe 24 out of 685 students).  Students mostly drive, with many take buses.  Talk about potential bump outs on Greenway.

Addendum from Claire Tirtoprodjo, co-owner of new neighborhood business:

Thank you for helping to chair our Neighborhood group.  I wanted to follow up with some additional information  about the opening of Tirto Furniture, 1908 E. Mercer. We are open for business: more information can be found on our website www.tirtofurniture.com.  

In regards to the dumpsters on E. Mercer, I have been told that there are permits in the works to pave the alley between the Pelican Bay building and our building. The plan is that once the alley is paved, the dumpsters will move into the alley and the collectors will have to pull the dumpsters out when they pick up the waste. In the event that we don't see much action, or you have specific questions, the "Dumpster Expert" at SPU is Liz Kane and she can be reached at 206  684-4166.

I look forward to being an active member of this vibrant neighborhood.
Thanks,
Claire Tirtoprodjo