Article on Status of Backyard Cottage (ADU, DADU) Regulations

NOT IN YOUR BACKYARD: COTTAGES, IN-LAW APARTMENTS, AND THE PREDATORY DELAY OF HALA’S ADU RULES

http://www.sightline.org/2017/04/20/not-in-your-backyard-cottages-in-law-apartments-and-the-predatory-delay-of-halas-adu-rules/

Madison-Miller City Workshop Report

Thank you for your attendance at the workshop held earlier this year in Madison-Miller! The notes and presentation from that workshop have been posted at http://www.seattle.gov/council/meet-the-council/rob-johnson/community-design-workshops.

I would appreciate if you took a moment to fill out a brief post-workshop survey by clicking here to give the city and the facilitation team feedback to evaluate, improve, and direct potential future outreach strategies.

As a reminder, there are a number of ways to stay engaged with this process including:

·         Going to HALA.Consider.It (a guide to provide comment on that form is attached)

·         Call the HALA Hotline: (206) 743-6612

·         Attend the upcoming open house for the Central Neighborhoods on May 16^th, 2017 from 6:00PM-8:00PM

o   At Washington Hall, 153 14^th Ave, SEATTLE, WA 98122

·         Stay up to date on upcoming meetings at http://www.seattle.gov/hala/calendar & http://www.seattle.gov/hala/whats-happening

·         Stay tuned for the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, expected in May

·         You can also send comments or questions to HALAinfo@Seattle.Gov

All the best, 

Spencer Williams, AICP, Assoc. AIA

Legislative Assistant to Councilmember Johnson-District 4

E: Spencer.Williams@Seattle.Gov

O: (206) 684-8168

C: (206) 384-2709

Miller Neighborhood Group meeting: Weds April 19th.

Hello neighbors,

Wednesday April 19th will be our next meeting, 6:30 pm, in the library at Holy Names Academy. Ring the doorbell at the main Holy Names Academy entrance on 21st Ave. E.

Agenda;

I. Introductions all around and review of the meetings agenda and goals.  Debrah Walker 

II. Miller neighborhood Group.  Andrew Taylor (and Thomas Whittermore, Department of Neighborhoods) 

A. Chairperson: Elaine Nonneman  has volunteered to become Chairperson

B. Vice-Chair or Co-Chair:  TBD

C. Secretary (maybe treasurer?):  Gayle Thompson with Nancy Duck-Jefferson as a back up  

D. Webmaster: TBD

III. Residential Parking Zone: Tami Broadhead

Others who have expressed interest in this issue include; Janet Woodward, Anne-Marie Lowe, and Taylor Koch

IV. Outreach:

A. Historic Seattle: Paul Neal and Jeri Schneider

B. Allied Arts: Judith Bader and Jack Baker (they are out of town this week)

C. Meany School, Miller Park, Businesses  TBD

D. Ideas about other groups to align with?

V. Monitoring HALA web Site and EIS: Lauren Swift.

Others who have expressed interest in this issue include; Harwell LeMoyne

VI. Strategies. . 

A. Summary.  Debrah Walker 

a. HALA Process 

b. Livability; density, scale, parking

c. Affordability and Displacement

B. Open discussion. 

C. Action Items. Assignments

VII. Next meeting; Week of May 1st?

See you Wednesday night.

Debrah

Neighborhood organizing meeting soon

Looks like Wednesday April 19th will be our next meeting. I’m waiting to get final confirmation on date and time from HNA but until you hear otherwise this is the date. 

I want to push things along so I’m emailing to ask individuals if there are areas, aka committees, you are willing to lead. I’m hoping these tasks can be a short term, as in a several month, concentrated effort. 

Miller Neighbors Group: 

Chair, Vice-Chair or 2 Co-Chairs  (I think the chair person is a spokesperson for the neighborhood and can play a time limited role, I do not want to be this person)

Recoding secretary (just to record meetings) and treasurer (money needs will presumably be light, so treasurer should be a light task)

Webmaster blogger? Some one who can update posts on the Miller and Capitol Hill blogs and perhaps set up a Facebook page (other?)

Committee Chairperson’s:

1. Residential Parking Zone

HALA:

2. Group Coordination & Strategy :  (I see this as my role)

3. Outreach - Alliances :

A. Historic Preservation and Historic Seattle

B. Allied Arts

C. Seattle Neighborhood Coalition

D. Meany School- Miller Park, local businesses

E. Other Groups?

4. Monitoring the city’s official HALA Web Site and Outreach effort. Keep track of EIS progress, important dates.

Even if you cannot attend the meeting on the 19th please take a chairmanship or become a Miller Neighborhood Group officer so we can get this going ASAP.  If we have these roles assigned we can spend our limited time on the 19th strategizing and come away with action items. I can’t stress enough that if we will have any impact we need to move fast and in a concentrated-focused way. I think we will then need to meet on a bi-weekly basis to report in to each other and refine our efforts. 

Many Thanks,

Debrah

Pothole Palooza Kicks off in Seattle

SEATTLE – Seattle is kicking off Pothole Palooza on Monday, April 17, a campaign to aggressively repair potholes across the city. Beginning today, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is asking community members to report neighborhood potholes so we can map them out as our Pothole Rangers move throughout the city.

There are three ways to report potholes:

• Calling our Pothole and Street Repair hotline 206-386-1218
• Using the Find It Fix It App
• Filling out our online Pothole Report form

During the campaign, SDOT crews will be assigned to specific districts around the city. SDOT Crews will be joined by crews from Seattle Parks and Recreation who will assist with these efforts.

“We recognize that residents have been patient through a tough winter that’s resulted in an increased number of potholes and we want them to know that we’re listening when they report them,” said SDOT Director Scott Kubly. “You've told us where they are, and we are marshaling our resources to fill them.”

Potholes occur when street pavement cracks and breaks because of water and vehicle traffic. During winter months, water can cause the material under the pavement to erode, freeze and expand, and then thaw and contract causing the pavement to sink down and break. Many streets, particularly in the outer areas of the city, have a very poor underlying structure, or sub base, which reacts poorly to these conditions. This freeze/thaw cycle can cause the pavement to crack so that it deteriorates quickly under the weight of traffic, and then streets can seem to break out in potholes overnight.

Seattle has had an extremely wet and cold 2016-2017 winter season. Residents typically see more potholes in the winter and spring, following periods of cold temperatures and rain or snow. February and March are when we see the highest numbers of potholes. This past February was the wettest we have experienced in thirty years. For more information about potholes, please visit: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/potholes/.

Sue Romero

Senior Public Relations Specialist

City of Seattle Department of Transportation

sue.romero@seattle.gov

O: 206.684.8548 | M: 206.255.9363

Ongoing Miller Neighborhood efforts

1) Longtime Miller neighbor Debrah Walker recently volunteered to organize our ongoing efforts. See her letter below.

2) Assorted other neighbors have volunteered to help in the efforts. Please contact me (andrew_taylor@me.com) to volunteer, and I'll connect you with Debrah.

3) Debrah asked for my help wth formalizing the neighborhood group:

To get this going again I agree with Andrew that we will need to formalize “Miller Park Neighbors” because we need to be an identifiable group that represents neighborhood wishes. We will need to elect officers and approve bylaws.  Andrew, can you lead us through this process?

4) I contacted the City Department of Neighborhoods for assistance, and they connected me with Thomas Whittermore. I've worked with him before and found him to be both hardworking and very competent. He will be a great asset to us. I'm meeting with him this Friday. Please let me know if there are any specific issues I should bring up.

5) Portland has a great set of resources for neighborhood group, including sample bylaws.

6) BTW the Capitol Hill Blog is going on sabbatical  so we're going to need a more active blog here to share information. Anyone like to help Jonathan and me?

I look forward to helping us revive our neighborhood association,

Andrew Taylor.

********************** Letter from Debrah Walker *************************

Neighbors,

Since I’m not hearing anyone else step forward, I will volunteer on a limited basis to organize a neighborhood effort. Because I’m self employed and swamped with work I’m very hesitant to take on a leadership role. I’ve put in years and I’ve allowed projects to take over too much of my time in the past. I can’t afford to have that  happen at this stage in my life.   I will do this only  IF others will also step forward and commit to specific tasks that, as a group we identify, need to be pursued.

I believe the concerns about HALA come down to the anticipated impacts that will take away the livability of this neighborhood. I would like us to get together again to develop the Miller Neighborhood’s strategies going forward. I think we need to formally identify concerns, possible solutions, and also show how this neighborhood can meet the density and affordability goals put out by HALA but in a way that doesn't sacrifice what is valuable about Miller. When the Environmental Impact Study for Miller-Madison is released we need to be ready to review and respond. To have an effective voice in this we need to be organized and ready.

Gail, do you think we could meet at Holy Name again? Would you be willing to set up a meeting in the Holy Name library?

Here are my thoughts about next steps;

1.  To get this going again I agree with Andrew that we will need to formalize “Miller Park Neighbors” because we need to be an identifiable group that represents neighborhood wishes. We will need to elect officers and approve bylaws.  Andrew, can you lead us through this process?

2. I think we need to identifying what is important to save, do our own survey of what makes the fabric of the Miller neighborhood. What makes it memorable.  Then try to figure out what tools we can find to protect what we think is important.  

3. Approach Sarah Sodt, the City Historic Preservation Officer from Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods to see if we can do a walk through the neighborhood with her. She will be participating in the EIS.

4. Maybe approach the mayor and a few city councilmen and see if they will do a walk through the neighborhood with us?

5. Is someone willing to go to Allied Arts of Seattle, the "Grow Gracefully Campaign “ meetings?  At the Historic Seattle meeting I attended, Jonathan Konkol from  this group spoke. Basically they are advocating for the Livability part of HALA.  He made great points and  was very knowledgeable  and articulate.  He does a great job of advocating for all sides and I think that group could help us with strategies. 

6. Apply for Residential Parking Zone and begin that process. I see this as one of the few ways we can minimize current and proposed impacts. This needs someone to head up and delegate the effort. This needs to begin ASAP

7. Press? 

I will be out of town from this Wednesday until April 4th, but will be available after that. 

Debrah

P.S. Feel free to forward this on to any other neighbors who would be interested