There was a packed house at the Meadowbrook Community Center on Tuesday evening, May 15, to hear representatives from Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) talk about dredging work which will close Meadowbrook Pond for about two months, beginning in early August. SPU’s Deborah Ann Heiden presented the schematics of the improvements and the landscape plan for replacing vegetation and trees.
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(This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.) The 35th Ave NE corridor has a variety of building types and sizes. The new 4-story, Jasper Apartment building also provides new design questions for the community around 35th Ave NE. As new development occurs along 35th Ave NE, such as the redevelopment of the Green House, its our belief that our community should have an idea of what type of development and what types design elements we want to see occur.  Cheryl Sizov discusses design review. On April 26th, the 3rd of the 7-part Coffee Talk series occurred, with John Owen from MAKERS Architecture + Urban Design and Cheryl Sizov with the City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development spoke to the community. Mr. Owen oversaw the completion of the Wedgwood Vision Plan, which the Future 35th Ave NE Project is largely based on. Mr. Owen discussed various design principals and elements that the community could consider as part of review and encouraging great designs for future 35th Ave NE developments. Ms. Sizov spoke about the design review process that the City uses to encourage developers to consider the needs of the community. Video of both of their talks are below. Valarie Bunn, author of the Wedgwood in Seattle History blog, provides her perspective on latest coffee talk about urban design.
There are 4 more Coffee Talks that will occur over the coming months.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post inaccurately identified the location of two of the surplussed sites. The locations are correct as listed below. SCL will be hosting two meetings in Wedgwood over next two months on this topic. The first meeting on Tuesday, May 15th, 7PM at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church will be to discuss disposition alternatives. The second meeting will be a formal hearing on June 12th, 7PM, which is required before the Council can act on any of the alternatives. The 3 surplussed properties in Wedgwood and View Ridge are as follows: Wedgwood: 2321 NE 95th Street (across from Ryther) Wedgwood: 7502 44th Avenue NE Ravenna-Bryant: 2507 NE 70th Street
Thursday evening’s Coffee Talk addressed issues which Wedgwood is now experiencing, and will see in the future, as redevelopment inevitably will occur in the commercial district along 35th Ave NE. (This originally was posted on the The Future of 35th website.)
 Coffee Talk: “Design at a Human Scale. A Primer on Urban Design Concepts and City of Seattle Design Review Guidelines” - Thursday, April 26th, from 7-8:30PM at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church (8008 35th Ave NE). What makes a great building design? We’ve all seen buildings that we like and don’t like, yet we’re not all architects. As 35th Ave NE is inevitably redeveloped in the future, the question is how can we collectively articulate what types of building forms and design our community wants to see. The purpose of this Coffee Talk is to improve our understanding of design and the design review process. This is the 3rd of a 7-part series of Coffee Talks sponsored by the American Planning Association’s Washington Chapter’s Community Planning Assistance Team (CPAT). John Owen will be presenting a primer on important design principals that our community can use as we plan for the future of 35th Ave NE. Not only is Mr. Owen a partner with MAKERS Architecture + Urban Design, he also led the Wedgwood Vision Plan. Cheryl Sizov is a Senior Urban Planner with the City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development who managed the drafting of the City’s most recent Seattle Design Guidelines. Ms. Sizov will present the City’s design guidelines and describe the City’s design review process. A process that some on the Wedgwood Action Group became familiar with during the design of the Jasper Apartment Building.
Sam Brace is a native of Seattle who’s family has a long and fascinating history in Seattle. According to tax records, Sam Brace purchased the property in 2002 which then extended west to 34th Ave NE. Brace Development built a new home on the west side of the lot at 7322 34th Ave NE in 2003. The eastern side of the lot along 35th Ave NE was then transferred to Brace Properties LLC in 2006. According to the City’s records, permits for subdividing and redeveloping the “Green House” were submitted in 2007. During our conversation with Mr. Brace, he explained that after submitting the permit application for redevelopment, financing became more difficult and has continued to rent out the house. However, in December 2011, yellow Notice of Application signs went up again on the site notifying the impending redevelopment of the site. According to the signs, the project was to “allow four residential and two live/work structures (6 buildings total) in an environmentally critical area. Surface parking for four vehicles to be provided.” The project drawings we reviewed, prepared by the project architects at Pb Elemental, will feature 2 live/work buildings along 35th with 2 duplexes (4 residences) behind (west) of the live/work units. A common driveway will separate the 2 live/work units with four parking spots for the 2 duplexes located between the live/work units and the duplexes. Should things go as planned, Mr. Brace hopes to break ground in July 2012.
The Jasper Apartments at 8606 35th Ave NE are still under construction but people are clamoring to pre-lease, according to Rose Manos, rental representive at Indigo Property Management. A rental office in a trailer has been set up on NE 86th Street. On duty on Saturday, March 31st, was Christina Koski of Indigo. |
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The heirs of Bill Pierre, Sr., who died in 1997, plan to move the operations of Bill Pierre car sales out of Seattle. That will leave fourteen acres along Lake City Way which could be developed with housing or businesses. 
What do you see when you walk up and down 35th Ave NE in Wedgwood? Do you notice the kinds of buildings? Some old, some new, and varying styles of architecture? Wedgwood’s original Balch houses were Cape Cods and colonials, built in the 1940′s. When QFC moved into its grocery store building in 2000 and did some remodelling, the Wedgwood Community Council asked QFC to add touches which harkened back to the Balch development which gave Wedgwood its identity. That is why QFC has a gable-front and wood trim, to reference a bit of the same early-American architectural style as Balch’s Cape Cods and colonials. 
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