Lake City School – Minutes from 11/17/08 Meeting

Greater Lake City Community Council

7:00 pm at Lake City Professional Center

Old Lake City School Professional Center Redevelopment

DESIRES:

– An open space that all can enjoy

– A definitive division between the apartments and the park

– Special “edge” treatments

– Crime prevention

– Apartment building that has modulation to break up the feeling of a wall

– Energy efficient apartment building (plan to use “Build Smart” techniques)

– Joint use parking arrangement(s)

Note: See an example of a landscaped transition at their housing on 17^th and Market Street in Ballard

REPORTS:

D.P.D.

– There has been no application yet from Lorig and Associates to the Dept. of Planning and Development. There is a copy of the report of the first preliminary design review meeting available.

– The Contract Rezone Involves the following:

– Traffic study(ies) (DPD tells them which intersections to study)

– Arborist Report

– Part of the MUP process/application

– Property use and development agreement

– Limited height, bulk and density

– Change from 35 feet height limit to 60 foot height limit

– The Steps For Obtaining the Contract Rezone:

– Application

– Design Review

– Landmark designation process

– Final Design

– Hearing Examiner Meeting

– City Council Review, Hearing , and Adoption (can have conditions)

POLICE CRIME PREVENTION UNIT

– Parks are reviewed to ensure they have the following:

– No hiding places.

– Line of sight views through the park.

– Adequate and appropriate lighting (both along paths and ambient lighting).

– No barriers that keep people from seeing through it or around it.

– People using and surrounding a park site for extra surveillance.

– Incidents reported at the Lake City Playfield August 1 through November 17:

– 8/2 premise check for two intoxicated individuals in the park

– 9/18 unusual and loud noise in the park

– 10/31 15 juveniles fighting, and later two teens fighting

– 11/7 unusual and loud noise in the park

– Diane Horsewill from the Crime Prevention Unit noted that compared to other parks around the city, this is a very low crime activity level for a park.

– Successful parks with lower crime levels have the following:

– Good Neighbors

– Good Design

LORIG AND ASSOCIATES

– Research and study has shown they will not be able to set rental rates at a high level in Lake City. For that reason, they feel more apartments than fewer will be needed to pay for the parking structure under the apartment building and maintain the lease. Hence, they are looking at five stories.

– 3 stories not possible

– 4 stories possible if Seattle School District reduces its rate for leasing the property.

– Can push the set back to twenty feet from the property line at edge of the park.

– Can shorten the building twenty feet, OR break it up to look like three buildings.

– Can make a section four stories tall, but rest would need to be five feet tall.

– Would need to look at pulling back the west side, or stepping back the upper levels.

– Community space between and at grade would not work well for the apartments.

– Improving the street and access to the park is more likely than a portal through the building.

– Along east side with parking building separation, 2 stories of parking would cost $25,000 per space. Rental for one stall would have to be $250 per month.

– Can look at fewer windows, or smaller windows looking out over the park.

– Zoning on the east end of the property goes from L2 and L3 to the Midrise Zone to the east.

– 20 feet of landscaping will be required.

– The Landmark application is in process. The wing scheduled to come down was not built until 1986 and would probably be not included in the historical preservation requirements.

ACTIONS TAKEN:

– Ron English made no commitment to reducing lease rate. Citizens in attendance will write letters to the School Board regarding reduced lease rate and impact of development on the community.

– A core group of architects, landscape architects, and those involved in the construction business who live in the neighborhood will be pulled together on December 4 for a mini-design charette to prepare visuals for next meeting of alternatives for the transition from the park to the apartment building in the 20 ft setback.

– Next Meeting – December 11 to view charette results, share response from School Board if any, and hear further from Lorig and Associates. 7:00 pm at the Lake City Professional Building.