The Seattle School District is requesting a waiver (departure) from some City zoning regulations for the construction of a new Jane Addams K-8 @ Pinehurst. The District plans to demolish the existing school and construct a new Kindergarten thru 8th grade school including gym/commons, library, administrative offices, classrooms and other learning areas at 11530 12th Avenue. The School District is requesting modifications for increase lot coverage, greater than allowed height, less than required on-site parking spaces and on-street bus loading.
The process for considering this request includes hearings before an advisory committee composed of neighbors and School District and City representatives. The Committee will gather and evaluate public comment on the departure requests. It can recommend a waiver (departure) from some regulations and any relevant conditions to be applied to minimize its impacts on the surrounding neighborhood, or it can recommend denial. The Committee may make its recommendation following this meeting or hold up to two additional meetings prior to making its recommendation.
The Committee has been formed and will host its first public meeting on Thursday, March 13 at 6:30 pm at the Pinehurst Building (Library), 11530 12th Avenue NE.
The meeting will include a brief presentation on the requested modifications to development standards (zoning) that have been requested. Following this presentation, the Committee will consider its recommendations. An additional meeting may be held if the Committee concludes that more information is needed.
The public is invited to make comments at the meeting. Written comments may also be submitted to:
Steve Sheppard
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
700 5th Avenue, Suite 1700
P.O. Box 94649
Seattle, WA 98124-4649
For more information, call Steve Sheppard at 684-0302, or e-mail steve.sheppard@seattle.gov.
http://info.kingcounty.gov/Assessor/eRealProperty/Detail.aspx?ParcelNbr=2044500390
Here is some detail on the property. It is zoned SF7200 so it is not surprising they need to ask for a variance as that would be pretty restrictive.
Off hand I don’t like a variance for on site parking. In my opinion city regulations are too easy and often let developers off the hook resulting in parking spilling into surrounding areas from apartments and commercial areas. Could this happen around the new school?
To get more information on this project, go to:
http://bex.seattleschools.org/bex-iv/jane-addams-k-8-pinehurst/
Thanks for posting this. I think I am getting on board a little late in the game.
Do I understand correctly: The new school will exceed both lot coverage and height restrictions as well as provide less parking than recommended?
This sounds like a very damaging combination to our neighborhood. Where do they think all these cars will park at drop off and pick up time? It will inevitably spill onto on our streets.
What street amenities will they provide to mitigate parking stress as well as provide for walking children’s safety in a neighborhood without sidewalks?
I am not against having a new school, but this sounds like a big plan to put onto a little neighborhood without providing for the change beyond the school grounds.
I will be at the meeting and would like to start polling neighbors to see what their feelings are about this? Is the Pinehurst Blog a good place to put a poll of this nature?
Thanks again,
Catherine Evard
I agree with Garth.
I’ll be at the meeting.
The presentation they gave at the recent Pinehurst meeting explained a lot of what they were doing to help mitigate impacts to the neighborhood. There was quite a bit of community feedback on the planning process so far. But I can’t find a link to it at the moment…
And again, this is from memory as I don’t have the presentation link… But the community reaction has been very positive (at least what I’ve seen so far) though cautious as it IS a very big project. And the reactions I’ve seen from people who have attended presentations on the plans have been especially positive.
The new school is going to be larger but from what I’ve seen they have worked very hard to mitigate the impacts to the neighborhood. It’s just a small lot and there’s not much they can do about that. But there are a lot of cool elements to the building which are nice for the area. Though I’m not an expert on the project… Some of what I remember is that they rotated the building and put the large rooms (gym, library, lunch room) where the current playground is. This helps lower them since that area starts below ground. It also puts them along Pinehurst way instead of the residential streets. On that note, they made sure that the buildings facing those residential streets were at an angle so reduce the imposing feel. There are green roofs, geothermal heating, and a drainage/filtration pond in the middle as part of the environmental sciences focus of the school program. And the building is designed to be portioned (heated/secured separately) so they can open up meeting spaces to the community without opening up the classrooms and such.
As for sidewalks, that’s always a concern in the area. As I understand it the design is going to include sidewalks around the whole building/block and they’ve been talking about working with us to try to start early on more sidewalks before the building is complete. This could include common routes to the school from the neighborhood as well as routes from the school to the Pinehurst Playfield. Though obviously nothing is committed to there as that can involve a lot of money. And isn’t technically part of the school’s budget.
“…mitigate the impacts”
Really? How? 100 cars at 9 a.m. looking for parking is 100 cars…
This is an option school, so, there will be buses, probably lots of them, and parents driving kids, and no parking. Visit Hamilton, a school of 1,000 on a similarly sized lot with almost no parking, and, see how that works, and, how the neighbors feel about the “mitigated impacts”.
A school of 720 middle and elementary school students on this sites is just too much, that is why they’ve designed it to exceed the lot coverage AND the height restrictions AND the total square footage AND the lack of parking AND the loading of buses on the City street.
I think they think the neighbors aren’t ‘plugged in’ and won’t notice the dis-proportionality of this over-sized building.
I think the design, if scaled-back, with additional parking, would be nice. Not sure middle school kids can be accommodated with no fields to play football or baseball on, but then again, Hamilton manages.
Neighbors, come to the meeting, get more information, and then let the city know that urban planning matters, and that this is not an intelligent approach to urban planning. A new school will be fantastic, but, it can’t be shoehorned into this tiny spot and really work well for the next 50 years.
Too much!
Does anyone know if there are plans for more traffic lights, crosswalks, etc… on Pinehurst Way, near the school? I think early in the planning there was talk of such things, but I didn’t hear if they materialized.
Currently, there are only about 150 students enrolled at Pinehurst/AS-1. The program size for the new school taking the place of Pinehurst (the Jane Addams/E-STEM K-8) is, as Ben wrote above, approximately 720 students.
Are their traffic revisions planned to safely deal with this potentially large increase in kids, cars, and buses in the area?
Oops! Typing too fast this morning…should be “there” (not their).
One idea being discussed to mitigate traffic and parking is to get nearby businesses to let the school buses disgorge students in their parking lots and then have volunteers walk the children a short distance to school.
That’s an interesting idea. Though depending upon where the bus drop off sites are, the distance from the school, how many streets that have to be crossed to get to and from the school, and the number of buses and kids – it could be a challenge to coordinate and staff, and it seems as though there would be some degree of liability on behalf of the parents as well as the property owners.
At John Rogers, we have 2-3 parent volunteers on hand in front of the school in the morning and afternoon, as a valet-type service, opening car doors at drop off, and putting kids in cars during afternoon pick up. It takes some coordination and a good parent volunteer base to pull it off, but it helps car drop off and pick up go more smoothly in our tight location. Maybe Jane Addams K8 @ Pinehurst could try something similar for car pick up and drop off?
It’s my understanding that the design started last summer, so it’s moving beyond the conceptual stage. Since the current program has been eliminated, the district decided to retrofit the space for a newer K8 program. Although an option school, there is still a geo zone element for selecting children. A new school will benefit our neighborhood.
Jim,
The current program in the Pinehurst building (Pinehurst/AS-1 K-8) has not been eliminated or closed. Pinehurst/AS-1 will be moved to interim housing in the Lincoln building next year.
Also, the Pinehurst building is not being retrofitted, it is being replaced. The existing building is being torn down, and a new, larger building built in its place. The old building has a capacity of approx 250-300 students. The new building is being built to house the Environmental Sciences K-8 program currently housed in the Jane Addams building, with a program size of approximately 720 kids (3 classrooms/cores per grade level).
The Environmental Sciences K-8 program (currently named Jane Addams K-8, but they will be changing their name) will be housed, in interim, in the John Marshall building, near Green Lake until construction is completed at Pinehurst.
Other area school construction projects include a tear-down/re-build (and expansion) of Olympic Hills Elementary and limited renovation of Cedar Park School, so that it can be used as an interim site for Olympic Hills. Cedar Park is to be opened as an assignment school after Olympic Hills vacates the building in 2017.
Though probably everyone is aware of this, I forgot to mention that the reason why the Jane Addams K-8 program is being relocated in the first place is so that SPS can reopen the Jane Addams building as a comprehensive middle school. Jane Addams Middle School (JAMS) opens next fall.
As this meeting is happening this Thursday is there a way to get this highlighted on the blog. A new school will have definite benefits for the neighborhood. However, there does need to be some conversation about how this will be the largest K-8 school in the district and on the smallest lot. There will be some significant traffic and safety concerns. It is most likely there are work arounds but to build a work around, you need to day light the challenge.
This is on the blog? You just mean another reminder?
yes, just a reminder or have the meeting notice on the home page. As the original post is a month old, you have to know to look for it, to find it.
We live in Pinehurst and have two kids at Jane Addams K-8. We are excited about what this great school will bring to our neighborhood!
Option schools give preference to kids who live in the immediate area (the Geozone), which will lessen the traffic impacts. We live outside of the Geozone, but are still within the walk zone and my kids will be walking to school, as will many of their friends who live within walking distance of the Pinehurst building and already attend Jane Addams K-8. It would be interesting to see how many kids currently at Jane Addams K-8 live within the Pinehurst walk zone – it’s probably a lot, and that number will only grow.
Here is the link to the district’s traffic report if anyone is interested in reading it. Based on the report, the situation doesn’t seem as dire as some might think: http://web6.seattle.gov/dpd/eplan/GetDocument.aspx?id=172665&src=WorkingDocs&n=Traffic%20Study
I’m another Pinehurst resident with a kid in Jane Addams K-8, who will spend 2 years in the new building before moving on to high school. While our time there will be short, I’m enthusiastic about this project for the neighborhood. I’m concerned about traffic as well, living 2 blocks away, but I think this project presents an opportunity to make long-term pedestrian and traffic improvements as Pinehurst continues to grow. At the least, the city will have to look at Pinehurst Way as something besides the high-speed freeway it is now.
If they haven’t already, I would recommend that my neighbors check out the links to the project information.
In case there is any lack of clarity, I am big fan of the JA K8 and I am very happy that this program is here for our kids.
My only request is to have the meeting advertised to the neighborhood because I am also a big fan of the process. There are so many people invested in creative solutions for the Pinehurst area, that I believe if more of the neighbors participate, it will be much easier to develop solutions that work for everyone.
I agree with John, the treatment of Pinehurst Way as a high speed freeway needs to stop. Hopefully a meeting like this will highlight much needed safety infrastructure like sidewalks and pedestrian cross walks.
In case there is any lack of clarity, I am big fan of the JA K8 and I am very happy that this program is here for our kids.
My only request is to have the meeting advertised to the neighborhood because I am also a big fan of the process. There are so many people invested in creative solutions for the Pinehurst area, that I believe if more of the neighbors participate, it will be much easier to develop solutions that work for everyone.
I agree with John, the treatment of Pinehurst Way as a high speed freeway needs to stop. Hopefully a meeting like this will highlight much needed safety infrastructure like sidewalks and pedestrian cross walks.
In case there is any lack of clarity, I am big fan of the JA K8 and I am very happy that this program is here for our kids.
My only request is to have the meeting advertised to the neighborhood because I am also a big fan of the process. There are so many people invested in creative solutions for the Pinehurst area, that I believe if more of the neighbors participate, it will be much easier to develop solutions that work for everyone.
I agree with John, the treatment of Pinehurst Way as a high speed freeway needs to stop. Hopefully a meeting like this will highlight much needed safety infrastructure like sidewalks and pedestrian cross walks.
How did the meeting go?