Ravenna Blog

Excerpt from a email from the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association’s Jim O’Halloran:

RDG Contract Rezone EIS [Environmental Impact Survey] Scoping – As encouraging as it is to win the Comp Plan battle, there are other efforts which need our attention.  Tomorrow (Aug. 4) is the deadline for input to DPD on considerations in the Environmental Impact Study.  Yes, it’s complicated.  And this is not so much a matter of maximum volume of input, as it is making sure that DPD considers the right issues and alternatives.  You can find a pre-addressed form for your comments here:  http://rooseveltseattle.org/Documents/Blank%20RDG%20%20EIS%20Scoping%20Comment%20Form.pdf Some additional information is available here:  http://rooseveltseattle.org/rdg.aspx

What I would suggest you do, seeing as the deadline for comments is TODAY, is email your comments directly to Shelly Bolser, Senior Land Use Planner at the Department of Planning and Development (DPD). Use the format of the RNA’s pdf above, and send it to shelleybosler@seattle.gov. Make sure you include that project number (3010100).

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On a related note, I just found an RSS feed for the DPD’s Northeast Seattle project design review schedule! Subscribe!

Turns out, there’s a meeting on August 16th concerning the stuff happening at 2028 NE 65th Street (those houses just West of the Herbalist on NE 65th).

Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess is one of the members of the Committee on the Built Environment who heard the public comments today and voted to keep the RDG’s changes to the comp plan from moving forward.

I sent him an email last night, expressing my views and concerns about the RDG amendment, and received the following in return this morning (post vote):

Thank you for your e-mail to Councilmember Burgess. Last year the Council adopted a comprehensive plan amendment that paved the way for implementing a neighborhood plan update initiated by the Roosevelt community.  That process is underway and is moving forward at a good pace. The neighborhood planning process needs to be honored and Tim voted in committee today not to advance comp plan amendment #8 from the Roosevelt Development Group.

Tim appreciates how the residents of the Roosevelt neighborhood have worked hard to plan for the future. He wants to see that process move forward and be completed before considering any stand-alone proposals. The committee agreed and recommended to the full council that the comp plan amendment not advance. The full council’s decision will come on Monday.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Nate Van Duzer
Legislative Aide
Councilmember Tim Burgess

Sallys Clark and Bagshaw did most of the talking in today’s meeting, so it was nice to hear Burgess’ thoughts on the matter as well.

The City Council’s Committee on the Built Environment (Sally Clark, chair; Sally Bagshaw; Tim Burgess) recommended this morning to remove the Roosevelt Development Group’s Comprehensive Plan amendment from further consideration this year.

Here’s a message from the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association’s Jim O’Halloran (Chair, Land Use Committee) on how the meeting went, with thanks for those who spoke out and next steps (emphasis mine; the original can be found at the RNA blog as the entry for July 28):

Neighbors,

Only minutes ago, City Council’s Committee on the Built Environment (COBE) voted unanimously to *remove* the RDG Comp Plan amendment from further consideration on this year’s Comp Plan amendment policy docket.  This is exactly what we asked them to do, and I’m thrilled to be able to share this news with you now.

COBE’s vote this morning, from three councilmembers (Clark, Burgess and Bagshaw) is *not final* until the full Council takes a vote, probably on Monday, August 2nd. I am confident, however, that full Council will support this position.

Please understand what we have accomplished.  Two weeks ago, the RDG Comp Plan amendment seemed headed for easy passage. DPD recommended it.  The Seattle Planning Commission recommended it.  Even City Council’s own Central Staff recommended that this amendment be included on the policy docket.  It was only the outpouring of passionate yet well-reasoned, and exquisitely well-timed e-mail from the Community which moved this mountain. There’s a big lesson here for all of us;  please share it with your children!

Thank you to everyone who wrote to our City Councilmembers. Your e-mails were stirring but for the most part struck the just the right tone of reason.  This is what distinguishes us as a neighborhood; not just ranting but taking responsibility for our future, and offering constructive input to our elected officials.  I hope you can see how effective we can be, when we organize around some commonly agreed principles.

Special thanks to those of you who were able to make the extra effort to attend this morning’s COBE meeting:  John Adams (and his capable summer intern architect), Diane Haddock, Melissa Westbrook, Renee Davis, Judith Leconte, Bill Dunning and others I may have missed.  Your presence was influential.  I would have been there but I’m stuck in Oregon on business.

If you’d like to watch the COBE meeting on the Internet, it should be posted by early this afternoon online at http://www.seattlechannel.org/  Look for the “July 28 meeting of the Committee on the Built Environment”.

I have one other thought for you at this time.  If your e-mail fingers are not totally worn out from writing to Council, consider just one more quick message, a *thank you* to COBE members, for their recognition of Community input, and for their vote to strike Comp Plan amendment #8.  Please note that Sally Clark took a genuine leadership position on this issue, working behind the scenes with DPD, and that she chose to override the recommendation of all advisors sitting at the table, with her own Amendment to the Resolution setting the Comp Plan policy docket.  Sally Bagshaw was effusive in her compliments for the Roosevelt neighborhood at the COBE meeting this morning; she’s also listening to us.  And Tim Burgess was part of the unanimous “yes” vote which carried the day for the Community.

This battle’s not won ‘till the full Council votes on Monday, but I’ve gone out on a limb with my own notes of thanks, to provide quick, positive reinforcement for our friends on City Council.

Thank you, neighbors, for your interest and support on this Comp Plan issue.  We’ve really made a difference!

Jim

Jim O’Halloran
Chair, Land Use Committee
Roosevelt Neighborhood Association

[NOTE: There were Ravenna residents present at the meeting offering public comments (all against). I have heard that the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association is also against the RDG’s plans, but I have no specific information on their stance. Attempts to contact them have so far gone unanswered.]

Want to speak out about the Sisleyville rezoning mess, but are having a hard time finding the words?

USE OURS.

The following is a letter drafted by the Roosevelt Neighborhood Blog and the Ravenna Blog (with credit to Jim O’Halloran, chair of the Land Use Committee of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association, for the pieces from his recent blog post on the subject [the July 27th entry]) that you can send on to City Councilmembers. If you oppose the Roosevelt Development Group’s rezoning plans, LET THE CITY COUNCIL KNOW.

Read it over, change it up if you’d like, substitute in the appropriate Councilmembers’ names, and send it off.

The meeting to add the RDG’s Comp Plan amendment is TOMORROW MORNING at 9AM.  If you feel strongly about the proposed changes to the zoning in YOUR neighborhood, we urge you to email the City Council TONIGHT.

[Note about Subject Line: Do NOT use the term “rezone”, because this may cause your e-mail to be screened out of Councilmember’s mail.   The RDG contract rezone process is now considered “quasi-judicial”, which means that Councilmembers cannot have any direct communication with affected parties.  The Comp Plan amendment process, on the other hand, is openly conducted.]

Send to:

Sally Clark, sally.clark@seattle.gov
Sally Bagshaw, sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov
Tim Burgess, tim.burgess@seattle.gov
Tom Rasmussen, tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov

Jim O’Halloran, the chair of the Land Use Committee of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association, also recommends you write to Councilmembers Jean Godden (jean.godden@seattle.gov) and Bruce Harrell (bruce.harrell@seattle.gov), who each seem to have taken a special interest in Roosevelt land use issues.  Of course it can’t hurt to contact each of the nine City Councilmembers (individually is best, but it’s OK to “cc” councilmembers).

_______________

Subject Line: Reject amendment #8 from the 2010-2011 Seattle Comp Plan

Dear <Councilmember>,

As a resident of the Roosevelt/Ravenna neighborhood, I am writing to urge you and all other City Council members to reject amendment #8 from the 2010-2011 Comprehensive plan policy docket.

The Roosevelt Development Group (RDG) has submitted an application to City Council, to amend the Seattle Comprehensive Plan. The RDG proposal, among other things, would annex several properties in Ravenna near 15th Ave NE and NE 65th St to become part of the Roosevelt Urban Village. Moreover, the RDG Comp Plan amendment does not meet all of the necessary criteria, and would change some of the key provisions in the recently updated Roosevelt Neighborhood Plan, especially as it relates to the preservation of single family housing.

1.      The RDG Comp Plan amendment does not meet Council’s requirement that the applicant has conducted “outreach” with the affected community. A key criterion for docketing this item is to engage the neighborhood in the review process before final Council consideration of this amendment. Neighbors were only aware of the existence and content of the RDG’s 2009 and 2010 Comp Plan amendment applications after they were filed with the City. No Comp Plan outreach has occurred. The applicant listed a series of community meetings as evidence of outreach, but in none of these meetings, or at any other time, did specific discussion of the Comp Plan amendments take place between the applicant and the community. As a resident of Roosevelt/Ravenna, I am offended that this has been misrepresented by the applicant.

2.      An existing neighborhood planning process has already taken place and rezoning recommendations were presented by the community in July 2006. The Community’s land use recommendations cover the entire station area, unlike RDG’s Comp Plan, which would address only a corner of the community. To accept a developer’s proposal—even just for study—ahead of and around a longstanding community request, sends a very discouraging message to neighborhoods across the City about the value of our volunteer efforts in neighborhood planning.

3.      The applicant does not have the neighborhood in its best interests. The Roosevelt Development Group (RDG) and Hugh Sisley (the property owner) have allowed their properties to become run-down to the point where they are an eyesore, a danger to the community, and hurt property values in the surrounding area. They have had little regard for the Roosevelt and Ravenna communities in the past, and cannot possibly have the well being of the neighborhood in mind for the future. This type of behavior should not be rewarded.

I support the position outlined by the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association (RNA) and strongly oppose further consideration of Comp Plan amendment #8.

Thank you,

<your name and email address here>