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The meeting described below for May 6th was cancelled as the developer, Mr. Frank, notified the DPD that he was no planning on appealing.
This is consistent with what he has privately said he would do and obviously indicative of the fact that he has heard and taken to heart input from the community who live around and close to his property at 1966 Thorndyke Ave. West.
These processes do run slowly and have unexpected turns.
When Mr. Frank let residents know that he had backed of his development plans that he had previously submitted as part of his NC2-40 rezone application for 1966 Thorndyke Ave. West, residents generally assumed he had withdrawn the rezone application. For whatever reason, he did not do that. Instead he left it in place and asked the DPD to rule on his application.
Recently they did so and denied the application. This is good news for residents in the surrounding neighborhood and their input was mentioned in the denial decision.
This is a public process and there is always a built in appeals process in this type of thing. Consequently, the process is not quite over yet:
On May 6th 2008, there will be a statutory hearing that gives Mr. Frank the opportunity to present grounds for an appeal, should he wish to.
When asked about this appeal hearing, Mr. Frank has indicated that he does not intend to appeal the decision.
However, given the intense interest in this rezone application, there are many in the neighborhood who may wish to either attend the meeting in person, or submit comments by US Mail in advance of the meeting, just to be sure that their position on this is understood and taken into account by those presiding at the hearing. This would certainly be good for the neighborhood as it indicates that the local community continues to track this and oppose the rezone.
The details of the decision, notice of hearing and instructions for submitting comments by US Mail are available at the following City of Seattle website URL:
http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?BID=305&NID=7876
Specifically, the hearing will take place at 9 AM on Tuesday May 6th at the following address:
Office of the Hearing Examiner,
40th Floor of the Seattle Municipal Tower
700 5th Avenue, Room 4009
Seattle WA
There has been little to update this website with since the public meeting back in January 2006 at which the developers looking to rezone three properties on the east side of Thorndyke Ave. West heard the strong neighborhood concern with their rezone proposal and associated building project.
The developer and owner of the property at 1966 Thorndyke Ave. West, Mr. Frank, has contacted residents in the neighborhood to let them know that he had considered everyone's input and had decided to withdraw his original permit applications. He intends to work within the existing zoning (L3) and build 5 Townhome units - no commercial facilities and a much smaller impact in terms of traffic and residential population. Two of his buildings will be duplexes and one will be a single family residence.
He has also selected an architectural design that features an arched roof, providing the new residents with good internal space while remaining within the code height limitations.
Finally, parking for the residents will be provided by a garage within each building. Entrance and exit will be from Thorndyke itself using a driveway close to the original driveway on the property. Thus, concerns about on street parking or impact on the cross street have been taken into consideration.
A geotechnical study has been performed to ensure there are no landslide issues. As per city requirement, the property has been posted with a request for comments regarding landslide risk. The developer has also specifically invited neighborhood residents to submit comments should they have any.
Mr. Frank has obviously come a long way to address the concerns of those neighboring his property and is obviously taking a very proactive path to work with residents to ensure the success of this project from everyone's point of view. He has even offered to supply a copy of his plans when finalized.
Thankfully, Mr. Frank has clearly demonstrated his willingness to be reasonable and open to input from the neighborhood.
Currently, the fate of the applications for rezone of 2000 (owned by Mr. Kabir) and 2012 (owned by Mr. Van der Wel) Thorndyke Ave. West is unknown. As soon as we have a sense of what is happening with those properties, we will post the news here on this website.
The original homepage and supporting links have been archived on this site under the "Historical" link (above) for those interested in the background that has led to the current resolution.
Of course, you can join our email list by clicking here.
You can also still use the Merchandise link above to get bumper stickers, T-shirts, etc. that spread the word: Say No to Rezoning!
(Note that all merchandise prices are cost - no profit is made from Merchandise.)
... Friends of Thorndyke |