Category — Maple Leaf

This actually surprised me, Council President Richard Conlin and Councilmember Sally Clark introduced a resolution asking the DPD to ‘extend Seattle’s tree-preservation rules to groves of trees‘. I just didn’t expect them to take a stand on this.This resolution is an especially interesting development for the proposed Waldo Woods development in Maple Leaf because it does seem to add an extra element of risk to the project.  Should Prescott keep fighting for what it has right now and risk getting the rug pulled out from under them by the city council, or should it try to compromise with the neighborhood now and see if they can work out an agreement on an alternative?Prescott already has received approval from the DPD — but in the other corner it faces an organized and politically-saavy neighborhood which has already filed an appeal of the DPD’s decision (to be held at 9:00am on July 22nd), and now it looks like a couple of council members are starting to flex their land use muscles.  It should be interesting to see how this shakes out over the next couple of months.   

There’s a nice article in the Times today about Maple Leaf and Prescott Development’s planned Waldo Woods development, congrats to the Maple Leaf folks for getting that press.

I was talking to a developer friend of mine about Waldo Woods and she was saying that the real story here is the high price Camp Fire USA is asking for this property - and that the development Prescott is planning for this property is their attempt at making development pencil out at that price.

So…hopefully Prescott has a contingency on the offer so that if the buildable area on this property is reduced that they can go back to Camp Fire with a lower number and the development still pencils out for Prescott.

Oh, and tonight’s the night for Northgate Urban Center Rezone planning. On a side note, just thinking about the have’s and the have not’s in Seattle - do you ever think the city will ever propose a similiar attempt to create a UVillage Urban Center Rezone? 

In yesterday’s Seattle Times, David Miller says that whether the city is able to preserve the urban forest in Maple Leaf will pretty much answer that question for us.

(Seattle Times photo - Maple Leaf’s Waldo Woods)  

The Stranger wrote about Prescott’s proposed townhome development in Maple Leaf (scroll down, you’ll see the articles) in glowing terms today, giving them an ‘A’ for effort.

Anyway, for those of you who want to see what a hard-earned ‘A’ looks like for this kind of neighborhood development, check out The Cottage Company. They’re the real honor students in our area, and I know the Maple Leaf community would have loved to have worked for them. Too bad the property owners, Camp Fire USA, didn’t choose them.

(Photo from The Cottage Company)

Boy, do I know the difference between writing blog posts about land use and actually doing something about it. Things are easy online, I find something interesting (or somebody sends me some information) and in just a few minutes I publish a generally accurate and somewhat gramatically correct post.

However, the hard part is actually getting something done in this town. If you’re serious about it, you will be going to evening meetings after work, communicating your updates to your neighborhood, and then taking heat from others who don’t agree with your decisions.

And in Seattle, compromise generally means prioritizing projects against a certain pool of available funds. Tons of research, compromise, paperwork and discussion went into determining the 40 really critical Neighborhood Street Fund projects proposed by the North Seattle. And the North District Council put in even more work to determine which are their top 8 projects - and at the end of the day - guess how many of these they think will get funded? Probably just 1.  

So…when you hear about neighborhoods talking about how they want infrastructure investments to go along with new development in their neighborhoods - think about the fact that they have alot of outstanding infrastructure needs that aren’t being met. In addition to the North District’s top project’s below here’s a nice starting point to understand the kind of projects being proposed by other neighborhoods.

North District Council’s top Neighborhood Street Fund projects

Lake City (including Cedar Park)
#1 - 117 feet of sidewalk to be added to NE 137th between 30th Ave NE & 32nd Ave NE
It was noted that many seniors use this street to get back and forth from the Remington Senior apartments complex to the nearby park, bus stop, and to core shopping areas.
  [Read more →]

Tonight at 8pm at the University Heights Center, the Design Review Board will convene for its recommendation on Prescott Development’s proposed 46-unit development at the old Camp Fire USA site in Maple Leaf.

You can view the entire presentation by checking out this link to the recommendation Prescott will be making tonight.

In addition to Prescott’s point of view, Maple Leaf Community Council’s very detailed response to Prescott’s project assumptions will also be submitted to the DPD.

Personally, I think Prescott overpaid for this property by both incorrectly overestimating just how much development would be allowed here and underestimating the effectiveness of Maple Leaf’s response. I guess these are the risks you run when you purchase property from slick-talking Camp Fire girls.

Below are some photos of some of the proposed designs for the property, along overhead views of the development.

(Overhead shot of the current property - the Maple Leaf reservoir is located to the left of the property)

(Overhead view of the planned development)

(Views of the types single-family and duplex housing proposed for this area)

It was a packed house Monday night at the University Heights Community Center as 100+ residents faced 10 Prescott Development representatives and vendors to express Maple Leaf’s dissatisfaction with Prescott’s plans for their neighborhood. I didn’t really realize the huge scope of this proposed project until I was able to see and hear for myself how it will basically create a brand new neighborhood of 40 single family homes in what is now a wooded parklike setting.

The net-net of this project is that it is so large in scope that it is deserving of special attention from the city. All kinds of issues were brought up from; how will construction prevent airborn chemicals/materials from entering the neighboring city water reservoir (this was the #1 scary finding of the night), how can residential side streets accomodate all the new traffic these 40 homes will bring, to why does the developer plan on destroying half of the existing bald eagle habitat (one Prescott vendor suggested the eagles could use the remaining half of the trees).

Anyway, this is a big issue that is important to all of us in Seattle and Maple Leaf needs your help. And the big step that could help them the most right now is to make the city require a full Environmental Impact Study for this project.

You can send your emails encouraging the city to do this to PRC@Seattle.gov (make sure to include Project 3006480) in the subject line. You can learn more about Maple Leaf’s efforts by visiting their web site - www.MapleLeafCommunity.org/savewaldo.html, or even better - donate to their cause and help them get lawyered up!

You can donate to Maple Leaf online at www.MapleLeafCommunity.org/pp/start_donate.html

Photos from the Monday meeting

It’s busy, busy, busy today.

Maple Leaf Public Hearing on the proposed Camp Fire Property Development
Time: 7-9pm
Place: University Heights Community Center, Room 209

American Institute of Architects public conversation on the future of downtown.
Time: noon
Place: Downtown public library, 1000 Fourth Ave., in the Microsoft Auditorium on Level 1
Public Meeting to help save the Ballard Denny’s
Time: 7pm
Place: Abraxcus Bookstore, 5711 24th Ave NW

Kudos to Maple Leaf for getting 200 people to sign their petition requesting a public hearing to discuss plans for the old Camp Fire/Waldo Hospital property. If you’re interested in helping out another neighborhood facing incompatible development - make sure to attend this meeting. Below is a copy of the meeting notice from the President of the Maple Leaf Community Council.

The Maple Leaf Community has been working for almost two years to positively affect the development at the site of historic Waldo Hospital near NE 85th and 15th Ave. NE. The current owners, Camp Fire, rebuffed the neighborhood’s offers back in August of 2006 to help them raise money to renovate the building and instead sold to a developer who plans to tear down the building. Even worse, the developer wants to
cut down over half the mature, healthy trees on the site and sink basements into the root structures of a third of what trees are left.

Maple Leaf has been trying to convince anyone in the City who will listen there is a better way to develop the site than the plans proposed by Kirkland’s Prescott  Developments.

Over 200 people signed a petition requesting a public hearing, and the City granted one on Monday, February 11 at 7pm. Maple Leaf residents were only given a week’s notice ahead of the meeting, so if you have an interest in demonstrating your support for doing development in a way that doesn’t decrease tree cover or unecessarily degrade the surrounding neighborhood, show up and support them.

Date: Monday, February 11
Time: 7-9pm
Place: University Heights Community Center, Room 209 (5031 University Way NE)

The Maple Leaf Community Council has a new website, and they have tons of useful information about the project and it’s impacts at a special page on their web site: http://www.mapleleafcommunity.org/savewaldo.html

Prescott Development’s plans for developing the Camp Fire property in North Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood are not sitting well with the neighbors. In fact, Marjorie sent this over to help get the word out and see if others are interested in helping. You can get involved at their web site.

Prescott Homes is a predatory developer that is ruining
Seattle neighborhoods. Greg Kappner (Kirkland) is the
man at the top here, or is he? The following website
features an article from the Puget Sound Biz Journal
(Jun 8, 07) showing a relationship with “Jim McLean,
principal with Pollard, McLean Development Group, which
controls Kirkland-based Prescott Homes.”

Prescott gives no consideration to the wishes of
communities. Fremont, Wallingford amd Maple Leaf are
among the communities that have had to face-off with
this predator. Prescott demolished a historic building
in Fremont; and is trying to demolish one in Maple
Leaf. The gaping hole in the ground at 40th & Stoneway
also belongs to Prescott.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone else who has had
problems with Prescott, or who knows of any connection
between Prescott and Lindal Cedar Homes.

Thanks;

Marjorie in Maple Leaf

Photo of some of the 40 townhomes Prescott is planning for Maple Leaf

For years Camp Fire USA owned the historic Waldo Hospital and surrounding property in Maple Leaf (NE Seattle neighborhood), but according to neighbors, last year Camp Fire decided to put the property up for sale without even giving the neighborhood the chance to help bring buyers to the table. Instead, the property was sold to Prescott Development, who the neighborhood reports,

Prescott Development submitted a bid believed to be above $7.5 million to purchase the property. Prescott planned over 40 homes on the site and the destruction of Waldo Forest. Camp Fire turned down a $6.5 million dollar bid from a developer who committed to save Waldo Forest. Subsequently, a number of organizations and companies have approached the community interested in purchasing the property.

What’s interesting about this project is how quickly it appears to be moving from:
A property with bald eagles,

a landmark building,

and tons of trees on the property,

to instead become a series of 40 wheelchair inaccessible, 30′ townhomes who currently are planning to site their dumpsters alongside 85th and 86th Streets. (click for a better scaled photo)

This project needs alot of help, in term of protecting this property’s existing green space and the landmark building that is sited there. The city is taking comments on this proposal, and if you have an opinion it is important that you submit yours in writing so that your comments are reviewed by the city. If you want to take a more active role, you can visit the SaveWaldo.org site built by some of the residents of Maple Leaf.

On Lake City Way up in Maple Leaf someone just finished development of two residential buildings (which I think have two units each). What’s really interesting is that these two units, one small restaurant and one billboard have all been squeezed onto what looks like a 5000-6000 sq ft lot. Anyway, I’m not quite sure what to make of this, but it is kinda ugly.