LICTON SPRINGS COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Directors Present: Liz Kearns, Jerry Owens, Kay Mesirow, Tom Meyer, Melanie Davies, and Ellen Beck.

Board Representatives Present: Ken Thompson (Liaison to North Precinct), and Kathleen Braden (List Serve).

Visitors: Jean Wirch, Gordon Clowers (DPD Northgate Planning), and Eric Johnston.

LSCC Elections. The following officers, who were nominated at the April meeting were unanimously elected:

List Serve. Kathleen Braden told us that she will be out of town from June 9 to 29, 2012. Someone else will have to send out messages to the List Serve. She agreed to resend instructions again to Board members about the List Serve.

Northgate Planning. Gordon Clowers, with DPD Northgate Planning, next spoke to us. He has worked with the City for 12 years. Gordon discussed the objectives with planning for Urban Villages and Urban Centers (Downtown, Northgate, and the University District). He showed us a large display of the Northgate Urban Center.

The Aurora-Licton Planning Area went from 85^th to Northgate Way. A focus of our planning was Aurora Avenue. The Aurora Merchants did not want to participate in any planning, except to speak at the final meeting, opposing everything proposed. Gordon said that the Aurora Merchants don’t want change, but that also inhibits any improvements taking place. It was agreed that our section of Aurora is being left behind by the improvements made to our sections of Aurora.

Kay Mesirow said that our neighborhood has no cornerstone. It was agreed that we deeply felt the departure of Larry’s Market. It was pointed out that Community Church held their Sunday services at the Oak Tree Cinema.

The growth within Licton Springs has long been ahead of projected growth of 2024!

We were shown a large illustration of the Northgate Transit-Oriented Development Urban Design Study with three Development Concepts: A. Creek Street, B. Stations Place, and C. Park Place. Each of the concepts was examined and discussed. Each of the Concepts contains a series of larger commercial buffer buildings. Each also contains open space.

The pedestrian overpass bridge is involved with each of the Concepts, going from NSCC, on the west, to the transportation hub on the east side.

There is new legislation coming through in the future to allow for more flexibility with residential/retail mix buildings. Hopefully anything that makes sense will be allowed to take place and encourage new businesses.

We had a long discussion regarding the options for the Northgate Transit area. We were told that there would be a net loss of parking for the short term (two years+!) until the light rail continued north of Northgate. Gordon said it was a work in progress.

Liz Kearns asked Gordon to stay in touch with us and let us know what is happening is what we can do. He told us that contacting Mayor McGinn and the Council members involved in Land Use (Richard Conlin, Mike O’Brien, and Tim Burgess) was useful.

P-Patch. The P-Patch’s application for grant was approved!! The next meeting of the committee is another planning charrette. It was suggested that there be a sign in the PPatch acknowledging the work of Christian Rusby.

List Serve Header. Tom Meyer said he would e-mail his header suggestion for messages sent out from our List Serve to Board members.

Northwest District Council. Tom reported that the Northwest District Council will begin reviewing new large projects in July/August.

Jana Jorgensen was at the Northwest District Council. She is the North Precinct Liaison Attorney. We can contact her regarding neighborhood concerns, but should also call 911. Her contact information is jana.jorgensen@seattle.gov and 684.7765 (at North Precinct).

Tom said he would begin forwarding the draft minutes of the Northwest District Council meetings to Board members.

Blanchet Field Lights and Amplifications. Eric Johnston reported that neighbors were considering going to the press. Memorial Stadium¹ is being closed. It is very old and refurbishment is not being considered. The impact of Blanchet field lights and the amplification of announcing impacts neighbors far and wide.

Land Use. Tom questioned Gordon about how to do searches related to land use permits. Tom said he would work on his search method.

Bylaws. Liz announced that we would not get to our Bylaws this evening, but should all be prepared to finish our amendments at the June meeting.

1 Public schools play at Memorial Stadium. It’s not clear if that closure would increase use of Blanchet field.