Portage Bay/Roanoke Park Community Council Minutes
February 3, 2016 at St. Patrick’s Church
The meeting was called to order by President, Pete Delaunay, at 7 pm.
Election of Officers
The slate of nominees was announced by Pete Delaunay and no nominations
were offered from the floor. The following officers were elected unanimously:
President: Pete Delaunay
Vice President: David Young
Treasurer: John Gaines
Secretary: Nancy Hutchins
Treasurer’s Report
Although Walter Oelwein was not present his 16 years of service as treasurer was
acknowledged. John Gaines gave the report reflecting data from 11/17/15
General Funds Available $ 5,333.00
Dedicated Funds
Roanoke Park $ 1,016.47
Astrid’s Park $ 1,325.97
Elms’Fund $13,859.87
South Portage Bay Park $ 500.00
Overall Balance $22,035.31
Traffic Calming Report
Karen Lang reported that a petition of over 300 signatures, 65 % from neighbors living along the Boyer/Fuhrman arterial, was submitted to SDOT over a year ago. A year later SDOT agreed to do a traffic survey and a walk of the corridor was arranged with Mr. Don Hong. Neighbors on the walk pointed out the many dangerous intersections between Eastlake and 23rd Ave along Fuhrman and Boyer. Many suggestions were recommended such as: monitoring of traffic speed with radar guns, painted intersections, speed bumps, yellow stripes in crosswalks and a school bus sign at the corner of E. Shelby and Boyer. We want SDOT to respect our streets and neighborhood. Another idea proposed was for a survey of where traffic comes from and where there is cut through traffic. Karen Lang promised to keep working with SDOT in advocating for safer streets and calmer traffic in our neighborhood.
City of Seattle/University of Washington Advisory Committee Report
John Gaines, our representative to CUCAC reported that every 10 years the University of Washington Master Plan is updated. These changes will have an impact on our neighborhood in that the University will become even more densely populated with the increase in students, the increase in building of new dorms on West Campus, and construction of new research and office buildings. The UW owns the land on which these new buildings will be built and the heights of some will be raised to 300 feet, There will be a new park on the north side of Portage Bay with a pedestrian walkway by the shoreline.
Report from Barbara Krieger, NE District Representative
Barbara reported that the NEDC has very active engagement in the U District Upzone and seeks input from NEDC and Portage Bay Roanoke Park residents members and presentations by CITY Seattle planners. Some concerns include: District services and low income resident displacement, traffic revision (eg Roosevelt parking, biking lanes).Barbara’s full report is attached at the end. *
Introduction of Rebekah Liebermann
Pete introduced Rebekah Liebermann who is the new legislative aide to our Seattle Community Council’s representative, Kshama Sawant. She attended in order to listen to the concerns of our neighborhood which included the concerns over the closing down of the Metro Bus #25 bus, traffic safety and the future impacts of the SR 520 project on the neighborhood.
Other Announcements
Fran Conley announced that “Seattle Parks and Recreation is inviting the community to review the design for the development of a new park at 1101-1136 NE Boat Street on Portage Bay on Tuesday February 9, 2016 at the Bryant Building. 1117 NE Boat Street. Please join Seattle Parks and Recreation and the design team from Walker Macy at 6:30 pm. Families, students and neighbors are encouraged to attend and participate in the design...Seattle Parks and Recreation purchased the Bryant marina site (1101-11137 NE Boat Street on Portage Bay) from the University of Washington in 22014. The goal for the park project is to [provide upland and shoreline/water-related recreational experiences for all ages and abilities. The development will include remediation of site contamination, building demolition and potential re-use of building elements and shoreline enhancement. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2017 and completed in 2018.”
*Northeast “neighborhood” DISTRICT Council (NEDC) report from Barbara Krieger, Rep
1) NEDC has very active engagement in the U District Upzone;
seeks input from NEDC members and presentations by CITY Seattle planners (Dave.LaClergue@Seattle.gov)
is worried about U District services, and low income resident displacement
is worried about traffic revisions (eg Roosevelt parking, bike lanes) --Greenways, Greenstreets [Greenways narrower, favor bikes, peds, kids; reduce speed, are planted, eg in U District, 12th Ave is a Greenway
local map of Greenways at
http://seattlegreenways.org/neighborhoods/montlake/ ]
Conclusion: Portage Bay Roanoke Park (PBRP) has a strong voice in the U District Upzone at NEDC
2) NEDC actively comments on U District Upzone AND UW Master Plan – Both active areas of construction and traffic revisions – are not the same plans, but are coordinated; John Gaines is our rep to CUCAC (City/University Community Advisory Committee)
3) NEDC forum allows PBRP to moderate the demands on 520 Interchange design; especially demands coming from the Northeast (eg, Laurelhurst, Ravenna, Windermere) districts
4) NEDC is very well run: very active, capable coordinator (Karen Ko); very active and effective chairs; good process for evaluating grants, voting on grants, very fair to both newcomers and old timers, very active members - colleagial. We have received substantial funding from NEDC process.
Changes may be coming: Dept of Neighborhoods (DON) wants our input on this!!!!
There is discussion of DON (where our community councils are housed and funded) changing its structure to match the new Seattle City Council districts (eg to coincide with Council District 3, where we and Montlake are now, together with Capitol Hill, Madison Park, Washington Park, Madrona, Central District; map at http://www.seattle.gov/cityclerk/municipal-code-and-city-charter/council-districts
City Council Districts may be redrawn at next census (2020). City Council districts are by “population”; don’t always combine “neighborhoods” with historical and common interests. Current neighborhood councils are more likely to do that.
East “neighborhood” District Council currently comprised of, among others: Capitol Hill, First Hill, Broadmoor, Madison Park, Pike/Pine, Yesler Terrace CC, Madison Valley Merchants, Madrona, etc and now Montlake, although Montlake DOES NOT APPEAR on the web page!!! http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/neighborhood-districts/east
East District Council is somewhat more geographically aligned with our City Councilmember, K. Sawant’s District 3 than is NEDC.
East District Council meeting is next week, I will attend meetings as member of public to determine if we “fit”. My areas of interest: speakers? What reps speak at meetings? How is grant competition run? How are guidelines for funding made/changed/followed? What is past history of neighborhoods receiving funding? What is history of East District activism in City Council hearings (although those are usually by topic rather than geography), what is East District’s voice in U District Upzone?
Barbara said “there is no rush for decision on which district council we belong to, Northeast or East”.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm by Pete Delaunay
Respectively submitted,
Joan Stewart (acting secretary for Nancy Hutchins who was away)
Portage Bay/Roanoke Park Community Council Meeting Minutes
Portage Bay/Roanoke
Park Community Council

