Bitter Lake Urban Village January 2007 Author Councilmember Richard Conlin

Grace Crunican, SDOT
Chuck Clarke, SPU
Stella Chao, DON

Dear Ms. Crunican, Mr. Clarke, and Ms. Chao:

On September 27, 1999, the Council adopted Ordinance 119685, amending Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan to incorporate portions of the Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake Neighborhood Plan. This action created a new Hub Urban Village centered on Linden Avenue North between North 128th Street and North 145th Street, and changed the name of the village from the originally proposed “130th and Aurora” to the Bitter Lake Village.

In so doing, the City took the extraordinary act of designating a Hub Urban Village with a growth target of 1260 households and 2800 jobs centered around a main street that was poorly designed, erratically paved, and lacked sidewalks and drainage infrastructure. This was a leap of faith on the part of the community and of the City, and was accompanied by a commitment by the City to ensure that this situation would be remedied as rapidly as possible. The Departmental response to the Neighborhood Plan stated:

“The City acknowledges that the Bitter Lake Village Hub Urban Village is among the least well developed in terms of the character envisioned by the Comprehensive Plan… providing infrastructure improvements, including those identified by the neighborhood in the neighborhood plan, will be important to address the potential impacts of that growth and create a viable urban village.”

Unfortunately, more than seven years later, there has been insufficient progress on redeveloping the infrastructure of Linden Avenue, although the projected growth is occurring at the envisioned pace. The result is that pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles share an undefined space with inadequate drainage that is both a potentially significant safety hazard and a completely inappropriate site for receiving the envisioned additional urban density that is essential to realizing the vision of the Comprehensive Plan.

We are especially concerned about the safety of the many elderly, disabled, and low income residents who live in several projects along Linden Avenue, and who are pedestrian users of this corridor. They find themselves on well-maintained and developed trails to the south of 128th, and to the north of 145th (in the City of Shoreline), but navigating puddles in the street right-of-way in the middle of what the City has designated as a pedestrian-oriented environment. Frankly, the current environment can only be described as Third World, and reflects poorly on our commitment to this neighborhood and our own growth management strategy.

We believe that it is time to take action to address this issue. Seven years is long enough – no, too long – for this situation to persist. Please provide us with a coordinated response to the following questions:

What is the current status of plans for infrastructure improvements on Linden Avenue North between North 128th and North 145th?
What is the timeline for completing the needed improvements to bring this street up to the standards required for creating a pedestrian-friendly main street for the Bitter Lake Hub Urban Village?
What investments are needed to implement these improvements, and by which Departments?
What of these are included in Department CIP’s, and in what years?
What are the current plans to fund and construct any improvements that have not currently been identified in these CIP’s?
What, if any, are the amounts that would be required to be added to Department CIP’s to complete all infrastructure to appropriate standards, and what sources are available for these funds?

Please respond to this letter by March 1, 2007. We look forward to joining you in a commitment to making the Bitter Lake Hub Urban Village a reality.

Sally Clark, Chair, Neighborhoods Committee

Richard Conlin, Chair, Environment, Emergency Management, and Utilities Committee

Jan Drago, Chair, Transportation Committee