example of a woonerf

Please join the 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee and the Seattle Parks Department for the first community meeting for the James Court woonerf project. 

A woonerf (a Dutch term) is a street where pedestrians and bicycles have equal priority of the street, along with cars.  A woonerf will usually also have a different paving pattern, low or no curbs, and more greenery than a typical street.  The James Court woonerf was a community-initiated project that will create a woonerf on James Court between 12th and 13th Avenues.  The redesigned street will create shared spaces, increase the feeling of openness and connection with the adjacent James Court Park (which will be constructed at the same time), and slow down traffic on James Court.  This will be one of the first streets of this kind in the city. 

Please join us for the first community meeting where Parks staff will outline the project scope and schedule, and we can share community priorities for the project. 

Tuesday, May 10^th
5:30 – 7:00pm
Seattle University Alumni & Admissions Building
824 12^th Avenue (corner of 12^th and E Marion Street)

Questions:  Please contact Susanne Rockwell at Seattle Parks and Recreation 206-684-0902 or [email protected]

For those of you in the neighborhood that received the quarterly Squire Park newsletter (which is probably everyone  since the Squire Park folks are awesome and drop the newsletters off door-to-door!), I have a correction on the upcoming 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee Meeting.  We will not have the Parks Department attending the April 12th meeting.  The Parks Department had originally planned to be there and hold the first community meeting on the James Court woonerf project.  They have had some delays though and aren’t ready for that first meeting so stay tuned to CD News (or the 12th Ave blog) for details on the official woonerf meeting.  (We’re hoping it happens in May.)

The 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee will still meet on April 12th and we hope to have a lively conversation about the King County Youth Detention Center redevelopment and talk about the shape of the Stewardship Committee (bylaws, elected leadership, annual goal-setting, etc.)

Please join us!  We have food and get stuff done!

12th Avenue Stewardship Committee

Tuesday, April 12th at 5:30pm

Seattle University Alumni & Admissions building (corner of 12th and E Marion Street)

The Pomegranate Center, an organization from Issaquah that works with communities to create gathering spaces, public art, etc. is partnering with Tully’s to help fund neighborhood projects around Seattle. 

They are currently seeking proposals from community groups for projects that create gathering spaces for their neighborhoods.  This includes projects like community gardens, shelters, kiosks, or whatever you think your community needs.  The grant will provide design help, money for materials, and project management support.  We, the community, must provide volunteers to help build the project, in-kind services or goods, and a group of folks to lead the project through the process.

Information and application materials are here.  The deadline is April 15th.

The vacant building and former speakeasy next to Dixon’s Furniture on 12th Avenue will soon be home to an Irish pub called the Chieftain. The folks opening the Chieftain own McGilvra’s in Madison Park and Finn MacCool’s in the U District.

Expect pizza, games, quiz nights, an outdoor deck, and of course Guinness at the Chieftain. The owners hope to open the space by early summer.

Check out more info here.

There’s a new mural in progress by the empty lot at the corner of 12th Avenue and E Fir Street.  It is being painted by students from Pratt Fine Arts and should be finished (weather pending) this weekend.  Special thanks to Umpqua Bank, owners of the lot, for helping to make it look better!

1313 E Columbia Street

Interested in getting more involved in the community?

Do you live or work in or near  the 12th Avenue Urban Village? (see map to the bottom)

Then the 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee is the community group for you!!

Please join us at the next meeting. 
Tuesday, February 8th
5:30pm
Seattle University Facilities Building
1313 E Columbia Street (corner of 14th and E Columbia)

Here’s the agenda for the upcoming meeting:

Please join us!  Food and beverages will be provided.

The 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee meets monthly and is a great place to get engaged in neighborhood activities and issues.  A couple things the group has been involved in include:

• Two new city parks for the neighborhood

• Traffic and street modifications
• Major institution development
• Seattle Housing Authority expansion
• New housing and retail development
• Big changes at the King County Youth Services site
• The future of the landmark Washington Hall
• Much, much, more!!

For more information on 12th Avenue in general, including past meeting minutes, please check out www.12thaveseattle.com

12th Avenue Urban Village boundary

As reported earlier, Capitol Hill Housing is planning to start construction on their mixed-use development at 12th and E Jefferson this spring.

There will be 5,000 square feet of retail on the ground floor, broken up into 5 spaces (although some can be combined to create larger spaces). The commercial space ranges from 550 sq ft to 2,500 sq ft.

What do you want to see at this location?  We want to hear from you!

To take the super short, 2 question poll, click HERE.  (The poll didn’t want to embed directly in this blog post.)

If you are interested in leasing any of these spaces, or know someone that is, please contact Capitol Hill Housing’s Betsy Hunter at 206-204-3830 or bhunter (at) capitolhillhousing (dot) org.

Here’s more information on the building:  12th & Jefferson Information Sheet

The future park at 12th Avenue and E James Court is fully designed and awaiting construction.  It is also looking for a name!

The Parks Department gives a few rules for the naming of parks but this leaves a lot of room for creativity!

• Consider geographical location, historical/cultural significance, distinctive natural features, and the wishes of the community in which it is located
• If naming the park after a person, the person must have been deceased for at least three years

Name suggestions must be made in writing by March 3rd and should include your reasons for choosing the name.

Send suggestions to:

Seattle Parks and Recreation

Naming Committee

100 Dexter Avenue North

Seattle, WA 98109

or via email to paula.hoff (at) seattle (dot) gov

More info here on the naming.  More info on the park design here.  

Corner of 12th and E Jefferson

After a year-long wait and much City process, Capitol Hill Housing’s 12th and E Jefferson project successfully received a rezone from the Seattle City Council on December 13th!! On December 15th, we were notified of funding from Washington Works through the WA State Housing Finance Commission. More great news!!

Things are looking good for construction to start at this key intersection in the coming year! 

Project details:

• 40 affordable apartments for neighborhood workers earning up to 60% of area median ($36,000 for a single person, $41,000 for 2-person family)

• 5 stories of one- and two-bedroom apartments

• One level (5,000 sq feet) of commercial spaces designed for local businesses

• Building design and program supported by the local community