They serve Chimay at the coffee shop a few blocks from my house in Greenwood.  Chimay.  At a coffee shop.  Across the street from the coffee shop is a Space Travel Supply Company.  The name of the coffee bar I’m at is Neptune.  I just finished staring at a black trash receptacle that is an exact clone of the one I purchased from Fred Meyer.  It’s black and durable and cheap and it’s now in my basement. So my basement is on planet Earth, even though I’m a couple hundred yards from my basement and I’m already in Neptune.  What a wild town.

Greenwood does have its wild sides.  When I began writing this article 3 months ago (did some research-based space travel in the interim thanks to the store across the street) the weather outside the coffee shop window looked to be in hot competition for the most fall-looking day ever.  Yellows and oranges swirled in battle from both ends of the street.  A white, indignant gloom of a sky hung as a backdrop.  The people inside the café were in deep post-pumpkin depression.  Eating treats at home.  No Breaking Bads to watch. It was tough.  And it’s still tough, even tougher now, in this biting, late-winter frost and dandruff sprays of snow stopping Seattle in her tracks for days at a time (as the people cry: “We shouldn’t go out there, there’s white stuff!” “My tires will turn into giant ice cylinders and eat my children at night!” “Snow is poison!”).  And yet, there’s a lot to explore in the Hiptropolis of 85^th and Greenwood, regardless of the weather.  Wild & phantasmagoric elements abound, past and present.

Welcome…to Greenwild.

Greenwood was first a bog and cemetery before the boutique life took hold.  For 17 years things were pretty dead around here until Governor Henry McBride interred the bodies (so much for rest in peace) out of Greenwood Cemetery and started building residential plots in 1908.  Where did those interred bodies go, you may be wondering?  The answer could be one of two possibilities: Either Governor McBride moved them to Ballard’s Crown Hill Cemetery, or he let them loose and they still mill about Greenwood to this day as half-functioning, latte-ordering, eco-conscious zombies (“Don’t waste the skull like that!” “That jawbone makes for excellent compost!”).

Kidding aside, there has been documented paranormal activity in the area, particularly on 85^th, where they started digging up bodies and building houses.  Fellow resident of Greenwood and Seattle author Emily Hill has written books about the haunting in her neighborhood on 85^th St.  She’s convinced that her 1907 house, as well as the house next door and the house across the street from hers, are the dwelling places of restless ghosts. (Can’t you just  imagine “this is not my beautiful home” playing incessantly in their poor, ghost heads?).

Here’s Emily Hill in her own words: “The residents of all three houses experienced hauntings [sic], paranormal activity, and the presence of ghosts.  I’ve included my own experience in ‘Ghost Stories and The Unexplained’ and ‘Ghost Stories From Beyond the Grave.’” She went on to describe watching door knobs turn when no one else was in the house, and the “ghost child” that played with the little girl in the house across the street.  Spooky wild.

So we got zombies (most likely), ghost testimonials, and, get this: no sidewalks! This town has been waiting for sidewalks since 1954!  Ever since they annexed the hinterlands that ran north to N 145^th St., the Greenwood we know now north of 85^th St. has been waiting for sidewalks ever since (as was promised in that annexation).  Greenwoodlin creatures have been risking their lives on these roads since they were plank and trammeled by horse, buggy, trolley, and confused, youthful zombies and ghosts lurking about in need of decent coffee.  Think of the smooth transit a sidewalk would provide for a Greenwood zombie.  Sure they represent unforgivable wrongs, but at the end of the day zombies have rights, too. They just have a hard time expressing them.

In my prying about cyberspace in search of olde tyme Greenwood tales, I found very little. Though there is hope in finding places where they reward you for how much you can read while feeding you “pizza and snacks” (though I think it’s actually a pizza-eating marathon disguised as a reading marathon…least that’s what I would do.)  Unfortunately, you have to be a teenager to be eligible for this event, says The Greenwood Library. The Reading Marathon for “teens” is at the Greenwood library on Saturday, January 28, from 11am-5pm. Bring You Own Fake Middle School ID.

If you’re too old, tried, and sophisticated for pizza and library books and in you’re in search of a more mellow wild,  check out Couth Buzzard Books – Espresso Buono Café. They’re vying hard for the Greenwood Community Hot Spot Award, as they trumpet all they provide on their website: “Open Mic Nights, Acoustic Music Jams, Local Arts and Crafts, Monthly Cabarets, Family Events like Game Night, Writer’s Groups, Meeting Space Groups…and…Spirited Conversation!” And they serve Fremont beer from the Fremont Brewery.  Nothing says “wild” like fresh beer brewed just 5 minutes away.

Also note that the Greenwood Animal Hospital will spade your babies, no problem, according to one of many rave reviews by customers, who also lauded there 7-days a week availability and free 1rst appointment.  Says one customer, “I just got my baby spayed here and they are giving Seattle humane society prices to all their clients.” Finally, you can spay your baby in a humane fashion. How wild!

To conclude, I’d like to end on a Greenwood legacy that is sadly coming to an end this Feb. 4^th.  The Greenwood Market. After 20 years of serving the community as a meeting place of food and ideas and beer, the bigger fish across the street, Fred Meyer, is gobbling up the property Greenwood Market currently sits on by adding 55,000 sq. ft. to Fredkenstein’s current 118,000 sq. ft.  How is Fred Meyer able to do this? They applied for a permit to expand back in July (what a wild permit).  In fact, the FM expansion still needs city approval.

Spooky side note: The Greenwood Ghost Collective has in fact shown up weekly at town meetings to protest this action, though no one ever responds to their concerns…since they’re ghosts and no one can see them.

One customer laments over the types of food she will miss discovering at the Market, saying, “It was a cornucopia of organic produce and odd, fancy things – pomegranate molasses and Swedish sugar pearls, to name a few – has made [the market] it a favorite for foodies.”

Greenwood sugar pearls? Heck, I remember picking wild sugar pearls out back with my zombie ghost grandfather behind Greenwood Elementary when I was just five years old.  Those were wild nights…

Whoa. A 10-year-old Bob Dylan just walked into Neptune wearing a dark poofy rain coat and plaid shorts.  He just ordered a jelly doughnut.  It’s 4 in the afternoon. Kid must be from Mars.

By:  Matt Caliri

The Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce celebrates Seattle’s summer-time with the 61st annual Greenwood Seafair Parade on Wednesday July 27th from 6pm to 8:30pm. “This year we will be having Dean Ridgway from Ridgeline Ranch with his darling Welsh ponies offering pony rides in the Greenwood Fred Meyer parking lot,” says Parade Director Ann Woodward. “The ponies will be set up by 10am so this will be a great opportunity for families to bring their children before the parade and have a ride!”

The Ridgeline Ranch is located in Sequim on 30 acres of pasture with 3 spring-fed ponds. “It is a pony paradise,” says Dean who has been providing pony rides for 22 years. “I enjoy working outside with my ponies and watching the parents smile and the children enjoy the ride.”

The Greenwood Seafair Parade takes place from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27. The parade—which is the oldest neighborhood Seafair sanctioned parade in the region—runs south along Greenwood Avenue from North 95th Street to North 85th Street, and then heads west to 6th Avenue Northwest. Thousands of people typically line the route. The parade features over 100 entrants including bands, drill teams, horses, dogs, floats, pirates and more. Detailed parade information after the jump.

This post sponsored by SeattleTravel, with great summer-time ideas for visitors around Seattle.

“We know how important Seafair and the Greenwood Parade are to the community. We are pleased we can help contribute to its success.” responded Melinda Merrill, director of Public Affairs at Fred Meyer. Fred Meyer has long sought to develop an expansion of the Greenwood Fred Meyer store, an expansion that was scaled back considerably from the residential mixed-use development project considered by the community in 2010.

The Greenwood Seafair Parade takes place from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. on July 27 and runs south along Greenwood Avenue from North 95th Street to North 85th Street, then heads west to 6th Avenue Northwest. Thousands of people line the route each year. The parade features over 100 entrants including bands, drill teams, floats, pirates and more.

For more information about the parade, or how to enter a unit in the parade, contact the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce at 206-789-1148 or info@greenwood-phinney.org.

First Ave would also get a pedestrian overlay. Both changes discourage auto-oriented development and encourage pedestrian-oriented development. Keep in mind that Seattle’s neighborhood design review allows for adjustments to pedestrian circulation, density or height (such as lower perimeter building heights and taller buildings in the center) during those public design reviews.

Full recommendation text below and detailed PDF attached with community input summary which indicated a “strong lack of community support” for all of the options analyzed.Seattle DPD Recommendations For Greenwood Town Center Seattle

It’s important to note that the city’s planner — Andrea (author of text below) — is leaving the DPD on November 19th. Will she be able to see this part of the rezone process through before her departure?

There are currently no set dates for public comment, but comments are very much encouraged at this blog.
=============================================
Subject: DPD Recommendations for Greenwood Rezone

Hello all,
Thank you for your patience while we worked out the details of DPD’s recommendations for the Greenwood Town Center Rezone. Attached, please find the report. For now, DPD recommends moving ahead with a rezone for subarea 1, while leaving the discussion open for subareas 2 and 3. The recommendations for subarea 1 are slightly different than the original proposal; DPD recommends the entire block of the “Fred Meyer site” be rezoned to NC3-65, with a P-zone overlay along NW 85th Street.

The next step will be to prepare a full rezone analysis along with a SEPA checklist, and this will likely happen very quickly. For one, it’s long overdue. Two, I will be leaving DPD effective November 19th, and I want to see this project through as far as I can before I leave. However, I’m not leaving the City so you will be able to reach me and I can continue to answer questions. I’ve taken a job with the Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE) and will start there on November 29th.

So – please distribute widely, and Tyson will put this up on the Greenwood Rezone project website here at DPD. There is plenty of process left, so rest assured there will be time for public comments, and there will be a public hearing. With the SEPA determination there is a comment and appeal period. If there are no appeals, the legislation will continue on to City Council, and there will likely be a briefing or two ahead of the actual hearing. Once the SEPA determination is published there will be a better sense of timing and actual dates.

Please contact me with any questions and again, thank you so much for your patience.

Andrea

Andrea Petzel, LEED AP, cSBA
Senior Urban Planner
City of Seattle – DPD
andrea.petzel@seattle.gov

Here is the feedback from concerned members of the community who are outraged at these changes. Neighbors spoke of common themes including parking pressures, vacant buildings, transients. Concerns were specific to both renters and owners being forced out with higher property valuations driven by the rezoning in a declining economy with minimal retail demand in the middle-class area. Check out our live videos at the bottom of this article.

Direct Community Feedback to City of Seattle via “Post It’s”:

I do not want the cavern effect of sixty-five foot buildings on either side of Northwest 85th. I do not support Subarea3 rezone proposal.

Don’t built more if you haven’t ever been able to rent all the apartments above Mudbay. Empty spaces make things worse.

The University District’s Safeco Building is an eyesore because it does not fit in with its surroundings.

Concerned about significant and abrupt transition and impact to single family homes on south side of proposal. I do not support the Subarea3 proposal.

A six story building will take away all the light for all the houses built behind it. It decreases their property value and would cause me to sell my house.

The 65 foot tall transition is too dramatic and would change the neighborhood. This does not fit into the area and will negatively impact Greenwood and the surrounding areas.

Advantages of development and “re-established connections” can occur within the existing 40 foot zone. I don’t support Subarea3 rezone proposal.

How does the 65 foot rezone promote pedestrial activity or safety. This can already happeh within the current forty-foot zone. Please maintain the current zone height.

There are plenty of empty spaces in this area as it stands. Tenants of the retail spaces are changing frequently because they can’t make a profit. Greenwood does not attract the people who can afford to rent space. The small nail salons will be bought out and not able to aford moving back into old “new” space.

Bullet #5 advantage: The existing slope to the south is not enough to mitigate effects of a six-story building for single story dwelling. This is a real, not “perceived” concern.

Changing the height and increasing density in this area would be workable…. but only if there are some restrictions on guidelines for the structures going in. Set back from the sidewalk with diversity of design and space so it doesn’t feel likel you are walking along a giant cinder block and you have good airflow and light through the area and taking into consideration the residential homes behind.

I like the idea of density with more shops and develping the street. But I’d like to see other options for this street like changing parking requirements.

Proposal will seriously increase parking space demand along NW 84th. Renters will not pay for a parking space. They will park in the surrounding area. NW 84th is already congested parking-wise.

High buildings at the storefront level are uninviting and intimidating.

The flair and character of Greenwood will be destroyed if we put six story buildings on the main strip.

There is already not enough parking on 84th street, a wall of multi-family-story buidlings will produce MORE traffic instead of reducing it.

Building six story buildings along 85th creates a cavern along 85th. This narrow strip would make it very difficult to build transitions from 85th or the backyards of the folks on 84th Street.

I am opposed to any height increase on the south side of 85th street. I live on 84th street and do not want to see tall narrow buildings out my front door.

Rezoning subarea 3 from 4 story to six story creates a wall between the single-family neighborhood and thye business district. Why is that a good idea?

It’s actually refreshing to look across the street from Fred Meyer or Bartells and see the rooftops of single family homes, try it sometime!

No to 65 foot. It is too contentious. Encourage development beyond this limited strip. If greenwood is the model for pedestrian oriented development then emulate it all along 85th.

Ridiculous – build as demand develops. This isn’t the Field of Dreams!!!

Oh Great, more traffic on 85th!!!

Dense high-rise housing is not an active community, it’s a rabbit warren. Mark park space, community space is needed and must balance the added housing.

Check out live video of Seattle DPD, public representatives, and numerous instant photos of the detailed explanations and community at the open house via our Twitter feed Greenwood rezone.

The meeting will be held in the Fellowship Hall of the Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church, located at 7500 Greenwood Avenue.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

6:00-6:30 Meet and Greet
6:30-6:45 Overview Presentation
6:45-8:00 Open House/Public Comment

As we’ve previously reported, proposals are in play to rezone the neighborhoods surrounding Fred Meyer Greenwood’s expansion. This will likely add the ability for townhomes and increased neighborhood density around soon-to-be-remodeled shopping center. The graphic shows the detail of the proposed impacts to the surrounding homes.

On June 29th, Seattle’s Planning Department will host a public meeting on the changes from 6:00-8:00. The meeting will be held in the Fellowship Hall of the Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church, located at 7500 Greenwood Avenue.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

6:00-6:30 Meet and Greet
6:30-6:45 Overview Presentation
6:45-8:00 Open House/Public Comment

The map shows the boundaries of the three subareas that form the rezone area.

For more information please contact:

Andrea Petzel
DPD Senior Urban Planner
(206) 615-1256
andrea.petzel@seattle.gov

Fred Meyer Greenwood Peat Bog

What will the new Fred Meyer development do to Greenwood’s peat bog? That’s what Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development has to decide before they either let the project stand or order an additional environmental review.

Over 50 concerned neighbors showed up to a public meeting at Loyal Height Community Center on Thursday night to discuss the environmental impacts of the project. The central issue was the potential loss of water in Greenwood’s peat bog.

If a new development pushes water out of the peat bog, it could compress, and cause neighboring buildings to settle and start sinking. That’s what happened with the Safeway at 87th street, and neither Greenwood residents nor Fred Meyer want to see it happen again.

The meeting was run by Design Review Board representative Scott Kemp, and Fred Meyer engineers were present to field questions about the environmental studies they’ve done so far.

The Fred Meyer project could be fast-tracked without an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) based on a preliminary finding that it would do no harm to the surrounding environment, including the peat bog. That’s called a “Determination of Nonsignificance,” in city-speak.

Fred Meyer Greenwood

Kate Martin, neighborhood activist and somewhat of an expert on the peat bog, says there’s nothing non-significant about the potential impact.

“Greenwood is sinking, and continues to sink,” she said.

She explained how burying the new building 16 feet underground would displace a large amount of water from the area, and called for the use of pilings to elevate the building until it hovers above the peat, instead of sinking into it. The 8-acre development would take up 1/6th of the entire bog, Martin said.

Martin’s accusations that the science behind the project is unsound seemed to strike a chord with neighbors. Almost everyone at the meeting wanted to see an Environment Impact Statement, which would provide some of the science and hard data Martin called for. Several neighbors asked, “What’s the downside to getting more information?”

The only downside is for Fred Meyer, who will have to put additional time and money into something they say they’ve already studied carefully. There have been dozens of borings into the ground on and around the site of the new development, to determine where the peat bog ends.

There was some concern about whether Fred Meyer’s studies took into account the surrounding homes, and not just the site itself. What neighbors don’t understand, according to the project architects, is that any neighboring parcel that the peat bog “buffer zone” touches becomes entirely part of the buffer area. Because of that, they argued, their plan is actually conservative and fair.

Also, revisions to the plan include some of the pilings that Martin and others suggested, in areas where the architects found them necessary. That’s a good start, but the crowd didn’t seem to think it was enough. During a show of hands, support for the environmental review was near-unanimous.

Kemp said the ultimate decision about whether to issue the determination of non-significance or order further study wasn’t made in front of the Design Review Board last night. The Board will take neighbors’ concerns to the director of the Department of Design and planning, who has the authority to order the EIS.

Throughout the community, whether neighbors arrived via foot, bus, or Seattle taxi – there is no question that the Fred Meyer expansion and its impact on the environment is a hot topic in Greenwood, Phinney, and North Seattle.

Fred Meyer Greenwood Expansion Plans

Make sure to attend this meeting if possible and we’ll be sharing our coverage with the neighborhood.

MEETING DETAILS:
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at the Loyal Heights Community Center, Room 2, 2101 Northwest 77th Street.

Written and/or oral comments may be submitted at the meeting.

Environmental Review Fred Meyer Greenwood

A geotechnical report has been submitted by the developer which identifies the soils on the site and will allow designers to accommodate for the soil conditions.

It will address any peat found on the site and the potential impacts and/or recommendations for anticipated construction.

Electronic copies of the project are not available. Hardcopies may be obtained from the DPD Public Resource Center, 700 5th Avenue, Suite 2000 (206) 684-8467. The Public Resource Center is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.

MEETING LOCATION:
A public meeting to review this application will be held on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at the Loyal Heights Community Center, Room 2, 2101 Northwest 77th Street. Written and/or oral comments may be submitted at the meeting.
LINKS:
Fred Meyer Meeting Bulletin

Peat Settlement Issues