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Overview
On March 12, 2019, Sound Transit held a Delridge Station Community Workshop at the Youngstown
Cultural Arts Center during Level 3 of the alternatives development phase of the West Seattle and
Ballard Link Extensions project. The purpose of the community workshop was to learn more about the
community’s vision for the Delridge neighborhood and to share and solicit feedback on the Level 3
alternatives in Delridge. This was one of many outreach tactics in the neighborhood throughout
alternatives development.
The Delridge community workshop provided an opportunity for 94 participants to learn about the Level
3 end-to-end alternatives, discuss Delridge station area opportunities and challenges, develop a better
understanding of how the expansion of light rail can support community visioning and address
community concerns about light rail’s impact on the neighborhood. Feedback collected at the workshop
will be shared with the Stakeholder Advisory Group and Elected Leadership Group before they make
their Level 3 recommendations and with the Sound Transit Board before they identify the preferred
alternative(s) and other alternatives to study in an environmental impact statement.
Process
The workshop began with an open house which gave attendees an opportunity to learn about the West
Seattle and Ballard Link Extensions project. Throughout the evening, attendees also had the opportunity
to provide verbal (via a court reporter), written (via comment forms) and online (via an online open
house) comments for the project’s formal scoping period.
The workshop began with a presentation covering system expansion, West Seattle and Ballard
extensions and timelines, scoping, Level 1 and Level 2 alternatives, Level 3 Delridge station options and
evaluation results, and an overview of station planning. Following the presentation, attendees
participated in small breakout groups with 10 to 12 of their neighbors. Facilitators guided the small
group discussions which focused on the following topics and questions:
Community vision and neighborhood values, including where participants spend their time,
what they consider the important places, and how they envision the neighborhood and station
area for future generations
Level 3 alternatives and station locations, including what participants like/dislike about the
station options and what opportunities and challenges they see
Refinements to Level 3 alternatives and station locations, including what might be missing from
the current alternatives
Facilitators and note-takers used flip charts and/or meeting guides to record the group conversations.
Visuals were available on the tables, including large maps of the proposed Delridge station areas and
handouts on the Level 3 evaluation results.
Notifications
Notification type
Flyer distributed to businesses on Delridge Way Email updates to Delridge community members,
SW between SW Genesee St and Dumar Way social service providers, community
SW organizations and businesses
Poster distributed along the Delridge corridor, Briefings with Delridge community organizations
from north Delridge to White Center
Door to door outreach to Delridge businesses Website updates
and organizations between SW Genesee St and
the West Seattle Bridge
Outcomes
What we heard:
Feedback during the workshop was gathered through small group discussions between staff and
workshop participants. Below is a summary of key themes of public feedback organized by the three
focus areas of the workshop:
Community Vision & neighborhood values
Level 3 alternatives and station locations
Refinements to Level 3 alternatives and station locations
The notes taken during the small breakout group discussions are transcribed below.
Participants enjoy the neighborhood’s parks, greenspaces, diverse topography, birds, Longfellow Creek
and views.
Participants value the existing transit service but recognize that light rail is needed. They appreciate the
multimodal nature of the community, with nearby bike trails and walkable neighborhood streets.
Participants noted a priority for the light rail station to improve integration of all modes and maintain
walkability. There was some discussion about the need for increased transit in Pigeon Point, perhaps
with a circulator bus.
Participants like visiting the neighborhood’s small businesses. Some noted a preference for smaller retail
spaces as part of future development, with a need for more restaurants and family-friendly amenities.
Many participants noted support for studying the purple alternative (Pigeon Ridge West Seattle Tunnel)
from Level 2 as it would minimize the amount of property acquisitions, has good bus connectivity, would
minimize visual impacts, and serves the central part of the neighborhood.
Some participants noted a preference for alignments that would use existing street right of way along
Andover/Yancy/Avalon to minimize displacement, avoid greenspace impacts and be closer to the
existing park and ride. Some participants noted a preference for a station location near the Nucor steel
plant and nearby commercial area to minimize residential impacts and revitalize this northern part of
neighborhood, and felt this location would still be convenient to the residential communities to the
south.
Table 1:
o Appreciate multigenerational community
o Quiet, historic, charming neighborhood
o Needs more transit
Table 2:
o Diverse neighborhood (income and ethnicity)
o Zoning promotes diversity but still affordable
o Cohesive neighborhood, people look out for each other
o Proximity to city for easy commute
o Close and convenient bus options; three main bus lines are accessible from Delridge
Way SW
o Nearby parks and community centers
o Walkable neighborhood
o Neighborhood has market-driven transit-supportive development vs. official transit-
oriented development (TOD)
Table 3:
o Small town feel yet close to energetic city
o Green spaces
o Future generations want to live in a livable city
o Good transportation, amenities and parks
o Knowing your neighbors (care and looking after one another)
o Safety
o Concern about traffic impacts and changing dynamic of the neighborhood
o Affordable housing close to Downtown
o Diverse neighborhood
o History preservation (old homes)
o Young families
o Village/urban centers
o Commercial spaces
o Integration of different transportation modes (bike, walk, drive)
o Desire walkable neighborhood
o Desire more grocery stores
o Desire east/west connections
o Desire to mitigate congestion during peak traffic hours
Table 4):
o Link connection to downtown would be great to use in the future
o A new connector bus down the hill would be helpful
o West Seattle is a subtle and cozy neighborhood
o This is a generational conversation
o Want a station that doesn’t stunt future growth
What’s missing?
o Light rail
o The bus that used to run down Andover and Charleston and down the center of the
ridge – bus connections up and down the hill
o Being able to walk to the grocery store or at least not drive past home to get to one
o Light rail brings development, which is great, unless we lose our homes and we won’t be
here anymore to experience it
Table 5:
o Walkable
o Enjoy the Farmers Market
o Proximity to the city is good while still feeling like you live in a suburban community
Table 6:
o Likes the history, the residents that are here, likes the strong sense of community, trusts
the people that live nearby, enjoys the parks, the community center, close to the bus to
go to work
o The strong sense of community, parks, trails, easy bike ride to schools and Alki, and likes
how close Delridge is to downtown and White Center
o Likes the neighbors and the strong sense of community, likes the BBQs and community
gatherings
o The small, quaint feel of the neighborhood, worried about that changing with
redevelopment
o The eclectic character of the neighborhood with homes of different ages and types,
parks, proximity to downtown White Center and the Junction, and the access to Chelan
Café
o There could be more restaurants in the neighborhood but didn’t see a need for a
grocery store
o Likes the historical feeling of the neighborhood, the quiet feeling, low traffic, ease of
access
o Likes the quiet, health club nearby, and ease to get downtown
o All mentioned they could walk to Pigeon Point for views, Skylark Café, Ounces, a Music
School, Luna Park Café and a health club and they really liked that about their
neighborhood
Table 7:
o Being close enough to downtown (45 min)
o Biking (Delridge Bike Trail)
o View
o Affordable houses
o Quiet/peaceful
o Enjoys neighbors, birds, greenspace and nature
o Local business
o Longfellow Creek
o 22nd Ave Park built by community
Table 1:
o All alignments will be disruptive to single family homes
o Will use the light rail but stations will be in our sightlines and cause noise issues
o Questions about the area needed around the guideway station for
construction/operations
o The blue line takes out many affordable homes
o The neighborhood by the park would be horrible to lose, the line should be moved to
north end of Delridge because the impacts are less
o We are concerned about the noise and vibration, we are in a dell/valley
o Questions about how Sound Transit can guarantee affordable housing if Sound Transit
doesn’t build housing
o Questions about what happens next to build affordable housing? We don’t want what
happened to Mt. Baker.
o The blue line feels like a dis to the Delridge community
o We would need to up-zone our properties with the 150’ elevated train
o Concerns about height of the elevated train, zoning and aesthetics
Table 2:
o Concern about effects of alternatives on recent development (newly-built houses that
will likely have to be torn down for various alternatives)
o Note about challenging traffic on Delridge Way with fast traffic, not as safe for
pedestrians and bicyclists
o Consider locating station south of Andover to avoid safety issues associated with trucks
at Nucor and proximity to freeway ramps
o Concern about negative visual and community character effects from height of elevated
line and station
o Consider locating station closer to Delridge Playfield, specifically along the north side of
the playfield
o Consider old monorail alignment along Andover and Avalon Way
o Requests to minimize effects to residential properties
o Requests for station to be closer to bike path farther north
o Concerns about effects to neighborhood businesses
o Suggestions to locate station closer to current bus service connections
o Concern about width of footprint being up to 60 feet
o Concern about effects of columns in neighborhoods
o Concern about noise from line once in-service
o Questions and concerns about what will happen with surplus properties after
construction
Table 4:
o North station is not a good option, too far from the rest of the neighborhood – hard to
access
o Concern about view impacts and how much the line will cut into the hill
o Concern about imposing feeling, super high station
o The northern station option is higher, which we don’t like and feels divorced from the
neighborhood
o Low guideway is good!
o Tunnel in the Junction – it would change the cozy vibes with elevated guideway
o Biggest benefit to a low Delridge station is what happens in the Junction – anything
elevated in the Junction is not preferred – want a Beacon Hill-like station in the Junction
Table 5:
ST3 Representative Alignment Station (red):
o Red and orange have better bike connection to existing lines
o Could be an opportunity to provide a solution to the on-ramp to the West Seattle Bridge
o Red station doesn’t serve the people in Delridge as well
o Bus/traffic issues will be exacerbated getting onto the bridge
o There isn’t great redevelopment opportunity here as compared to orange
Table 7:
o Alignment on Genesee, why impact neighborhood when Golf Course can be used.
o When 4f mentioned, expressed that they heard that Section 4f isn’t important because
you can just trade [replace park space in other locations]
o If 4f is an issue for Golf Course (green space), why isn’t it an issue for the alignment on
Pigeon Point slope which is a green space too?
o Cut and cover through golf course; construction and permanent
o Questions about soils/sliding impacts of the slope
o Questions about height of the guideway along Pigeon Point slope and blocking the view
o Interest in number and specifics around residential property displacements Perception
problem - wealthy/dense neighborhoods get tunnel, affordable/less dense areas don’t
get tunnel
Table 1:
o Line that goes south on public land and deals with the Section 4F impacts, then build
into the green space and build affordable housing and parks elsewhere in the
neighborhood
o Put the line into the golf course land then tunnel to the Junction
o I am interested in the golf course option and the purple line
o We deserve to know the actual cost of the red line
o I am concerned about the slide zones
o I attended the design charrette and experts stated that the red line should be a no-go,
but yet it is being displayed as a good/positive option - not great bus access (red line)
o I am concerned about bus connection challenges
o I am interested in using the existing public land
Table 2:
o Suggestions to modify route near/through golf course
o General preference from most people at table for “purple” line and station due to
perceived fewer property effects and perceived better connections to bus service
o If no purple line, then general preference to move station and alignment to the north to
avoid property impacts.
o Consider route of previous monorail study using Andover St and Avalon Way rather than
cutting through Delridge neighborhood. Resident handed out maps of monorail
alignments and stations.
o Requests to use tunnel alignment through Delridge to minimize property and visual
effects
o Concern that some Delridge residents did not hear about project until after the “purple”
alternative had been taken off the table
Table 3:
o Support for the (pink line) from Level 1 because it is less residential, it would avoid
displacement in Delridge and minimize negative impacts to green space
o Support for the pink line (i.e. along Yancy Street) from Level 1 because it would bring
more value to an area of West Seattle that is more industrial in nature and run-down. A
new light rail station would improve that area and bring more opportunities.
o Interest in analyzing other options that don’t impact Delridge
Table 4:
o Will the stations go on the west or east side of Delridge?
o Everyone wants the purple option
Table 5:
o Why not a tunnel in Delridge?
o Some people preferred the north crossing, didn’t care that it impacts the Port; others
liked the south crossing because it would blend into the existing West Seattle Bridge
o A train above the skate park would be cool
o Support for using the golf course
Table 7:
o Representative alignment station considered the worst
o Blue alignment displaces houses/businesses
o SW Genesee Street – horrible shadow of rail 60-150 ft elevation
o Prefer lower profile
o Walk/bike zone- where would grocery store go?
Not interested in grocery store near Longfellow Creek, not wanting commercial
development
o Crime rate increase because of light rail
Participant felt that Rapid Ride C brought more crime
o Very strong preference to not build blue station
o Question about how far from the elevated structure is acquired by Sound Transit