A survey for residents of Shoreline's Meridian Park neighborhood

The Meridian Park Neighborhood Association (MPNA) will have its first meeting of 2009 on Thursday Jan. 8th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Mark Mayuga, Shoreline's Economic Development Program Developer will be there to discuss "What Economic Development Means To You - How it helps your neighborhood and saves you tax dollars."

MPNA has created a survey (link below) they hope you'll complete and email to gtatravel@comcast.net or bring with you to the meeting.

This information was sent to us by Gretchen Atkinson, of the Meridian Park Neighborhood Assoc. Gretchen asks that you please share this information with your Meridian Park neighbors. You can contact Gretchen at: gtatravel@comcast.net to be added to or removed from the MPNA email list.

Link to the Meridian Park Neighborhood Survey

Link to information about Shoreline's neighborhood associations

A jail in Shoreline? Public forum to be held on Thursday Dec. 11

A public meeting this Thursday (Dec. 11, 2008 from 6-9pm) at Shoreline Community College will provide more information, answer questions and hear comments about the proposed Shoreline jail site.

From the City's website:

King County has announced that after 2012 there will no longer be space to house Shoreline’s or any other local cities’ inmates in the County’s facilities. This is due to the County’s projected increase in the felony population.

Consequently, all cities that contract with the county must replace those jail beds. Rather than plan for dozens of small, inefficient jails, Shoreline joined other cities in North and East King County (NEC) to address the problem, with the five largest cities (Principal Cities) leading the group. The Principal Cities include Shoreline, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond and Seattle. The feasibility study by a consultant showed that building and operating one large jail was more cost-effective than two small jails. For Shoreline, the difference in cost would potentially be over $1million per year.

The Principal Cities then identified potential sites including at least one within their borders that could accommodate a large jail facility, and chose six to move forward in an environmental review process.

One of the six sites is in Shoreline at 2545 NE 200th Street.

Link to Regional Jail Planning page at City of Shoreline website

Link to earlier post with more news links

Map above is from Google Maps

Share you thoughts with your neighbors by clicking where it says COMMENTS

Shoreline Town Hall Visioning Meeting November 19th 2008

From the City of Shoreline's website:

Nearly 400 people came to at least one of the 18 “Shoreline Community Conversations” held in October to provide valuable input about a preferred Vision for Shoreline’s future. Shoreline City Council and Planning Commission are hosting a Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 19, beginning at 6:45 p.m. to share a summary of what the community had to say and will provide an opportunity to continue the conversation directly with members of the City Council and Planning Commission.

The Town Hall Meeting will be held in the Shoreline Room of the Shoreline Conference Center, 18560 1st Avenue NE.

For more information, contact David Levitan at dlevitan@ci.shoreline.wa.us or (206) 801-2554.

For more information about the Visioning Process including a summary of community comments and the agenda for the Town Hall Meeting, visit the Vision page.

Link to more information about Shoreline Visioning Process

City Council Business Meeting Agenda

This coming Monday, September 8th, at 7:30, the Shoreline City Council will hold its business meeting. The agenda is available online here, with a downloadable PDF of the entire agenda and recent meeting minutes available here (PDF).

Among the agenda items are a proclamation of Constitution Week, declaring September 17-23 to be that week, and a statement of thanks to the businesses and individuals who donated to support the recent Celebrate Shoreline event.

Also included in the 44-page PDF document are minutes from the July 21 study session, much of which was devoted to the Hamlin Park improvement project. If you live near or visit Hamlin Park, you might find this section of particular interest.

Link to meeting agenda.
Link to 44-page PDF with agenda and previous meeting minutes.

City of Shoreline Planning Commission Meeting, August 7th

What will the future of Shoreline look like?

At 7 p.m. on August 7th, the City will hold its regular Planning Commission meeting, and it is open to the public. There will be designated times for public comment, as well as a study session regarding permit regulations for the Regional Business zoning district. You can take a look at the agenda, and find a link to download a memo about the permit regulations, by clicking here.

Frankly, I find the wording of these documents to be like old pumpernickel; dense and dry. But that's because I am no expert on city planning. Still, I've found that perusing documents like the planning commission agenda (PDF) do reveal some interesting facts (surely those more expert than me will find even more buried treasures).

For example, density is measured in "dwelling units per acre" or DU. A proposed revision to the codes would allow a base density of 48 DU (this is also abbreviated as R-48). All residential dwellings (by which they mean, I believe, houses, apartments, condos, and the like) that have more than 10 dwellings would be required to have recycling space, plug-ins for electric cars, and bike racks.

If a developer would like to build residences that house more people than this R-48 density, they'd also have to provide other amenities, like, for example, underground parking. If you are a neighbor to a proposed building like this, you'd be glad to have the new residents not parking up and down your street, I'd think, which makes underground parking a good thing.

If the City's future is important to you, you might consider keeping up with what the Planning Commission is up to. After all, these meetings will ultimately determine the future of the city, and possibly even the street you live on.

Link to: Planning Comnission Agenda.
Link to: downloadable PDF memo on business zone regulations.
Link to: City of Shoreline Planning Commission home page.

Link to: send comments by email to the Planning Commission

Shoreline City Council Business Meeting, July 28th

The Shoreline City Council will be meeting on Monday, July 28th, at the Shoreline Conference Center's Highlander Room. Now, if you're like me, you may have flipped the channel past these meetings on television from time to time; maybe you stop to see what's going on. Maybe you're more involved and actually attend the meetings. Maybe not. If not, you might think about going; there are usually topics discussed that affect all of us living in Shoreline, and the public is allowed to comment.

The meeting on the 28th will address issues including a mini-grant for the Meridian Park neighborhood, construction at Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, the upcoming "National Night Out" on August 5th, and the "Celebrate Shoreline" event on August 12th.

You can download a complete agenda in PDF format here. It's pretty hefty; 128 pages, including minutes from recent meetings. Are you curious about what your neighbors and fellow Shoreline residents are saying at these meetings? The public commentary can make for quite interesting reading!

For example, I mentioned a neighborhood mini-grant earlier. I wasn't sure what that might be, exactly, but in the June 9th meeting minutes (part of that same agenda packet) I read that Patty Hale thanked the Council for grants that allowed her neighborhood to plant trees, develop a logo, and establish signage. They also funded playground equipment for Ridgecrest Elementary.

The Meridian Park requested mini-grant is $3,100, and is intended for three projects: signs and a banner to "raise neighborhood awareness of the newly rejuvenated Meridian Park Neighborhood Association," removal of blackberries and planting of native plants at Ronald Bog, and add new plants and bark at Meridian Park Elementary.

The agenda packet provides complete details on these projects, down to the $168 for locks to prevent people from stealing the signs. And there are several other projects addressed in the packet, some of which might concern your neighborhood. If you're curious, take a moment to download and read through the agenda, and if you feel like participating, you might want to go to the meeting. Decisions will be made which may directly affect your quality of life in the future!

If you've attended City Council meetings in the past, what was it like? Please leave a comment by clicking below where it says "COMMENTS"