February 2017

Ballard resident, Whitney Holody, never thought 14 inches would separate her from a her future neighbor’s home, but with construction of a new row house beginning next door the reality of not being to reach an entire side of her house looms.

Holody has lived with her husband in an end unit of a row house on N.W. 60th street since 2015. Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) has approved a plan to allow a three-unit row house next door to Holody. According to the plans, on the east side of the lot there will be a 3.5–foot setback. The Seattle municipal building code stipulates that amount when neighboring a town home. However, on the west side, Holody’s side, the structure will have a six -inch setback. The footing of Holody’s home is built directly on the property line, however the rising structure is set back eight inches. The two structures will have a combined space between them amounting to 14 inches.

“That’s not enough room for anything. No one will be able to fit between the homes. … How will we be able to do any maintenance?” said Holody.

So why so close to the property line?

All aboard - Mighty-O Donuts in Ballard is celebrating its new parklet with a grand opening party and ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, March 4th, starting at 9am (ribbon cutting at 10). Plus Megan Helmer, Mighty-O’s co-owner will share a few words and there will be origami boat-making, boat races and of course – donuts!

Who: Calling all donut lovers!
What: Parklet installation and celebratory grand opening
Where: Ballard Mighty-O Donuts
1555 NW Market St.
Seattle, WA 98107
When: Grand Opening, Saturday, March 4th from 9 – NOON

After more rains inundating the West Point Sewage Treatment Plant, millions of gallons of raw sewage are flooding into Puget Sound.

King County officials said that the treatment plant is currently operating at 50 percent of its normal capacity since last week when there was an equipment failure. Due to heavy rains, plant technicians turned on partial emergency bypass pumps at about 3:30 a.m. in order to prevent the whole plant from flooding. 50 million gallons of water per day are currently flowing through bypass pumps.

“The action is necessary to protect plant workers and West Point’s current level of wastewater treatment,” officials stated.

The plant is undergoing repairs after an equipment failure on Feb. 9, which led to over 200 million gallons of untreated stormwater blooming into the sound byway of an emergency bypass. The pumps were on for 19 hours.

Officials said that they are working with technicians and contractors to address the emergency and make repairs to the plant.

By Gwen Davis

Given the greater Seattle area’s notorious and horrific traffic problems, highway improvement is a must for lawmakers.

During the SeaTac City Council meeting on Tuesday, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) presented plans to finish SR 509 and SR 167. The council was supportive, and thanked Craig Stone, the WSDOT administrator who facilitated the presentation. The completion efforts are part of the state’s Puget Sound Gateway Program.

“509 improves transportation connections between urban and manufacturing centers in south King County,” Stone said. “There is broad recognition about how important this is to the state of Washington.”

The total funding required for the project is $1.87 billion. Most of the revenue comes from gasoline sales tax.

Stone said that the project could have easily cost more than $3 billion, and planners needed to be aggressive in prioritizing the most important aspects of the project.

The project started in 2016 and the plans are to be finalized by the end of this summer. “We will do that with public outreach,” Stone said.

information from West Seattle Chamber of Commerce

West Seattle is home to many remarkable people and successful and innovative businesses with amazing stories. We need your input. Each year the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce looks to the West Seattle Community to nominate businesses and individuals for the annual Westside Awards.

CLICK HERE FOR THE NOMINATION FORM

The recipients from past years listed below.

• Westside Business of the Year
• Westside Emerging Business of the Year
• Westside Not-for-Profit of the Year
• Westsider of the Year

Deadline for Nominations: Mar 6th

Your input is valuable because the number of votes is not the criteria for winning. Criteria includes how the candidate:

• Demonstrates the highest standards
• Promotes diversity, equality, and inclusiveness
• Demonstrates a consistent commitment to environmental sustainability
• Takes a leadership role in the community

Passion, ambition and the Internet become inextricably entangled in the thoughtful comedy Sex with Strangers at Burien Actors Theatre. Performances of this Washington State premiere, written by Laure Eason, run Feb. 10 through March 5.

The Burien Actors Theatre production features specialty drinks themed to the show and plenty of free on-site parking, plus an opening night party.

“SEX WITH STRANGERS”

Olivia, an attractive and talented but underappreciated mid-career writer, is unexpectedly trapped in a secluded, snowed-in B&B with Ethan, an equally attractive and wildly successful young blogger. Her latest novel is an unsung masterpiece; his blog of his “sexcapades” is being made into a movie. She prefers books; he prefers eBooks. She is anonymous; he has half a million Twitter followers. Opposites soon attract – passionately – as each realizes they want more of what the other has. But the closer they get, the more they must confront the murky side of ambition, success and the digital era…
This show is suggested for ages 13-plus due to some adult content and language.

Burien/Normandy Cove, January 30 – Please join the Environmental Science Center (ESC) naturalists, staff and community to celebrate another successful year providing experiential environmental education for South King County students! The Seaside Soirée is on Saturday, March 4th at 5:00pm at the Normandy Park Cove, 1500 SW Shorebrook Drive, Normandy Park, WA 98166. A ten-minute drive south of Burien, the Cove is nestled between Miller and Walker Creeks, where students in our Salmon Heroes program visit during the fall.

The evening’s program will include a previous student speaker, Surbhi Ghadia ,who now studies oceanography at the University of Washington. We will also unveil our new video featuring footage of ESC’s impact on students during our Beach and Salmon Heroes programs in South King County.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey to choose the recipients of these community awards.

Discover Burien is proud to congratulate and announce this year’s award recipients.
Educator of the year: Gloria Witters-Burien Cooperative Pre-school
Best Burien Restaurant: Elliot Bay Brewhouse and Pub
Best Burien Beverage: The Point, “Get to the point” Cocktail
Exemplary Service Award: Dr. Aaron Collins, Collins Chiropractic
Charity of the Year: Burien Actors Theatre
Public Servant of the Year: Chris Craig, City of Burien
Audacious Innovator: Eliav Cohen, Seattle Ballooning
Burien Hero: Dr. Aaron Collins
Jeff Kearney Award: Jorden Amantea
Business Leader of the Year: Daniel Keane, Serenza Salon

You’re invited to join Burien’s community and business leaders to support the nonprofit service organization, Discover Burien, at its annual fundraiser and awards dinner event the “Best of Burien: Building a vibrant community through engagement”.

Courtesy Article by Gerardo Bolong

It was an opportunity to showcase progress while creating court time opportunities for all.
Seattle Christian (15-2) qualified for the double elimination section of the West Central District III 1A girls basketball tournament with a Tues., Feb. 14, 6 p.m Valentine's Day showdown against Olympic League 1A champion Coupeville (16-4) at Bellarmine Prep High School in Tacoma by routing Chimacum 52-22 at home in a Sat., Feb. 11, first round district game.

Accelerated ball movement and quickness down the court broke its opponent's resistance early.
Olivia Clark's 3-point goal ignited a 7-0 Warrior charge for a 15-6 lead after the first quarter in a prelude to the Lady Cowboys' impending doom.
Chimacum, which edged out Vashon Island 30-27 in a play-in game to the district tournament, was soon completely outflanked on all fronts by the irresistible Seattle Christian offensive force and non-yielding Warrior defensive unit tactics.

Courtesy Article by Gerardo Bolong

Nisqually League No. 3 Seattle Christian displayed its big artillery early and rarely stopped the pounding in a 72-42 shelling of the Chimacum Cowboys on Sat., Feb. 11, at Chimacum High School to win its first round West Central District III 1A tournament boys basketball game and advance to a 7:45 p.m. double-elimination section of district play on Wed., Feb. 15, at Bellarmine Prep High School in Tacoma against Nisqually 1A League titlist Vashon Island.

Chimacum finished its season at 4-14.
The Warriors split their two-game series with the Pirates, defeating Vashon 65-57 on Jan. 10 while dropping a 52-47 verdict on Jan. 27.

The Warrior inside game, led by junior Zac VanderLey's career-high and game-high 34 points, completely terrorized the Cowboy interior defense from the outset although the Olympic League representative kept pace with its foe in early action.

High intensity began early with steady passing and good shot selection that was abetted by an SC opportunistic defense. Height advantage rested clearly with the Nisqually League team.