By Peggy Sturdivant and Anne-Marije Rook

Some 40 community members gathered on Wednesday, January 25, for the second public meeting hosted by developer Bill Parks and Johnston Architects LLC to discuss pre-design plans for a commercial project at the Sunset Hill corner of 32nd Avenue N.W. and N.W. 64th.

Parks introduced his visions for the building, which houses the beloved Sunset Hill Green Market, at the previous meeting and rather than reintroducing his ideas, focussed last night's meeting on addressing concerns and give the community another opportunity to give input.

The main concerns from the previous meeting were parking, stormwater run-off, height /scale and overall building character. The architectural team revisited the three proposed schematics -- a three-story remodel of the existing building, a brand new three-story development, and a four-story “Living Building” challenge -- in the context of each concern.

Ray Johnston of Johnston Architects reiterated that they will adhere to city code on parking, providing at least one parking space per proposed apartment. Also they have fixed on NW 64th Street for the garage access.

Parks asked Barker Landscape Design to join his team to address stormwater questions and consult on design ideas for fitting the building character into the Sunset Hill neighborhood. Owner John Barker, a Sunset Hill resident, proposed the use of cisterns and planters to capture rainwater.

The audience acknowledged the effort being made by the developers to allow community input during pre-design, and seemed to favor the idea of a new three-story building rather than adding a fourth story considered necessary for the “Living Building” challenge.

The audience challenged Parks and his design team to build a new, three-story building that while not part of the "Living Building" challenge would still incorporate sustainability goals.

“Can you challenge yourself even more to drop the building to three stories but incorporate as much as the living building goals as possible?" asked resident Mark Hulscher. Especially in Ballard there are the most potent professionals who would help you. You would be the guy to beat.”

“We’re looking forward to something beautiful and respectful,” added Brian Burke.“This will be the start of change in Sunset Hill, let’s start it right.”

After the meeting Johnston said he was impressed by the community's discussion.

"The residents of Sunset Hill are most interested in a project that preserves the “soul” of the community and that forwards the kinds of interaction between neighbors that exist today," he said. "A good design on this site will achieve this end and we hope to produce that design."

The next stage in this project is for the developer and his design team to meet with the City of Seattle in early February to begin more formal design review. Construction is still tentatively scheduled for summer 2014 and anticipated to last 9 to 12 months.