City officials and around 50 West Seattle residents gathered at the Senior Center of West Seattle on Feb. 7 to discuss the ever-evolving future vision of The Triangle, an area of the peninsula defined by the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) as, “bounded and bisected by three major arterials – Fauntleroy Way s.w., 35th Avenue s.w. and s.w. Alaska Street … (it) serves as a major gateway to West Seattle.”

“Now is the time, with your help and input, to develop the type of community we want for the Fauntleroy Triangle,” councilmember Tom Rasmussen said at the open house.

“It’s an opportunity to prepare for the future and build on what is already great about the neighborhood,” Susan McLain, senior urban planner with DPD said.

There have already been several meetings between DPD and members of the West Seattle Triangle Advisory Group (they met six times in 2010) to lay the groundwork for what that vision is: a mixed-use neighborhood flush with green spaces, comfortable and safe travel whether on foot, bike, transit or car and a mix of business and neighborhood. In addition, the hope is to better connect to The Junction retail district on California Avenue s.w.

“Sustaining current businesses is critical so how do we form a plan that allows them to remain and flourish and at the same time create a framework for us to move forward?” said David Hewitt, consultant to DPD and founder of Hewitt, a company focused on architecture, landscape architecture and urban design.

Hewitt spoke about the urban design and landscape vision being developed for The Triangle.

“So what are some of our goals?” he asked. “It’s to create safer streets, it’s to create a more pleasant environment, create some green for the simple fact of sustainability, to retain access to business and to create a framework for future evolution.”

As for Fauntleroy Avenue as it exists today, Hewitt said, “It isn’t a great way to enter your neighborhood now, but it can be.”

Hewitt described the character of Triangle streets in their future vision (see the photo above for an artist’s rendering) which includes wider sidewalks, native trees, slanted parking on one side and street parking on the other – all while facilitating the needs of bus traffic and RapidRide bus routes that will run along Alaska and 35th on their way downtown. The RapidRide bus route for West Seattle is scheduled for completion in 2012.

A community member voiced concern over planting trees in The Triangle, using California Avenue as an example. He said the pruning of trees on California to keep them from interfering with power lines has caused them to grow out rather than up which obscures the view of business signs. Hewitt said he was aware of the issue and offered two potential solutions: plant columnar trees and look into routing power lines underground (which he said is ideal, but expensive.)

McLain said the planning goals for the immediate future (for which they want as much community input as possible) include creating a right-of-way concept plan, or how people will move through the triangle of foot, bike, car or transit, and defining land use and zoning.

“Land use and zoning can have a real effect on community character … in how the area evolves over decades,” McLain said.

Councilmember Rasmussen said if the above plans can be completed in 2011 they can become part of the Capitol Improvement Plan with Seattle Department of Transportation. Once the plans are part of the CIP, SDOT can start trying to find money to fund the changes, Rasmussen said.

“If it’s not in the plan then it’s just someone’s dream,” he said.

“Seattle has very, very active neighborhoods and that’s really a good thing,” Rasmussen said. “We don’t want people to be indifferent and it makes a huge difference in terms of how their neighborhoods grow and thrive. When people are involved there is a sense of ownership and pride that helps the place stay very healthy.”

To read more on DPD’s plans for the West Seattle Triangle, and how to get involved in shaping its future, visit http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/WestSeattleTriangle/Overview/default.asp.