A City Council-led walking tour and discussion about the proposed West Seattle Triangle rezone began at 4:30 p.m. today in the rain. But a rainbow appeared as many involved seemed optimistic about future plans.

The walk began at the corner of 36th Ave SW and SW Snoqualmie St. just south of the YMCA at 4:30pm, and migrated west to the Link Apartments, 4550 38th Ave SW, then up to the conference room reserved for a discussion about the neighborhood and the proposed rezone.

Some then proceeded to the Senior Center for a public hearing pertaining to the Triangle.

Susan McLain, Director of Planning and Development for DPD told the West Settle Herald prior to the walk, "This is a tour for the Seattle City Council Committee on the Built Environment."

Council members Sally Bagshaw and Sally Clark participated, as did a representative for Tom Rasmussen.

"We will be walking through the West Seattle Triangle planning area, talking about the business and residential interests, development possibilities, and what is the vision of the Triangle," McLain said. "This is a mixed use neighborhood already. The Department of Planning and Development with the City of Seattle went through a year and a half long planning process. We're proposing some updates to zoning to include mixed use to residential and commercial. It won't do much to the commercial business district. We are also planning to change some of the development standards on vacant properties, adding some design standards and increasing heights to a relatively small extent.

"I think the market is going to determine what happens here more than than anything," she added. "In general the proposed zoning does create more of a neighborhood standard. Most of these structures already have a (neighborhood) character."

"We are right here on the Triangle," said Greg Whittaker on the walk. He owns Mountain to Sound Outfitters, 3602 SW Alaska St., which just celebrated its expansion, from 1800 square feet to 3800 square feet, last weekend, . "I think more and more retail, and more and more people living here is going to be a positive influence on our business."

"The small businesses here, in particular the lumber yard, its business model is delivery trucks, semis unloading," said Matt Pedersen, of Alki Lumber and the Grove Motel, both in the Triangle. "The introduction of walking paths and biking lanes, that poses a danger to everyone," he told the West Seattle Herald. "I want the bike riders to have a safe place to travel, but if you put a bike lane in front of a lumber yard I don't think the two mix very well.

"Parking and traffic are our concerns with the lumber yard," added John Guthrie, Pedersen's brother-in-law, who is also involved with Alki Lumber and is a fire fighter at Station 32 on Alaska, also in the Triangle. "We're unsure what's going on here at the fire station, too," he said in responses to any changes in the Triangle. "We have to give a little bit of input where the bus stops will be."

Regarding the Grove Motel, Pedersen said, "There were a lot of things that needed attention in there (...) We now have suites and flat screen TV's. There are a lot of families who stay, and that's the culture we want to promote."

Considering the robust YMCA, if they retain enough parking, and now more residences planned in that area, it looks like the family culture is more of what we will see in the West Seattle Triangle.