The Fauntleroy Boulevard Project, the result of planning that began as early as 1999 and approved by Move Seattle levy voters in 2015 is running into some tough questions. Project planners anticipated that the $20 million safety and traffic improvements creating a new “gateway to West Seattle” would require a lot of explanation and have met with businesses, stakeholder organizations, and residents, taken feedback at community walk throughs and anticipate completing design work next fall with construction to follow.

But in the meantime, a lot of questions remain unanswered. While the need for safety and even modernization are obvious, access, parking and more are causing a lot of anxiety.

That’s why a community meeting has been set for April 19 in the YMCA Rotary Room - 3622 SW Snoqualmie St, Seattle, WA 98126 at 7:30.

The meeting sponsored by the relatively new Fauntleroy Way Neighborhood and Business Association will see SDOT and many people who understand the safety goals of the project but harbor doubts about the process.

They are seeking clarity on a series of issues, notably:

PROJECT DESIGN
- Traffic studies. Per SDOT, a new traffic study was ordered. Our requests for an update have gone unanswered, to date.
- Current design completion. We were informed the design is now at 90%, but have not received updates from the SDOT mailing list, from SDOT directly, or how any traffic study may have impacted design updates.
- Treed medians vs. left turn lanes. SDOT indicated that they were re-examining additional access along Fauntleroy Way in place of planned treed medians, but we have received no update, to date.
- Addition of crosswalks. Much of the justification for this project relates to pedestrian safety, but no additional crosswalks are planned. At our last meeting with SDOT, we were told this was being examined, but we have received no update, to date.
- Loading zones and temporary parking. Will there be any spaces along the street that allow for short-term parking, e.g. 3-minute loading and unloading.

DURING CONSTRUCTION
- Construction worker parking. Given the squeeze on existing parking in the area, will workers be made to park outside the area of affected business to allow greater access by our patrons?
- Communication of the project to the neighborhood. What is SDOT's plan for communicating traffic plans to the West Seattle community? Businesses would like some say in the way this is communicated to help keep our doors open.
- Signage for businesses during construction. We've been advised by OED that this is normally not planned for. Given the extended duration of this project, we would like to reach a compromise.
- Pedestrian access. Will pedestrians have access to the length of Fauntleroy Way throughout construction?
- Mitigation. We have been advised by OED that the only mitigating assistance the City will provide to impacted businesses will be in the form of access to construction updates and influence on project phasing and planning. We seek more clarity around this so that we can plan ahead to work together.
- Traffic re-routing plan. We would like any update available on the planned traffic re-routing during construction. Per the note on mitigation, our strong preference would be to keep traffic moving in both directions along Fauntleroy Way for the length of the project.
- 23rd Project. What has SDOT/the City learned from the 23rd Ave project that will positively impact the Fauntleroy Way project?

To date, the project planners have only provided the most minimal of previews to suggest what the project might really look like on the ground. A top down “gods eye” view and some display boards to show what bike lanes and other aspects might look like.

The owner of RealFine coffee at 4480 Fauntleroy Way SW, Julie Mierzwiak said, "We met with SDOT in early February to review the 60% design. At that time we were told that our existing on-and off-street parking would be overtaken by bike lanes and planting strips. We will be left with a narrow pass through for cars, but insufficient space for any cars to park. We also learned that SDOT is leaning toward moving traffic in one direction only – westbound, for the entire duration of the project (18 months). Without commuter traffic passing our businesses, we are very concerned for the viability of our businesses given this extended construction phase. We will also lose access from westbound traffic left-hand turns once construction begins. This has sparked much anxiety for us, as business owners and managers, and for our employees and their families.

We hope, but are not optimistic, that our concerns will have impacted the progress in design, but have not yet seen an update from SDOT."

Katie Trent in a comment on Facebook said,"Turning Fauntleroy Way into a Boulevard, and severely hamstringing West Seattle traffic for 15-18 months in the process, is an absurd project and an abuse of taxpayer dollars. Imagine if SDOT proposed reducing 15th Ave NW from the Ballard Bridge to Leary Way to one lane for 18 months, on the auspices that this roadway is the “Gateway to Ballard.” The residents and businesses of West Seattle should have the same reaction to this project.

If you want to beautify the entrance to West Seattle, start with the completely unkempt brambles at the top of the bridge. Fauntleroy Way served 50,000 vehicles daily in 2015, and our community has grown significantly since then. While I am all for improving pedestrian safety, tearing up the street, choking traffic and access to business for over a year, and spending nearly $20 million in the process when Delridge and 35th Ave are in poor repair is irresponsible, at best."

SDOT in response said, "This stretch of Fauntleroy was selected by community members for improvements. While one goal of the project is to help create a gateway to West Seattle, the major goal is to better organize the public right of way to improve comfort and mobility for all users – whether they’re walking, biking, or driving.

As for the other areas you mentioned in need of improvements, SDOT’s 35th Ave Road Safety Corridor Project includes repaving, traffic signal modifications, pavement repair, and pedestrian and bicycle safety enhancements for 35th Ave SW between Avalon and SW Holly St. Seattle Parks Foundation administers a community volunteer group to help maintain the area around the “Walk on Logs” statue as you enter West Seattle. The Delridge Rapid Ride project is looking at how to improve the streetscape of Delridge from the West Seattle Bridge to Roxbury Ave SW.

The owner of Tom's Automotive, Kandie Jennings expressed concerns about access to local business since the proposed median will largely eliminate left turns. She also feels as if the project planners have been less than forthcoming. "We had some walkthroughs and they announced it was 60% complete and now it's at 90% complete and they are nearly ready to go. This is a big deal. I have concerns about the impacts on some of the newer businesses here." Jennings also was puzzled by the need for for the median to be so wide, and why two wide bike lanes are required when biking on Fauntleroy in certain sections is unlikely to happen.

Drew Locke of West Seattle Brewing had other concerns including that the plan thus far includes a public sidewalk portion that crosses the property line, cutting off part of his on street dining area.

Locke said, "the MAIN concern for us is how far they intend (with the current plan anyway) to encroach on the sidewalk. This would mean complete removal of the patio we built on that Fauntleroy side. Complete removal would mean, when we open our garage doors in the Summer, there would be effectively no barrier between our customers and passer's by. Instead of feeling "open" and comfortable, you would have a startle when I bake zooms 4" from your face, or some punk reaches your beer and sandwich and runs off! Firstly, this could be an issue with the LCB and then "boarding up" what was supposed to be a nice, open feel could be required. Our conversations with members of the planning committee included​ our hope that could instead, reduce the depth of the patio, room for just one long bar rail along the fence, (approx. 3-1/2') as opposed to the 6-1/2' we have now for a bar rail and several tables. This would allow for us to maintain that open feel and remain compliant. Removal of the proposed bike lane in front of us which leads to a dead end effectively in our parking lot would create that required space. On top of that, we have a surveyor coming out to confirm property lines as part of their plan seems to cut into what we believe to be "our property." Effectively meaning half of our current patio is in the right-of-way, permitted as such; "rented space" from the city, but half of it is on our property.

The affects on neighboring businesses we believe will be much harsher, as we have a wholesale aspect in our business model, including a second location on Alki which we can "sell beer to" and maintain retail margins far from from the chaos that will become Fauntleroy. If biz does slow down dramatically, we can simply start selling more beer to the bars and restaurants around WS as we would then finally have the product to do so. Where as now, we have to decline many of those establishments as we're selling most all the beer we can make in our Pub. Our concern there is that losing any number of these neighboring businesses will "remove" this community of businesses of which we are a part and take pride in. In our opinion, we need MORE small businesses around, not MORE condos, etc."

The West Seattle Herald posed some other questions to SDOT and got these responses:

Why are there no architectural renderings of a project of this size?

Full architectural renderings are quite expensive – approximately $2,500 to $10,000 per rendering. In order to help control costs for this project, we have not included architectural renderings in the project scope. To help communicate the look and feel of the design, we have created plant palettes, landscaping plans, and photos of existing projects that include similar elements to what we’re proposing. The use of these visual tools, especially photos, are an effective means of communicating the look and feel of the design of a transportation project. Full architectural renderings are more typically used for new buildings that are unique and represent an interpretation of what the facility might look like, for which photos of similar projects are usually not available. The example images for the Fauntleroy Boulevard Project are easiest to access on the display boards and folio we displayed during the Walk and Talks;

With Whole Foods now not going into the Whittaker project won’t you have to conduct a new traffic study once they find a new tenant or tenants?

We are in the middle of conducting a revised traffic study to look at impacts to vehicle travel times on Fauntleroy between SW Alaska Street and 35th Avenue SW once the project is built and open, in 2019. To project traffic conditions and volumes, our model includes projected traffic volumes for current construction and permitted construction developments, like the Whittaker. We’ll be releasing our traffic study later this month.

How the Whittaker project handles deliveries is part of the review process for the development. If operations for this space drastically changes than what was approved for the Whole Foods development, it will go through a new review process for proposed operations.

With a wide median in the roadway and only one lane in each direction how do emergency vehicles get through?

We have coordinated the design of the Fauntleroy Way Boulevard SW project with the Seattle Fire Department, and the design has their concurrence. There are multiple emergency vehicle routes in and out of West Seattle, and Fauntleroy is one of those routes. Other routes in the area include SW Alaska St, 35th Avenue SW, and SW Avalon St. The Fire Dept. also uses 38th Avenue SW, and we’ve designed the intersection at Fauntleroy Way SW and 38th Avenue SW based on input we had received from them.