Attendees at the Dec. 10 Holman Road median study meeting, sponsored by the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association and the Crown Hill Business Association, were largely supportive of a plan to install medians along a portion of 15th Avenue Northwest and Holman Road.

"The general reaction was fairly positive," said Ryan McFarland, a member of the neighborhood association and lead on the median project. "Everyone there saw a need. They saw a point. They got it."

The meeting was an opportunity for residents to review median plans drawn up by University of Washington students. Meeting attendees used it as a chance to give constructive and specific feedback, McFarland said.

He said one man who regularly takes his children to daycare at Small Faces said the turn lane between the medians needs to fit at least three cars.

Several attendees favored removing the pedestrian overpass at 13th Avenue Northwest in order to be able to add other features to the street, McFarland said.

He said an earlier survey of residents showed that one-third use the overpass regularly, one-third never use the overpass when they cross at 13th Avenue and one-third never cross at 13th Avenue.

At the Dec. 9 Ballard District Council meeting, McFarland told the council that the two neighborhood organizations are interested in medians on 15th Avenue and Holman Road, from about Northwest 83rd Street to 12th Avenue Northwest, to improve traffic and pedestrian safety, but also to improve the look of Crown Hill

"We're trying to make Crown Hill more than a place you pass through on your way someplace else," McFarland told the council. "Holman Road is the reason there is room for improvement in terms of aesthetics."

He said the Crown Hill Neighborhood Plan calls for an urban village in that area, and residents at the Dec. 10 meeting were sympathetic to the big picture idea for a Crown Hill urban village.

At the Ballard District Council meeting, McFarland said he wanted to make sure people understood they were not trying to discourage traffic on Holman Road, which is a major arterial and an asset to the community.

He said cars often drive in the center turn lane for blocks at a time and semi-trucks park there, neither of which are the intended use of the center lane.

Though the design of the medians already reflects neighborhood feedback, McFarland said the neighborhood organizations are still collecting more input and want to make additional adjustments.

The goal is have a viable draft to take to the Seattle Department of Transportation, he said.

"We know we can't just draw something on paper and take it to SDOT and get it built," McFarland said at the district council meeting.

He said he believes Crown Hill has some valid reasons, such as traffic safety and the Neighborhood Plan, that will make the Department of Transportation interested in discussing the medians.

"We think we can have a good conversation with them," he said.