The City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development held the last public design review meeting of the Seven Hills Apartments development project last night at the Queen Anne Community Center.

Emerald Bay Equity’s design was approved, although the board offered various recommendations regarding certain details of the façade’s appearance. This concluded the review and recommendation process of the long stalled project.

As mentioned is yesterday’s post about the design review meeting, the developer had originally planned for the project to house medical offices above the ground-level retail, but opted to change out the office space for residential apartments due to the economic downturn. The property was temporarily put up for sale by Emerald Bay Equity in April of last year.

Construction at 1919 Queen Anne Ave. N. is slated to begin as early as March, according to Emerald Bay Equity principal Joe Geivett, who has seen this project through six screenings by the City of Seattle and the Queen Anne Community Council. He said the building will take approximately a year to complete.

The four-story building will be primarily dedicated to one-bedroom apartments, with a total of 57 units on three floors. The first floor will be dedicated to retail stores and restaurants, and two levels of parking will be provided below ground.

Artist rendering courtesy of Emerald Bay Equity.

“It’s a little more modern, but I wouldn’t call it a modern building,” Geivett said. “I think the building fits in real nicely with that block.”

Much of the interaction between the board and the members of Emerald Bay Equity revolved around aesthetic details, such as the mosaic of the ground floor and the contrast of color tones.

“The great thing about these developers is they take recommendations really seriously,” said Design Review Board Member Jill Kurfirst. “You can tell they have thought about what you said and are really trying to follow through.”

Public turnout was low – only one person attended who was not associated with the board or Emerald Bay Equity. The meeting was improvised in the game room of the community center after a room mix up prevented the use of originally scheduled room 3.

The design review proposal can be viewed here.

The Seattle Department of Planning and Development is holding a design review meeting for the Seven Hills development at 6:30 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, January 19 in at the Queen Anne Community Center, located at 1901 1st Ave W, Room 3.

Artist rendering of Seven Hills project courtesy of Emerald Bay Equity.

For those of you unfamiliar with the project, Seven Hills is the third of four mixed-use projects developer Emerald Bay Equity has slated for 2.1 acres of property (referred to as “The Collection”) at the top of Queen Anne hill. The first two developments—the Sweetbrier and Eden Hills mixed-use residential/retail buildings—are already finished and housing a number of retail and residential tenants along Queen Anne Ave N.

EDE plans to break ground on the Seven Hills development, located at 1919 Queen Anne Ave, in the first quarter of this year. The developer had originally planned for the project to house medical offices above the ground-level retail, but opted to change out the office space for residential apartments due to the economic downturn.

The public meeting tonight will serve as a forum for members of the Queen Anne community to discuss the new development plans with EBE representatives, and voice any questions or concerns they may have.

If you’d like to read through the design review proposal before the meeting, you can download the 25-page document here (.pdf).

The monthly Queen Anne Community Council meeting is happening tonight, Wednesday, January 5 at 7 p.m. at the Queen Anne Community Center. Enter through the north entrance of the building, between the CC and McClure Middle School.

In additional to the regular community updates, there are a number of interested items on the agenda this month, including a report on the Solarize Queen Anne project (more on that soon).

Take a look at the full agenda here:

• 7:00 p.m.: Adoption of Agenda, Approval of Minutes, Treasurer’s Report
• 7:10 p.m.: Open Forum—Comments
• 7:20 p.m.: Solarize Seattle
• 7:45 p.m.:  Report on budget and status of QACC and District Coordinator/New meeting location
• 8:15 p.m.:  Committee Reports

1. Communication—Michael Lapin
2. District Council—Mike Warren
3. Parks—Don Harper
4. Transportation—Glenn Avery
5. LURC/Planning—Craig Hanway
6. NAC—Kirk Robbins, Jim Smith, Glenn Avery, Don Harper
7. Social Issues—Kirk Robbins
8. Police & Crime—Allen Panich

• 8:45 p.m.: New Business
• 8:55 p.m.: Adjournment

The next QACC meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 2 at 7 p.m. at the Queen Anne Community Center.

The following QACC sub-committees will be meeting on these dates:

• Parks Committee: January 11, QACC, 7:30 p.m.
• LURC/Planning: January 24, QACC, 7:00 p.m.
• Transportation: January 26, QACC, 7:30 p.m.
• NAC: January 19, Port Headquarters, 4:30 p.m.
• District Council: January 10, MCC 7:00 p.m.

Many community centers, including the Queen Anne Community Center, were hit hard by the 2011 City of Seattle budget. In the case of the Queen Anne center, the city proposed to close the gym to the community and lease it to BizKid$, a national public television series for children. The plan was actively opposed by many in the neighborhood (more here), eventually leading to BizKid$ pulling out of the deal and City Council voting in favor to keep the gym open to the community.

As a result of the difficult citywide budget cuts, Seattle Parks and Recreation has been asked by the City Council to re-think how community centers are operated. This process will include public meetings and the creation of a Community Center Advisory Team.  Seattle Parks and Recreation is looking for community members to participate on the Advisory Team.

Advisory Team meetings will occur twice a month from January to May, 2011. The team will be exploring innovative ideas for operating the City’s community centers. Team members will consider the way the centers currently operate, review what other cities are doing, consider alternative operating models, evaluate public input, and assess options for partnerships.

Ultimately, the Advisory Team will review and provide advice on the report that Parks will submit to City Council by June 1, 2010. In addition to representatives from the general community, members of the Advisory Team will include representatives from the Board of Park Commissioners, representatives of employee unions, employees, the Associated Recreation Council, and City Council and City Budget Office staff.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is currently seeking community applicants for the team. Those interested in serving on the Community Center Advisory Team are invited to apply.  Parks is especially interested in those with past involvement with a community center, and those who are able to work with others for the greater good.

In a news release on Monday, December 20, Parks and Recreation asked applicants to submit a statement (no more than 1,000 words total) addressing the following questions:

• How and where have you been involved with a community center?
• Please give an example of your most recent involvement.
• What will you bring to the table?

Applicants are asked to submit their statement via e-mail to Susan Golub:  susan.golub@seattle.gov.  The deadline is Monday, January 10 at 5 p.m.

If you’ve still got some holiday shopping to do, you might want to head over to the Antique and Collectible Sale at the Queen Anne Community Center this weekend.

The sale is happening from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. And admission is cheap, at just $1. One of our readers swung by this morning to check out the sale.

“We dropped by and the place is packed with some really nice high-end antiques and also some fun vintage/retro/mid-century items,” Melody Anne says.  “Could be a great option for Christmas presents.”

Residents who battled to keep the Queen Anne Community Center gym open have finally won.  Today, the City Council voted 8-1 in favor of a plan to keep the gym open and add back 15 hours of drop-in time each week at the center.

Queen Anne Community Center gym

Councilmembers went against the mayor’s proposed budget that called for the gym to be closed and rented out as a production studio.  That planned rental agreement later fell apart. 

Councilman Tom Rasmussen voted against the measure as a whole since he opposed turning some space at other community centers into offices for Parks staff.

It appears the Seattle City Council may save the Queen Anne Community Center gym. During budget discussions this morning, council staff members presented a plan that would keep the gym open next year. The gym would be available 30 hours a week during drop-in time, and would also be open to the extent that people pay registration fees for basketball lessons and for facility rentals.

Queen Anne Community Center gym

The staff proposal would add back 15 hours of drop-in time to the community center as a whole on top of the 15 hours proposed by the mayor. The City Council must still approve the changes when it votes on the budget later this month.

Mayor McGinn had proposed closing the QA gym next year and turning it into television studio space. That plan fell apart after producers of the television show for children decided to back out in the wake of community opposition.

As it stands right now, the Queen Anne Community Center’s gym is still scheduled to be closed next year even though a deal to turn the gym into a television studio fell through.  But there are more signs the City Council could reverse that part of the mayor’s budget.

City Council members heard more about the proposed cuts to five community centers across Seattle during a meeting yesterday.  Our news partner the Seattle Times reports Council President Richard Conlin expressed concerns about reducing access to the centers.

“I can’t help feeling we’re making a mistake,” Conlin said.

Queen Anne gym

Earlier this month, Councilmember Tim Burgess also voiced support for keeping the QA gym open.

“This is not a City Council idea (to close the gym).  It came from Mayor McGinn,” Burgess told the Queen Anne Community Council.  “You have lots of support not to do this on the Council.”

The Council is expected to adopt a budget before Thanksgiving.  The final public hearing on the budget takes place tonight (10/26) at 5:30pm at City Hall.  Sign in starts at 5pm.

In the wake of Friday’s announcement that BizKid$ was pulling out of a deal to use the Queen Anne Community Center gym for its production studios, we’ve been trying to find out what the decision means for the gym next year.  The mayor’s budget called for the gym to be closed during 2011 with some extra revenue coming from the BizKid$ deal.  That deal would have added $75,000 in revenue to the city.  But BizKid$ pulled out following community backlash, telling KING 5 they received ”unpleasant” emails from people who didn’t want them taking over the gym.

Today, we learned the City Council has asked the budget office to come up with a new plan to address the $75,000 shortfall within the next week.  But a staffer in Councilman Tim Burgess’ office tells us the mayor’s decision to close the QA gym was unrelated to the decision to bring in more revenue through BizKid$.  Bottom line: the decision by BizKid$ to pull out doesn’t change anything for the gym, other than leaving the parks department with even less revenue.  We’ll continue to keep you posted.