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The City of Seattle is in the process of acquiring an empty, $1.1 million lot at the corner of Federal and Republican to turn the land into another new Capitol Hill park, according to an announcement from the Seattle Parks Department. Details of a community meeting to discuss the land acquisition are below. According to a department representative who spoke about the acquisition process at a Community Council meeting in October, planners were looking to spend up to $1.3 million for a lot with around 10,000 square-feet of space, flat terrain, under-utilized, good sun orientation, no or minimal relocation costs, and frontage on key pedestrian routes.

Capitol Hill Urban Village Park Acquisition Public Meeting

Seattle Parks and Recreation invites you to learn about a proposed new park in the Capitol Hill Urban Village. Parks is negotiating for the purchase of a 12,000 square foot property at the corner of Federal Avenue East and East Republican Street for a new neighborhood park. The Parks and Green Spaces Levy allocates funding for the acquisition of properties, such as this, in areas that have been identified in the 2006 Development Plan and Gap Analysis as being deficient in open space. Capitol Hill Urban Village is one such area to receive funding. 

Learn more about this potential new park acquisition at the public meeting and provide your comments and suggestions. We encourage you to come and participate.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Lowell Elementary School
1058 E Mercer St., Seattle, WA 98102

Parks had also identified the area west of 15th and south of Aloha as a region in need of a park. Here is a map created by the city to illustrate 'coverage' areas for Capitol Hill's parks. The land being planned for purchase is near the 'p' in the blue Capitol Hill label.

The lot is currently empty and had been planned as 'Twelve Urban Rowhomes' by developers Great Northern Land Co. and Alchemy Real Estate. The land is now owned by a company called Fedrep Investors, LLC. According to King County property and state business records, Fedrep purchased the land last June, about two weeks after it was formed. It paid $1.1 million for the empty lot to Great Northern which had acquired two adjacent properties in 2006 to create the 'rowhome' project.

View Larger Map

Here is an artist's rendition of what the project would have looked like from Great Northern's Web site:

The project was one of 4 Capitol Hill developments identified as stuck in limbo last summer due to the economic downturn.

Now it appears the a park is destined for the corner instead. With an intersection like Federal and Republican, naming for the green space might take a political turn. Then again, city leaders might be a little more cautious given the blow-up surrounding the 'Pergugia Park' naming fiasco.

Speaking of Capitol Hill's other open space projects, if the Federal park project moves forward, it will be the third new park opening on the Hill. By spring, work should be wrapping up on the Seven Hills park at 16th at Howell while the Summit at John project won't be completed until summer 2010.

Susan Lund of Team Oddfellows (Photo: CLIFF DESPEAUX / THE SEATTLE TIMES by permission)

Team CapitolHillSeattle.com combined stellar defense with timely line drives -- and a little technology -- to earn the championship in the first annual Beard and Mustache Fest Wifflebowl with a 2-0 victory over Oddfellows. Or it might have been 1-0. But we won. One key play in the victory of the Oddfellows crew came down to instant replay when a close play at first was reviewed via Seattle Times photographer Cliff Despeaux's viewfinder. Earlier in the day, Team CHS defeated Cherry Street Coffee 4-zip. We next go on to play the New Orleans Saints in the Who Can Be Lazier for the Rest of February Bowl. We're a lock.

For more Beard and 'Stache fun, check out the Lover's Quarrel Cardboard Tube Fight on Valentine's Day -- also in Cal Anderson Park.

Team CHS Blog = Winners of the 2010 Wifflebowl Originally uploaded by theworldisfun

Find a pen. Mark your votes. Find a stamp. Get it in the mail. Ballots in the 2010 special election must be postmarked by Tuesday and, remember, the neighborhood drop-boxes for ballots have been eliminated. So far, King County reports that only 24% of Seattle ballots have been returned. Here is some information about the two school levies under consideration. You can view this list of projects that the capital levy will fund at schools across the city.

Editor's note: Schools First Seattle is a supporter of the levies and an advertiser on our local blog network, but wasn't involved in this story.

A driver speeding across Capitol Hill after hitting a car near 20th and Madison was finally apprehended following a short foot chase after hitting another vehicle near Boylston and Republican, according to the police radio scanner report from our partners at Central District News. In between, several other vehicles were also damaged, according to radio chatter. We'll check with SPD for more details on the damage and the apparent arrest.

An officer saw a white minivan fleeing the scene of the 20th and Madison accident around 11:48 AM. Minutes later, the report of the accident on Boylston came in, about a mile away from the original accident scene. Due to the speed the van was traveling at, police decided to not engage in a direct pursuit.

UPDATE 1:20 PM:
Here's a new (scary) element to the story -- the driver fled along Madison in the wrong lane. We received this eyewitness report from @zanarama:

glad they got that guy, he looked so calm flying down madison on the wrong side of the road.

We'll talk with SPD shortly to find out more about charges the driver may face.

UPDATE 2:05 PM:
According to SPD spokesperson Mark Jamieson, the minivan was stolen and was also involved in another crash this morning in South Seattle prior to the driver's dash across Capitol Hill. No specifics on charges yet but the car theft angle helps explain why the guy was in such a big hurry. Jamieson also said that there were no reports of injuries.

Thanks to Jeff for sending in this picture of what looks like the minivan from the incident. Your pictures and tips are so helpful -- send them to chs@capitolhillseattle.com or call us at (206) 659-1919.

With the construction walls rising at the work site for the Capitol Hill light rail station and tunnels, a major component of Sound Transit's strategy to complete work on budget and in time for a 2016 start of service is still not in place.

To enable the 24-hour-per-day construction schedules Sound Transit says are necessary to complete the station and tunneling work by 2016, the agency has applied for a crucial set of permissions from the Department of Planning and Development that will allow work at the Broadway site to exceed standard thresholds for nighttime construction noise in the city.

Thursday night, the city is holding a hearing to collect community feedback on Sound Transit's application. Here are the details on the hearing:

The 'variance' in this process refers to the amount by which the sound levels can vary from the nighttime measured average for the area. Sound Transit will be seeking a variance for noise levels 6 decibels above average in the area. They say this will bump up levels to something around an 'ordinary conversation' according to this table the agency provided:

In addition to Thursday night's public hearing, there is a DPD review process after one year to make sure any granted variance isn't causing issues in the neighborhoods.

During the planning for the application, Sound Transit said it first recorded noise levels for the residences on 10th Ave near the construction area at 51 decibels. Sound Transit decided to measure again post-demolition and measured 54 decibels on the new Broadway-exposed 10th Ave. The 6 decibels Sound Transit is asking for will actually bump noise levels up around 10 points from where they were on a night last year.

The Capitol Hill application is also an early test for the city's newly streamlined process for 'Major Public Project Construction' noise variances.

There's still a little time before the citywide fire station open houses are scheduled to end at 3 PM. Here's a look at this morning's visit to E. Pine's Fire Station 25 by some little neighbors with big enthusiasm for shiny fire engines. Keep in mind that Station 25 was a little busy this afternoon.

Meanwhile, anybody else have ice cream for breakfast?

They're a young and good looking bunch with big, fancy vehicles. Sure, they're loud and they keep late hours but the residents of E. Pine's Fire Station 25 make pretty good neighbors. You can stop by the firehouse to meet them on Saturday as part of the city's Neighbor Appreciation Day. Station 25 will be open to meet the firefighters, tour the firehouse and check out the lovely new Ladder 10 from 11 AM to 3 PM -- as long as there aren't any big fires, that is.

Fire Station 25 is located at 1300 E. Pine. There's also a firehouse at 901 East Roanoke Street that will be open for tours. Here's a list of all Seattle fire stations.

Don't enjoy this news too much, Pioneer Square. Third Man Video recently completed its move from 1st Ave to E. Pine. This morning, the new Capitol Hill business received an ugly welcome to the neighborhood: an early morning break-in that left owner Shane Benson more sleepy and annoyed than anything.

Benson tells CHS that sometime around 5 AM this morning, one of his new neighbors saw a man walking down the street with Third Man's cash drawer. The glass front door to the video store had been busted with a rock. By the time cops arrived, the man could not be found. The neighbor said the man with the cash drawer appeared to be a homeless person.

Benson said the cash drawer was empty so the burglar didn't make off with much. Third Man's door that the burglar busted is double-sided safety glass, Benson said. Cops told him to add a metal gate. He also said the cops told him break-ins are a big problem on Pine.

They're a big problem across all of the Hill right now. SPD data showed a 9% rise in break-ins both commercial and residential through September 2009, the latest statistics available from the department. And September's year-over-year numbers were really bad. Compared to September 2008, September 2009 saw a more than 24% jump in Hill burglaries. We might have to start a new advertiser feature here on the site: Third Man as well as Po Dog and Healeo are all CHS sponsors who have suffered recent break-ins.

Benson said this isn't the first time his business has been busted into -- it happened once in Pioneer Square, too.

UPDATE 10:10 AM:
Don't know if either of these involved more than broken glass, but two more reports this morning of broken business front doors on the Hill:

•  @blueholly reports catering operation Mangetout on 19th Ave E has a broken glass door this morning.
• @JennyH8 reportst a broken door and a police officer at the scene on 15th Ave E's 22 Doors.

Street sign Originally uploaded by knoopie

One of the more intriguing topics that came out of our report on the City Council transportation committee's briefing on the streetcar was talk of seeking a federal grant to help pay for an extension of the line beyond its planned light rail station terminus all the way up Broadway to Aloha. We learned today that Seattle won't be applying for the grant that was being eyed for the extension. But that won't, a City Council aide tells us, end the search.

The interpretation of the agreement between Sound Transit and the city for the construction of the streetcar outlines a route that ends at the future light rail station at Broadway and John. Sound Transit will not pay for an extension of the route up Broadway to Aloha.

That leaves the city to come up with a plan to pay for the stretch itself in time for the currently planned start of service in 2013. Federal grant opportunity FTA-2010-001-TPE, a Department of Transportation program to make $130 million available to "Urban Circulator Systems" was considered to cover the city's portion of the streetcar bill.

Ann Corbitt, aide to City Council transportation committee head Tom Rasmussen, tells CHS that the city considered applying for the grant but determined that the streetcar project was not far enough along in the planning process to qualify for the grant. But she added that this doesn't end the possibilities for an Aloha extension. Corbitt said there are upcoming grant opportunities that could provide the funding necessary to extend the route.

Seattle Department of Transportation planners have said that the extension will cost between $25 and $30 million to complete.

An extension to Aloha is among a list of priorities the Capitol Hill Community Council is pursuing in the streetcar planning process.

UPDATE 9:00 PM:
We heard back from SDOT planner Ethan Melone who backed up what we heard from Corbitt:

FTA's eligibility criteria for the program require that urban circulator projects have completed Alternatives Analysis (AA) and Preliminary Engineering (PE).  Unfortunately, the north Broadway extension of the First Hill Streetcar is not eligible for this particular grant opportunity, as the AA and PE have not been completed.  We anticipate there will be other Federal streetcar funding opportunities and we will fully explore those.

Happy update on Babygirl, the wayward golden retriever who was lost, found and lost again when her family had the wrong phone number for the person who told animal control they had found the doggy. Babygirl's family tells CHS they got a call from the pound on Tuesday telling them the dog had been dropped off and was eagerly awaiting a reunion. Glad to know Babygirl is home. Lose something you love? Find something you know somebody else must love? Add a notice in the CHS Lost & Found.