By Hannah Danforth

Concerned Admiral residents met with DPD participants Wednesday evening, January 29th at the West Seattle Senior Center.

What was meant to be an informative meeting for neighbors affected by the proposed added 40 feet in building height for the Admiral Urban Village at 3210 California Ave SW, quickly turned into residents passionately criticizing what could be the largest development north of The Junction.

The proposal for the five story, 149­ apartment,168­ parking­ space and retail project is compared to other Seattle residential urban villages including Wallingford, Greenlake and Upper Queen Anne. Residents were very vocal about specific details on how they believe this project will affect the charming, eclectic Admiral neighborhood. Serious worry of losing daylight altogether, traffic flow, lack of public transportation, garbage collection, and general home value of the neighborhood superseded the loss of olympic mountain and water views.

The general consensus of homeowners in the Admiral District is that this plan is just too big for the neighborhood. Confusion over how high the structure will actually turn out to be boasted many frustrated comments. Residents were feeling helpless with the lack of communication and feeling misled by DPD.

“Why is the city allowing the homeowners on 42nd street to be impacted by the project, when instead they should be protected by the zoning?” asked Don Anderson. “We have made it clear to city officials that there are obvious impacts from this project, they should not proceed as planned.”

The Design Review meeting is at 8 pm Thursday, February 6th, at the Senior Center of West Seattle 4217 S.W. Oregon Street.