George Thurtle, lead Consultant to 4000 Property (Talaris) owners and who also works for John L Scott Realtors, will be giving two "site walks" tomorrow at 10am and noon to " to give a better idea of how the Low Impact option, "would effect the Talaris Property, " George said. It will also help to show the impact on immediate neighbors. George said there was a postcard mailing of 1600 invitations that sent out, set to arrive two days ago.
The developers and owners have not deteremined yet which of the two options, single family or low impact residential, they will submit an application for, in the upcoming re-development of the 18 acre property located in Laurelhurst on NE 41st Street.
The general information on the developers website states that "underlying zoning allows for 5,000 square foot single-family lots. And after considering a number of site plan concepts, we discovered that Talaris presents a unique opportunity to both preserve the site's legacy landscape and make the property financially viable. The type of studies and requirements for each option is different and must include all of the information required for the type of land use applied for" George told us."
George said that "the purpose of the site walks is to help visualize the location, scale and height of the proposed structures, and to show how the on-ground walking experience drove logical placement of the proposed buildings."
Triad, civil engineers, hired by Talaris, provided the basis for the site walks, based on their site plan shown at the recent open houses. The plan shows the locations of the new buildings, the retained foundations and the location of the trees and landscaping.
On the site plan, the buildings are placed in wire frames to show which trees will have to be removed and which stay, based on the 2004 Talesea tree survey for the 2004 EIS for the expansion of the Talaris research facility and the engineer's calculations.
The site walk will start at the courtyard of the central building, Building D, above the pond to look at the central views, then move on to the south single family lots where the realtionship of the homes and the large field will be discussed by looking at the markers from the location of the front of the homes and the walkway.
The walk will continue north discussing the buildings and foundations that will remain, along with locations of new buildings and their heights. The corners of the proposed new buildings have been spray painted so that walkers can understand more easily the layout of the new buildings. And balloons will be placed at "key areas" to show the roof height of the proposed new buildings.
The proposed 8 single family residential lots along NE 41st, will be marked with white spray paint to show the front of the planned houses and the entry walkway, in relation to the current open grass area. The front of the house is marked in the grass in white spray paint by a series of dashes, and the center of entry walkway is marked by a series of dots.
The proposed plan shows the "homes pushed back" off NE 41st Street as far as possible as the garage/foundations will be built into the grade and vehicular access provided via a new alley behind the homes."
Following will be a discussion on tree retention and screening on the north boundary along with the new buildings to be added on the northwest area of the property bordering 38th Avenue NE.
The tour will conclude with a question and answer period at the meeting room.
George said he will holding three more "seminars" with no dates set yet. The other two will discuss the onsite environmental issues, potential wetland area in the southwest corner of the property, and how the drainage release is bypassed around the Yesler Slew in order to preserve that natural area.
George will not be able to provide anlayses at the site walks, which are being performeded by several third parties hired by the Talaris developers - Raedeke Associates, an environemental consulting firm, Chris Wright, a wetland biologist, doing the monitoring and Rick Lundquist, a wildlife biologist.
"The wetlands information will be later after there is more monitoring to give an indication of the status of the .38 acres in which there was conflicting information," and added "When that information is ready it will be posted to our website. This information is being presented as a courtesy not as a requirement of any public land use process."
And the last "seminar" will cover traffic volumes between the two proposed options, specifically the single family option and the use agreed to by the LCC for the expansion of the research facility in the 2004 EIS.
Dan McKinney, a traffic engineer from Transpo hired by the Talaris developers, is looking at the traffic issues and putting together information regarding trip distributions. The various consultants hired by Talaris, will be answering questions at the upcoming meetings.
George told us that he has had preliminary talks with the Friends of Talaris and Historic Seattle regarding a historical preservation component of any land use submittal.
The goal of the seminars, George said, is to have as many people have their questions answered and concerns addressed in "a meaningful fashion of open and frank discussion".
(photo courtesy of Talaris Living website)
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