City Changes Standing Advisory Committee Name

 

The Department of Neighborhoods recently sent out this information:

Earlier last year, the City Council passed Ordinance 126685, which made several technical corrections and clarifications to the City’s land use regulations (Titles 23 and 25 of the Seattle Municipal Code).  The legislation recently went into effect and includes some minor adjustments to the City’s Major Institution Advisory Committee process.  Namely, “Citizens’ Advisory Committees (CAC)” will now be known as “Development Advisory Committees” and “Standing Advisory Committees (SAC)” will now be known as “Implementation Advisory Committees.”  

These changes were made to clarify and better reflect the functions of these committees.  The committees’ role, authority and scope of work remains unchanged.   

To review a copy of Ordinance 126685, see SDCI 2021 Omnibus (legistar.com). 

If you have questions about the changes, please reach out to  (nelson.pesigan@seattle.gov) or Dipti Garg (dipti.garg@seattle.gov).

 

A SAC (Standing Advisory Committee)  meets several times a year to advise the City on the Master Plan development for Children's Hospital. The last meeting was March 2022 and was the 29th meeting held since the committee was formed by the City.

Hospital Helipad Moves To Permanent Location

 

This week, the new new helipad on top of the Forest B building, also referred to as "Building Care" became active. 

Last year, the helicopter landing pad moved to the roof of Forest A (176’), known as Friends of Costco Building, during Phase 1 of the expansion. The landing pad was active until this week when Building Care was fully completed. With the last location, noise was louder than the former ground-based helipad used for decades. 

The Laurelhurst Community Club,said in a newsletter at the time:

Children’s Helistop 

Seattle Children’s Helistop has been located on the ground level since the early 1990s. It accommodates the transport of sick children by helicopter directly to the hospital or to landings at a UW sports field on east campus. Twice a year, the number and type of landings are reviewed by an independent committee of professionals and LCC. In the six months from January to June 2018, there were 73 landings, 61 at SCH and 12 at the UW field, compared to 54 in 2017 and 53 in 2016 for the same period.  

As part of the latest expansion by SCH, the helistop location will change to the top of the Friends of Costco Building (Forest A) on October 17. EIS predictions suggest noise will be more intense for some Laurelhurst residents, since the prior ground-level location sheltered the noise. 

Lighting will be as low as permissible; however, each patient transport takes a minimum of 20 to 45 minutes. Noise likely will be louder than the ground-based helipad. When Forest B is complete, the helistop moves to its permanent location on top of Forest B (same height). Noise levels will remain increased at nearby residential sites in Laurelhurst. LCC will continue to monitor and work with SCH on any issues that may arise with the new location.

In 2013, the Hospital's helistop was located in the southwest corner of the parking area while construction was underway.

For any questions or concerns about the helipad, contact construction@seattlechildrens.org.

NE 50th Street Parking Taken Up Almost Entirely By Hospital Staff (Violating Hospital Parking Policy)

 

NE 50th Street

Why are Hospital related staff allowed to take up at least 20 spaces every day on NE 50th Street rather than parking at the Hospital's employee parking lot at Magnuson?

In a document titled "Parking Policy and Enforcement FAQ Laurelhurst" sent to the Laurelhurst Blog by Edna Shim, "Regional Government Affairs & Community Relations," it states (in part):

Seattle Children’s Parking Policy and Enforcement FAQ 2022: Laurelhurst Neighborhood

Our parking policy states members of Seattle Children’s workforce are not allowed to park in the neighborhood. We have a strong systematic commitment to enforce this policy.  Seattle Children’s parking policy and restrictions are in effect 24/7.  Violations of Seattle Children’s parking policy are tracked and treated as a performance

issue.

The document also states:

On a daily basis, our parking enforcement staff patrol neighborhood streets, rotating through several neighborhood patrol zones in a randomized order to prevent enforcement predictability. We monitor suspected parking violators by running these license plates through Children’s workforce database.

However, neighbors have reported that no patrol cars have been seen in the neighborhood since March, when the full time Children's Hospital dedicated parking enforcement officer retired. Tom daily patrolled the streets around the Hospital checking for employees violating Hospital policy of not parking on neighborhood streets. The Children's officer was seen multiple times a day many times a day patrolling the neighbor and was known to many residents living around the Hospital. He retired in April and since then not one patrol car has been seen on streets around the Hospital.  

It is reported that Drew Dressman (drew.dressman@seattle.childrens.org) has taken over the role, but he has never been seen in the neighborhood, nor has the patrol car.

One neighbor said:

We really appreciated Tom patrolling our streets and looking into cars that seemed to be with the Hospital, as we know the Hospital has a strict parking policy about parking in the neighborhood. He always followed up on our calls and did thorough research on every car. For almost a year we have never seen the Hospital Security car in the neighborhood, never.  That allows Hospital staff to park anywhere they want, with no consequences, taking up valuable parking spaces. And it completely misrepresents what Children's has told neighbors regarding their strict employment parking policy.

Since Tom retired, there are consistently and daily many areas in the neighborhood  that Hospital staff are regularly parking in - the corner of NE 45th Street and 45th Avenue NE near Seattle Community Church, corner of NE 45th Street and 43rd Avenue NE, 41st Avenue NE, up and down NE 45th Street, 46th Avenue NE, 44th Avenue NE and other locations.

And NE 50th Street has had the most Children's staff parked from Sand Point Way up to 45th Avenue NE. This effectively takes up almost every single parking spot on NE 50th Street.  One neighbor reported counting 30 cars in one day, evident by the out of state license plates and observing drivers walking directly in to the Hospital campus.  Neighbors report they have talked to some of the vehicle owners who confirm they work for the Hospital. And cars generally arrive between 7-8am and leave about 12 hours later.  Neighbors report that all the non-resident cars have out of state plates. 

One neighbor commented:

NE 50th Street has effectively become a side road and free overflow parking lot for the Hospital and it's very unfair to the residents for the Hospital to use residential streets as their additional parking lot. It's unclear why parking violations are clearly going unnoticed when the Hospital is aware of the situation.

The Hospital related staff also create a safety issue parking most times almost down to Sand Point Way, on the corner, making visibility turning right onto NE 50th and also left onto Sand Point way very hard. Many of the cars are also parked illegally too close to the stop sign at the intersection with Sand Point Way. 

In the last 7 months, the hospital appears to have taken little action so that residents can park in front of their own homes, rather than a block or so away. 

Neighbors wonder what can be done to ensure they still can park near their home as the Hospital appears to not be implementing consequences for parking on the street.

The only time the Hospital monitored the area was shortly before Tom retired. He and other staff in the Parking Planning and Operations Team were in regular contact with a neighbor even saying: 

There is an unusually high number of out of state travelling nurses filling in a staff shortage and we believe it has been a miscommunication with these folks as they onboard that is causing the problem.  Over the next two weeks, we will schedule 3 mornings for someone on the ground to intercept arriving cars and redirect them. Please keep us in the loop as this may continue to flare up.

Then suddenly the neighbors' emails were forwarded to Edna Shim in "Regional Government Affairs & Community Relations," and the officers no longer checked on NE 50th Street or even continued communications with neighbors as they had consistently been doing. 

Edna took over the communications on behalf of the Hospital though she is not involved with Hospital Parking Enforcement and it appears that parking personnel are no longer allowed to respond to anyone.

The Laurelhurst Blog's attempts to interact with Hospital Parking Enforcement directly, as has happened seamlessly for over a decade, was also suddenly stopped by Edna Shim who said:

As you are aware, our Transportation and Security teams are working on multiple solutions.  Moving forward I will be your primary point of contact regarding neighborhood concerns. 

Seattle Children’s remains committed to enforcing our parking policy to reduce the impacts on our neighborhood. Seattle Children’s continues to communicate and enforce the neighborhood parking policy for all workforce members. 

However if enforcement was happening, then it is unclear why 20-30 cars are still parking on NE 50th Street for almost 8 months.

Edna said that these action items are being taken, however neighbors have only seen these items followed through on once or twice:

This location a large portion of them are contract staff with non-Washington State license plates which makes it more challenging to identify the owner. Here’s what we have done and continue to do until the issue is resolved: 

• Prioritize this location, in enforcement rotation, for new parking enforcement staff

• Parking enforcement staff on the curb intercepting would-be parkers

• Parking enforcement staff writing citations 

• Parking staff leaving flyers on the cars regarding parking policy

• • Strengthen signage about no parking in neighborhood. On-street signage is at the discretion of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).:

Edna also sent this information: 

When the pandemic hit in 2020, there was an Emergency Order signed by then Mayor Durkan and later Mayor Harrell, extending free on street parking to hospital employees. We continue to check with the City specifically SDOT and SDCI, as to when the temporary suspension of parking requirements for all Major Institutions (hospitals and colleges) will sunset. It’s our understanding that SDCI believes that certain elements are still in place.  It’s possible that the street parking exemption will expire this summer depending on the COVID-19 situation.

However, SDOT provided this information to the Laurelhurst Blog: 

In March 2020, the City of Seattle began implementing temporary permits to create on-street parking around certain healthcare institutions, and discontinued issuing these temporary permits last year.  

In June 2020, Children’s Hospital informed us that they would accommodate their employee parking on the hospital property and no longer needed reserved parking on city streets.

Neighbors provided these solutions to the Hospital saying "It is unclear why this has not been resolved, these are immediate, inexpensive and effective solutions."

• sign be installed on the Hospital property along NE 50th that reminds employees that parking in residential neighborhoods isn’t allowed
• designate onsite free parking for travelling nurses
• reached out to the traveling nurse agency
• have a patrol officer at the street at 7am to remind staff of Hospital parkign policy
• put fliers on cars with Hospital parking policy
• cite cars immediately when neighbors call in
• mandate that employees update their vehicle registration info

The Laurelhurst Blog also reached out to Jamie Cheney, Director of the Transportation Department and she sent what appears to be a message only intended for staff saying on June 24: 

Vickie, Lisa and Samuel-

I think Edna is on vacation.  I will set up a time on Monday to discuss with you three.

 

However, the Laurelhurst Blog, nor any neighbors have received any responses since that date and the parking issue still continues with 2-3 blocks taken up by Hospital staff. 

One neighbor commented: 

I fully expect employees to continue to park on the street. This isn’t sustainable for the neighborhood. On one day, neighbors reported that there were only 4 cars that were parked on NE 50th Street that actually belonged to residents. All the other cars belonged to Childrens employees. 

Some of the townhomes on NE 50th Street still remain vacant, but once these get sold, there will likely be many more cars parked on NE 50th. This would be totally fine on it’s own, but if you combine this with Childrens staff filling most of the street already and no parking allowed on 44th Avenue NE, then parking will consistently overflow up the hill on NE 50th Street. 

NE 50th street also gets a lot of traffic and it’s inconvenient to have it effectively become a one way road due to the large volume of Seattle Childrens employees that choose to park here. 

In the past, Seattle Childrens had staff dedicated to enforcing staff parking restrictions. It seems evident that this enforcement has, for the most part, stopped. NE 50th Street is consistently used by hospital employees so that they can avoid paying for parking.

 

Having a long line of cars parked all the way to the bottom of the hill on NE 50th Street where it connects with the very busy Sand Point Way is also super unsafe. I’ve watched two cars in the past week nearly hit each other as one makes a quick right onto NE 50th Street, not expecting another car to come down the hill. 

Another neighbor said:

It's unclear why Children's is clearly not being a good neighbor. They say they enforce their parking policy, however they do not, evident on NE 50th Street going on almost a year. They no longer patrol our neighborhood and they do not attend to neighbor reports. 

Edna has shut down any communication and now does not even have the courtesy of responding though she is the neighborhood liaison. It is almost insulting that the Hospital would treat their neighbors in such a manner. There are simple and immediate solutions that can be implemented so that everyone is happy. 

And one other neighbor commented:

We have always loved living in Laurelhurst and the Hospital has always been a good neighbor. However in the last year, the tables have completely turned, with Edna taking over. Our basic need to park near our residence has been removed, with no end in sight. Being elderly, we feel most safe parking close to our residence, but can no longer do so. Yet the Hospital continues to ignore this issue and does even have the decency to communicate to neighbors.  

Jim Sawyer, Hospital Director of Security, told the Laurelhurst Blog Staff at one time:

The Hospital takes its street parking restrictions very seriously.  Hospital Security actively tickets the streets seven days a week, and attempts to respond to all complaints within an hour. We respond to any and all Transportation requests for enforcement help of any kind.  This is a priority for our patrol and enforcement team. We patrol and ticket the streets regardless of whether we receive calls or not. If one of our neighbors calls we have and will give their concern priority response.    

We have a systematic process in place to enforce parking which includes regular (but variable by time and day) patrols, database tools to look up and cross reference license plates and the ability to deliver citations remotely which allows us to scale enforcement.      

Workforce are required by hospital policy to register their vehicle and to keep this information up to date. The hospital also has access to the DOL database for looking up suspected vehicles out of compliance. If the name does not match a workforce member, we can also attempt to match the registered owner address to workforce members living at the same address.  

There are no assigned  parking areas in the neighborhoods - all assigned areas are on hospital property or in one of our designated off site lots. 

We advise staff there is no cut off street distance-all street parking is unauthorized. By cut off distance we mean-if an employee were to ask “If I park a mile and a half away and walk in-is that ok”? If-when we field these questions we answer that "no -you need to park in your assigned area if you drive-there is no amnesty so to speak if you park a greater distance away". 

Human Resources takes street parking very seriously - it is a performance issue that will or can impact ones employment.  If an employee is a repeat offender it becomes a  serious performance issue which could result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.  

Parking Enforcement can be reached at: Transportation@seattlechildrens.org or call 206-987-5500.  Include vehicle location, time, license plate number, and vehicle description.

Here is other contact information:

• Jamie Cheney (Director of Transportation): jamie.cheney@seattlechildrens.org, cell: 206-696-6824
• Drew Dresman (Parking Planning and Operations Supervisor): drew.dressman@seattle.childrens.org, cell: 206-349-2273 
• Jim Sawyer (Security Director): Jim.sawyer@seattlechildrens.org, office: 206 987-6213 
• William Woodward (Security Supervisor): william.woodward@seattlechildrens.org, office 206-987-2030 

 

   

Monday Tree Pruning Around Hospital Perimeter

 Children's Hospital posted this information:

On Tuesday, July 5, from 9-2:30pm, several trees on the south and west side of the hospital will be pruned. The work includes pruning of dead limbs, removing two weed trees from a retaining wall, and light pruning for pedestrian, vehicle, building, and light clearance. 

The majority of work will be located within campus, with the exception of light pruning for sidewalk clearance on NE 40^th St, North of the ED entrance, and for vehicle clearance on Sand Point Way. 

Neighbors may hear noise from chainsaws and chippers between 9:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. 

For questions, please contact Meghan Fuller, manager of Grounds Maintenance, at 206-307-6687.

Police Report Gun Shots Near Children's Hospital

The Laurelhurst Blog received this information:

On May 31st at 6:30pm, we had our 1000 pound gun safe with hunting rifles stolen from our garage.  

Police said the same vehicle, a red/burgundy van, was used in this incident and the one near Children's Hospital (see SPD Blotter below).  

None of our guns was used. The person already had a gun. Both of the incidents occurred around the same time. 

From the SPD Blotter:

#2022-137988/North Precinct/Second Watch:

On 05-31-2022 at 1840 hours, officers responded to the 4800 block of Sandpoint WY NE for simultaneous calls of a shooting, a suspicious call, and a burglary. The three calls described the suspect vehicles as a maroon Ford Escape SUV and white Nissan or Infiniti sedan. Callers reported that four males broke into a residence, stole a large gun safe, pushed the safe down the street, and loaded the safe into the Ford Escape. The white Infiniti followed closely behind. The vehicles began to drive away from the residence, and at some point, one of the vehicles’ occupants opened fire on a car (that was occupied and being driven) and a bullet struck the front grill. Officers responded to the residence where the burglary occurred and discovered that a large gun safe had been stolen that contained approximately 15 firearms. The driver of the vehicle that was hit by a bullet was not injured. A few minutes later, a resident in the 6100 Block of 12 AV NE reported that a white Infiniti sedan parked outside of her house. The occupant got out of the vehicle, went to the back porch, changed his clothing, and walked away. Officers responded and found the white Infiniti. The vehicle appeared to have an AR-15 and body armor inside (visible through the window). The vehicle was registered to an address in Lakewood, WA. K9 responded, searched the area, but did not locate the suspects. The car was impounded to the vehicle processing room for further investigation. GVRU and Public Affairs notified. The maroon Ford Escape is still at large. Lakewood PD contacted the registered owner of the Infiniti, who claimed to have sold the car in 2021.

From KOMO News information on May 31st:

There are two suspects on the run after allegedly stealing a gun safe before shooting a gun near Seattle Children’s Hospital.

It started around 6:40 p.m. Tuesday when someone in the 1200 block of NE 61st in the Ravenna neighborhood called police saying they saw the burglary.

The witness said they saw suspects load a gun safe into a car from a home before two vehicles left. One was a Maroon Ford Escape, the other was a white two-door Infinity.

Police say a car was shot near Seattle Children’s a little later and they believe the suspects were the shooters, though it’s unclear if it was on purpose.

The Infinity was found, unoccupied, in the Ravenna area a while later, though the other vehicle and the suspects are still missing.

Hospital Parking Lot Construction All Month

Children's Hospital published this information on their Construction Blog: 

There will be some minor demolition work to existing parking areas until June 28th.  

Now that the Forest Parking lot has officially opened for patient families, we are taking the opportunity to upgrade the equipment of the entrance islands of Lots 1 & 2.  

The loudest work is expected to happen on June 13 and June 14.  Neighbors may hear noise of jack hammering and saw cutting on these dates. 

This work is weather-dependent and subject to change based on conditions.  

Call 206-987-8000 or email construction@seattlechildrens.org with questions.

Tuesday Hear New Plans For Major Hospital Development

Tomorrow, Tuesday, March 29th, from 6-8pm, the community is invited to attend the 29th meeting in the series of Children Hospital Meetings with the SAC (Standing Advisory Committee) to hear about specific plans for the next phase of development at the north end of Laurelhurst, at the corner of Sandpoint Way NE and 40th Ave NE.

At the January meeting, the SAC learned that Children's Hospital had revoked their MUP application for the surgery pavilion and is now submitting an application for a bed tower that will house 196 non-specific beds in a building named "Forest C."

LCC told the Laurelhurst Blog:

This is a tower similar in scale to its adjacent ones which are Forest A and Forest B with the services for surgery and day infusions and procedures. The initial plans are stated in very general outlines with few details given. Hopefully more will be provided at the SAC meeting. LCC and the public should attend to know more after that next SAC meeting.

Here is the agenda:

• Welcome/Introduction of attendees
• Housekeeping
• Meeting Context
• Forest C Project Overview 
• MIMP & Growth Updates Presentation
• 2021 Annual Report
• 6:45pm - Public Comments
• Committee Deliberation

Here is the meeting link and additional information:

• Webinar number: 2498 143 9522
• Webinar password: fpCJfygw446 (37253949 from phones)
• Join by phone: 206-207-1700 or 408-418-9388
• Access code: 249 814 39522

Nathan Torgelson Director, Seattle Department of Construction and inspection and
Andres Mantilla Director, Department of Neighborhoods sent this information (in part) to the SAC in response to SAC questions:

Children’s has decided to withdraw its MUP application in order to demonstrate they are following Condition 15 of the City Council conditions for the campus’ Major Institution Master Plan (MIMP), which reads: “Children’s shall create and maintain a Standing Advisory Committee [SAC] to review and comment on all proposed and potential projects prior to submission of their respective Master Use Permit applications. The SAC shall use the Design Guidelines for their evaluation.” 

Because Children’s has withdrawn its MUP application, all related correction letters, recommendations, and decisions by SDCI have also been withdrawn. However, the public comment received for this project to date will remain part of the record. When the SAC provides their comments and a new MUP application is submitted, in that order, SDCI will begin its review anew, taking into consideration the SAC’s comments. This is consistent with SDCI practices and procedures for past projects. 

Based on the prior submittal, SDCI did consider whether the proposal would be in conformance with the MIMP. SDCI will only make a final determination after receiving input from the SAC, the general public and after reviewing the application materials and any corrections. 

Because the MUP has been withdrawn, associated correction letters are also withdrawn. However, we hope the applicant will address these comments in their new MUP application. If they do not, similar comments will be provided to the applicant at that time. 

After the SAC provides their comments and a new MUP application is submitted, there will be a new comment period for the application and those comments will be added to the existing public comment from the withdrawn MUP application. 

Seattle Children’s worked with the City to identify a means of sharing information with the community while neither in-person or on-line meetings were available due the ongoing pandemic in response to Children's letter of February 11, 2021 claiming that the community outreach process was modified. The only modification to the typical outreach done by Seattle Children’s was the “project introduction” video that was shared with the SAC and community to solicit initial feedback. The intent was not for this video to replace a SAC meeting. SDCI did allow the MUP application to be submitted prior to the SAC process being completed. This was a decision made by the SDCI assigned planner. The YouTube video was never intended to satisfy the SAC meeting requirements. 

In response to what efforts were made by Children's to provide project information to SAC members before submitting its MUP application in July 2020 - this information was provided to the SAC under the limits imposed by the City of Seattle Mayor’s emergency declaration during COVID-19 and in coordination with SDCI and DON staff. As you know, Seattle Children’s has withdrawn its MUP application to provide an additional pre- 2 application opportunity for SAC comment. Communications with the SAC are conducted through the City of Seattle, as the SAC is a City sanctioned advisory committee. Seattle Children’s followed the advice of the City on how best to communicate with the SAC during this unprecedented time and understood the information we provided would meet the intent of Condition 15 under the MIMP. 

Children’s will continue to meet with the SAC for items that require additional review following the MUP application. Children’s does not intend to limit the number of SAC meeting on the proposal. It should be the goal of the SAC to provide a timely review of the proposed project. 

Seattle Children’s does not consider the proposed development to be a substantial alteration of the buffer as described in the MIMP. Additionally, reviewing alternatives is not part of the SAC process. We wish to be collaborative and accommodating to the SAC’s requests, however we are not prepared to present alternatives for this project.

 

This information was published in a recent LCC newsletter:

Comment on Children’s New Phase 3 Plan 

Seattle Children’s Hospital will present more details for its Phase 3 development, which is part of its 2010 Major Institution Master Plan (MIMP), March 29. 

The January 25 meeting revealed that the Surgical Pavilion planned for the northeast corner of the campus was permanently scrapped, replaced by a new Phase 3 plan to build Forest C, a 196-bed tower. Located near Forest B, it will primarily face Sand Point Way NE with an open fan design (similar to Forest A). 

At every major building phase of the MIMP, the SAC and the public are invited to view the proposed plans and make public comment at the beginning of scheduled SAC meetings. 

Please feel free to present your comments at the Seattle Children’s SAC meeting Tuesday, March 29, 6 to 8 p.m. via the Webex virtual meeting format

For more information go here. 

Today Hospital Doing Sewer Work on NE 45th Street

Children's Hospital posted this information on their Facilities Blog:

Today, sewer line work in 40th Avenue NE and NE 45th Street associated with Building Care will lead to the following impacts:

• No parking will be allowed on 40th Avenue between 45th Street and Sand Point Way NE.
• That portion of 40th Avenue will be reduced to one lane near the Seattle Children’s entrance. Flaggers will be used to safely maintain two-way traffic.
• The Metro route 65 bus stop on 40th Avenue near Seattle Children’s Emergency Department will be closed, and buses will not drive down 40th Avenue that day.
• Temporary steel traffic ramps will be placed on 45th Street at the west side of the intersection with 40th Avenue. Flaggers will be on site and vehicles will need to slow down while driving over the ramps. Two-way traffic will be maintained at all times on 45th Street.

The sewer work will begin at 3:30 a.m. today and be completed by 3pm.  The City of Seattle has approved a noise variance allowing this project to begin earlier in the day than normal. Early morning noise will primarily be from setting up traffic control, the use of forklifts and placing pipes on the ground; the noisier construction work will begin around 7 a.m.

Tonight Important Hospital Construction Meeting to Impact North Laurelhurst

 

Tonight, from 6-8pm, the community is invited to attend the 28th meeting in the series of Children Hospital Meetings with the SAC (Standing Advisory Committee) to hear about specific plans for the next phase of development, "Copper Project" - a surgery pavilion and parking garage at the north end of Laurelhurst, in the area of 45th Avenue NE and NE 50th Streets.

The two new proposed 37 foot tall buildings, connected by a bridge span, will be viewable by those living in that area, according to images prepared by the Hospital's contracted design firm. Parking for 1,138 vehicles is also proposed.

The buildings and a new road will be situated close to the perimeter of the Hospital and residential boundaries. As neighbors have expressed in over 100 pages of comments submitted to the City, there will be significant  and permanent impacts affecting the livability of the neighborhood.

The public is invited to give comments at 7pm on Wednesday. Sign-up here up until 2 hours before the start of the meeting.  Written comments can be submitted anytime, but in ample time to give the SAC adequate time to review. Send comments to nelson.pesigan@seattle.gov.

Here are the meeting materials:

• WebEx Meeting Link.  Dial-in/Access Code: 408-418-9388 / 2496 477 2633
• Here is where public comments are posted
• Here is the 2020 Annual Report
• MUP Public Comment (submitted 2/2/21 according to DON (Dept of Neighborhoods)
• Phase 3 MIMP/Forest C
• SAC Meeting Notice/Agenda
• Seattle Children's Annual Report Presentation

Here is the agenda:

• Welcome /Introductions of SAC members 
• 9/21 Meeting Summary
• SAC roles/responsibilities
• Phase 3 MUP - Forest Project Overview
• 7pm - Public Comment 
• Election of new Chairperson 
• Adjournment and scheduling of next meeting 

The Children's Hospital SAC meeting that was supposed to take place on July 13th was  postponed, as was the December 2020 one, for similar reasons.. 

The meeting reportedly ran into several difficulties and a motion was made to stop the meeting immediately. First, the City's Department of Neighborhoods did not send out the presentation slide deck until the morning of the meeting, giving SAC members very little time to review the slides to be prepared for the meeting. The general timeframe is supposed to be at least one week.

Second, SAC members communicated that the 2020 MIMP Annual Report had many inconsistencies and inaccuracies and it was requested that they be corrected for the next meeting.

However, it has been reported that many of the inconsistencies have still not been corrected in the MIMP report, for the Wednesday meeting. 

Nelson told the Laurelhurst Blog "The Annual Report that is posted is the document that DON received from Children’s on 2/2/2021."

It is also a concern that the slide show presentation and MIMP report will not match and the MIMP is what is on file for the public to view. 

Neighbors have communicated that it is mandatory that the Hospital prove that the MIMP Report has been amended so that it is consistent with the slides.

The SAC expressed in prior meetings that it cannot accurately review the ongoing progress made in meeting the conditions of the Master Plan and approving it if the 2020 MIMP Report is inaccurate and the Hospital falsely claiming that they have met the Conditions.  

Reported inaccuracies of 2020 MIMP:

• Condition 15 not met as stated: “Children’s Complied with [City Council Condition 15].” (2020 MIMP Report, paragraph 15, PDF page 13):

Children’s shall create and maintain a Standing Advisory Committee (SAC) to review and comment on all proposed and potential projects prior to submission of their respective Master Use Permit applications. The SAC shall use the Design Guidance Guidelines for their evaluation.

• The SAC is to review and comment and advise the City and Children’s Hospital on the development that is occurring under the provisions of the Children’s Hospital Major Institution Master Plan before Children’s submits its MUP application to the City.
• Children’s submitted its Master Use Permit for Project Copper on July 7, 2020. Since the first SAC meeting for Project Copper was held on August 31, 2020, the Hospital did not meet with the SAC prior to submitting its Master Use Permit.
• The MUP states: “Seattle Children's submitted a Master Use Permit application for SDCI review on July 7, 2020" – this should be removed as it seems there is no pending application at the City. [2020 MIMP Report, PDF page 3]
• The Hospital withdrew its July 2020 Master Use Permit application and was to start and submit a new permit. However the MIMP report states (page 3): “Seattle Children's submitted a Master Use Permit application for SDCI review on July 7, 2020" which is reportedly not accurate and appears as if it needs to be removed from the report, as at this time there is no pending application.
• The report incorrectly states that the next phase of construction was presented to the SAC on June 25 of last year, including showing a design presentation. However the SAC did not meet on that date. Maureen Sheehan, with DON, sent email with a YouTube link with the design presentation, however that is not the same as a formal SAC meeting. Maureen did not state that the YouTube was to be a substitute for the meeting or notify the SAC of the short response timeframe.
• There was no notice in the email or video that the Hospital was going to submit Project Copper to SDCI before a SAC meeting took place. And the SAC was given very short notice in which to review the document.
• No notice was given to the SAC that the Youtube video was supposed to take the place of a SAC meeting. To the contrary, the July 1 email states “We are planning to hold the first in a series of on-line Standing Advisory Committee meetings to receive a detailed project presentation and review and comment on Project Copper later this Summer.”
• The meeting presentations states “Surgical Capacity Expansion: Project Copper – MUP paused.” However, the 2020 MIMP Report describes the project in detail and suggest that Project Copper is ongoing. [2020 MIMP Report, PDF page 3]
• It is not clear when Children’s issued its 2020 Annual Report. The Report indicates that Project Copper is going forward when, in fact, Children’s had withdrawn its MUP application. There needs an additional update to the MIMP report that in fact, Children’s has withdrawn its MUP application for Project Copper.

    

Neighbors, in addition, expresses these concerns:

• The Hospital is not following the correct sequence, in which the major institution formulates the proposed plan, then presents them, including the designs to the SAC, who review and make changes and then send it to Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections (SDCI ) who review it and send it back again to the SAC for any additioal changes.
• Hospital's process was out of order: In July, Children's Hospital went directly to SDCI and submitted their  permit which was  different than what was approved in the Major Institution Master Plan. Then the Hospital scheduled an  August meeting. However, during this time, SDCI  begun to work on the project. The City put up the notification boards up around the perimeter of the property which included the comment deadline. However neighbors reported that the documents regarding the proposed development were not even on-line yet in time to be able review and submit comments
• Neighbors also submitted comments on the Hospital's non-compliance stating that the Hospital is not following the approved standard process and that that the Hospital was trying to get approval from the City when they were supposed to first have the SAC's input whose role it is to review the development plans and makes changes. 
• One neighbor, David Yuan, sent a letter to the Director of the Department of Construction and Inspection, Nathan Torgelson, which stated, in part, that the process appeared to be faulty because the SAC had not been given the opportunity to review and comment on Children’s potential project before Children’s submitted its Major Institution Master Plan. (MUP) application to the City. This is the legal requirement of Condition 15 of the Seattle City Council decision that has not been followed.
• Concern that the Hospital's proposed development different is very different that what was approved in 2010 in the MIMP, in which the Seattle City Council approved the 20-year growth Master Plan for Children’s Hospital. The process to come to the approval included several years of Citizen Advisory Committee Meetings, multiple meetings between the hospital and LCC (Laurelhurst Community Club.) The City Council adopted the two parties Settlement Agreement some of which include: reduced square footage, no expansion of Hospital boundaries across Sand Point Way, 50 year restriction on expansion into residential areas,  height restrictions of no more than 20 percent of the campus land area over 90 feet and no more than 10 percent over 125 feet and no structure above 140 feet in height. The full Settlement Agreement is here.

Go here for more information or contact Nelson.Pesigan@seattle.gov.

Childrens Hospital Construction Activity This Week

 

    

Building Care, also called Forest B, of Phase 2 of Children's Hospital expansion is almost complete and this is the last installment of the Children's Hospital Construction Blog on this development. 

The Construction Blog says:

This will be the last weekly update about upcoming Building Care construction activities. Work will continue within the building until spring 2022. We will continue to post to this blog whenever an activity will affect neighbors.

The 310,000 square-foot addition will add an eight-story building and will includes diagnostic and treatment facilities, primarily out-patient cancer and others) labs, new state-of-the-art operating rooms, 20 inpatient beds, and a lobby. There will be two floors of underground parking and sterile processing. This will bring SCH bed total to 409, up from 200 before its expansion 2012 plan.

The helicopter landing pad moved temporarily to the roof of Forest A (176’), now known as Friends of Costco Building, Phase 1 of the expansion. The landing pad will be active until Building Care is completed. Noise is expected to be louder than the former ground-based helipad. When Forest B is complete, the helistop will moves to its permanent location on top of the Friends of Costco Building (same height).

The Hospital posted this information on their Construction Blog about specific construction activity this week:

Construction crews will continue building out interior spaces. Wood siding will be installed on the exterior of level 1 of Forest A  near the staff entrance when the carpenters strike is resolved.  All work will take place 8-6pm weekdays and 9-6pm on Saturdays.  

Call 206-987-8000 or email construction@seattlechildrens.org with questions.