Word of the decision approving the Ken’s Market expansion didn’t reach everyone interested in knowing about it, so the city of Seattle is republishing the decision to give people additional time to appeal the project.
“We made a mistake,” Planner Molly Hurley said. “We inadvertently left about nine names off the mailing list.”
Prompt notification is important because the publication date kicks off a two-week period during which people can appeal the project to the city hearing examiner. Because that didn’t happen, the city is going to republish the decision on Oct. 16, reopening that appeal window until Oct. 30.
It’s a question of fairness, Hurley said. “It’s our mistake and we definitely want to be sure we follow the letter of the law.”
That’s good news for members of “Concerned Residents for a Safer NW 73rd.” Member Sheila Cloney, who first brought this to our attention, said that while they support the expansion of Ken’s, they want traffic calming measures on 73rd Street to be taken into account. According to Cloney, a city transportation study done earlier this summer showed NW 73rd carries up to three times the traffic of NW 72nd and NW 74th.
The written decision downplayed the issue:
The report indicates that there will be an increase of 250 daily trips, including 8 trips in the AM peak hour and 25 trips in the PM peak hour. Of these new trips, 90 daily trips, including 2 in the AM peak hour and 10 in the PM peak hour, would by “pass-by” trips. Pass-by trips are those that are already on the road, (e.g. commuting to or from work) but which would stop at the grocery store. The remaining trips (160 daily trips, including 6 in the AM peak hour, and 15 in the PM peak hour) would be “primary” trips that would represent people on the road specifically to travel to and from the grocery store.
The increase in traffic (15 PM peak hour trips) resulting from the proposed grocery store expansion would represent a relatively small percentage increase compared to traffic already on surrounding roadways. Even if all of this increased traffic were to use one particular local street, such as North 73rd Street, there would only be one additional trip every four minutes. This level of impact is not sufficient to warrant mitigation such as traffic calming.
Anyone who wishes to appeal the measure can get instructions here.
