Drawing Block Plans

We're having a meeting on Thursday night at 7pm at the Neighborhood Service
Center, 8515 Greenwood Ave N about CAD drawings of Block Plans.  

Neighborhood professional volunteers are getting together to work out the
changeover from the hand drawn sketches we developed at Introductory Block
Workshops in October and November into CAD (computer aided design) drawings
for each block.  The CAD drawings will make it easier to tweak and refine
each block plan as we take the next steps toward getting approved block
designs for the 3 blocks we are currently focusing on:

Evanston Ave N, N 90th to N 92nd

N 102nd, Greenwood Ave N to Dayton Ave N

NW 87th St, 3rd NW to 6th NW  

In each case we are following the standard plan street configuration for 60'
wide crowned residential streets in the Right of Way Improvement Manual.
Like almost every street in our study area, these blocks are 60' wide and
just over 600' long.  NW 87th, like the rest of the west side of Greenwood
Ave N, already has curbs and storm sewers / drainage pipes in the street
already while N 102nd and Evanston Ave N are typical of the east side of
Greenwood Ave N in that they have mostly chip seal streets about 22' wide,
some with open ditches, but otherwise not much more in the way of formal
streetscape components or improvements.

Once we have the CAD drawings neighbors will have a better tool to continue
discussions on their blocks as they build momentum and we will also have a
better tool to continue our dialogue with both SDOT (Seattle Dept of
Transportation) and SPU (Seattle Public Utilities).  It's essential that we
continue to stay close in touch with them and get continued early guidance
in our development of block plans so that we can continue progress forward.

Additionally, these drawings will help us work with contractors to generate
rough order of magnitude cost estimates for blocks.  As prices to do these
blocks come into focus we can begin to manipulate the plans to be as cost
effective as possible while maintaining our project goals of making sure the
solutions proposed are long-lived, low maintenance, and attractive.  

Schematically, Block Plans for both sides of Greenwood involve rain gardens
in the buffer space between the sidewalks and the existing or proposed
curbs.  On the west side, the rain gardens will pick up water from the new
sidewalks and as is possible, the existing street, and on the east side, the
rain gardens will be doing double duty of picking up street water and the
sidewalk water.   Our project consultants will be helping us to develop the
specifics of the rain gardens in both cases.    

Once we have these Block Plans more developed and estimated we'll be able to
explore our strategy to bring other adjacent blocks with similar conditions
into the conversations in order to bring at least a mile of street edge into
each Block Study area (that's about 4 entire blocks full blocks or 8 block
faces).    

If you are interested in this topic of CAD drawings and progress with Block
Plans, please join us at the meeting.  All are welcome.  If you want to get
involved in this part of the project or plan to get involved with your
adjacent block, feel free to come to this meeting.  

Thank you to Jean Wu, landscape architect, and Jay Jannette, architect, both
neighbors offering their professional volunteer services to make the CAD
drawings for these 3 blocks from the sketches that Mike Perfetti, another
landscape architect neighbor donating professional services, helped us
develop in the workshops over the last couple of months.  

Big props also to all the neighbors on NW 87th, N 102nd and Evanston Ave N
who have participated to-date in workshops for their blocks.   Everyone is
making great progress building momentum.  

-Kate Martin, Greenwood Streetscapes Volunteer, 579-3703