Knowledge is power

There's a free land-use workshop on Saturday, Oct. 13, and at least one member of the Beaumont Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth will be there. It sounds like a good way to grok some of the big issues looming around here. To sign up, go here.

Site photographs, 4419-4439 N.E. Fremont St., September 2012

Looking north from Northeast 44th Avenue and Fremont Street; all streetfront tenants have vacated the project.

Looking northwest from south side of Fremont Street

Looking west on Fremont Street

We are making headway

Greetings neighbors and fellow activists,

Beaumont Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth continues to determine and understand the impacts of the building proposed for 4419-4439 N.E. Fremont St. and how to address them. We will report soon on developer Wally Remmers’s parking study, which took at least a six-square-block area as its sample.

We continue to voice concerns with City Council and staff of numerous city bureaus, in particular:

• Permit suitability of the site per the city’s own criteria for such developments (site is outside the required 500-foot proximity to “frequently operating transit service”; site lacks good street connectivity)
• Traffic
• Public safety
• Fire, police, and medical response on Fremont, a city-designated major emergency response route
• Lack of parking
• ADA requirements
• Storm-water runoff
• Pedestrian facilities that maintain the existing positive pedestrian experience and safety in light of garbage/recycling/compost pickups and deliveries via Fremont

What we want

Keeping in mind that regardless of what is built on the site, the time is now to demand safety/livability mitigation measures. We argue for some, if not all, of the following:

• Reduction of the proposed building to three stories from four
• A moratorium on the project until site qualifications are reviewed against city criteria and safety impacts for tenants and neighbors are assessed
• Stoplight, crosswalk, and other safety measures
• Parking district and/or parking included in the project
• Pedestrian accommodations/green space at street level
• Amended emergency response plan for Fremont
• A Good Neighbor Agreement (visited annually)
• Long-term, a revision of the CS zoning to include height and scale restrictions

Join the effort 
(see https://sites.google.com/site/beaumontapartment/ and http://bwnrg.blogspot.com/ for details)

• Donate to the legal fund if a legal challenge is unavoidable (thank you to all those who have contributed so far)
• Make your concerns known by contacting representatives and others involved

• Sign up with BWNRG
• Attend meetings: Oct. 8 neighborhood meeting, Oct. 18 Beaumont Wilshire Neighbors for Responsible Growth, Nov. 13 hearing on the city-sponsored parking study; check the BWNRG website and blog for updates.