-Jonathan

Here are my notes from last week's meeting at City Hall on the redevelopment of the apartments at our east entrance (corner of NE 10th Street and 100th Avenue NE). . Nine Vuecrest residents attended along with four current residents of the Sumiyoshi Apartments. Three members of the Continental Properties team and three city representatives also participated. . Plans are moving ahead almost unchanged from their previous presentation. They have added an off-street area in front of their main entrance on 100th for cars to use for loading/unloading. . The developers (Continental Properties) hired a traffic analysis firm, which performed a traffic study of the 100th/10th intersection for the "peak weekday hours" of 4-6pm and estimated that their redevelopment would add 50 cars during this time period. The current backups at this intersection merited a grade of "C" and would stay a "C", according to this analysis. This would not require any changes to the intersection. . This is the only study/analysis required by the City of Bellevue, and they performed no further studies. Several attendees of the meeting noted that due to nearby schools and differing work timing, 4-6 pm was not the true peak time. The City of Bellevue confirmed that this was the time period that they have used for a long time and would not change for this project. Further, traffic patterns and accident numbers reported at this intersection did not merit further attention. The city noted only 2-3 accidents per year over the past few years with no pedestrian injuries, which was considered low. . When asked what the total number of cars coming from the parking lot in a typical weekday, the traffic analyst estimated that 400-500 cars would use the parking lot ramp each day (counting a round trip as two uses of the ramp). . Concerns about overflow guest parking were raised, but the representatives said that they did not know how many guest parking spaces would be created, though they thought it would be around 20. It appears that the City of Bellevue requires no guest parking spaces for a development like this. . Continental Properties claims that they can't put their entrance/exit on 10th because it is too close to the existing intersection of 10th and 100th. The plan shows the driveway ramp right at the north property line, where a 15-foot setback is usually required. . There is also a loading area near the northwest corner of the building, connected to the ramp on 100th. This is also where garbage and recycling dumpsters would be picked up. This could be a source of noise. . If this project is not allowed to have entrances or exits on 10th, would a redevelopment of the Bellevue Village Condos (next to QFC) have the same issues on 10th? What about 8th? Would they also place their entrances and exits on 100th? The Bellevue Villlage property is over twice the size of Sumiyoshi, and with the proposed height increase envisioned in the "Downtown Livability" proposal, could have triple the residents. . There is a rooftop entertaining area, but it is facing west. All apartments will have small balconies, except top-floor apartments, which have large patios. . Plans for air conditioning and garage ventilation are still under development. . They are looking to include dog amenities for residents. Concerns were raised about extra dog walking (and waste) in Vuecrest. . Although all materials and submissions for this development have been titled "Vuecrest Apartments" or "Vuecrest View", Continental Properties promised that this was a working title, and the final name would not include "Vuecrest". . The City planner for this project, Toni Pratt (tpratt@bellevuewa.gov <mailto:tpratt@bellevuewa.gov> ), says that she expects to issue a ruling on the application in the next two months. Questions and comments can be sent to her. If you are interested in taking an active role in working with the Vuecrest Board on this project, please contact me. -Jonathan Jonathan Kagle President Vuecrest Community Association <about:blank> www.vuecrest.net