Tonight is the Early Design Review (EDR) meeting for the Compass Center building for 1753 NW 56th St. According to the meeting notice, “The proposal is for a seven story, 57,000 sq. ft. building containing 80 low income housing units, offices and meeting spaces (Compass Center). Parking for 14 vehicles will be within the structure.”

The EDR is the first opportunity for designers to offer their ideas for the site and vicinity to the Design Review Board. The photo above is one rendering from tonight’s presentation (.pdf) that Weinstein A|U will give to the board. The Board will offer their opinions and there will be opportunity for public comment. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Ballard High School library.

This is the same lot where this eyesore was torn down last year. Compass Center hopes to break ground on this new project later this year.

It’s a little harder to remember when Election Day is now, since King County voters no longer go to an actual polling place, instead voting by mail. So here’s a little reminder: Ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday, Feb. 9 in order to count.

And King County has removed all but two of its drop boxes, so if you can’t make it to the post office by 5 p.m. Tuesday, you’ll have to drop it into a free drop box at the King County Administration Building, 500 Fourth Ave. in downtown Seattle, or at King County Elections Headquarters, 9010 East Marginal Way S. in Tukwila.

You can also drop it off at one of King County’s three accessible voting centers, including one at Seattle’s Union Station 401 S. Jackson St., until 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

On the ballot in Seattle are two Seattle Public School measures to renew existing Operating and Capital levies.

Ballard’s Fire Station 18 held an open house today as part of Neighbor Appreciation Day, and it was kid heaven, to say the least.

Kids sat in the fire trucks, checked out the gear and slid down a pole.

Firefighters even cranked up the ladder as a demonstration.

A great neighborhood event by the friendly firefighters at Station 18. (Thanks Silver for snapping the photos, and you can see many more here.)

It looks like Saturday might be a nice day for the 16th annual Neighbor Appreciation Day. The city has quite a few events planned, including these in Ballard:

Fire Stations will be hosting open houses from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Residents are invited to stop by and tour the station, meet the firefighters and learn about firefighting equipment.

At 10 a.m. Interfaith Community Church is hosting an open invitation for neighbors to visit the historic landmark church at 1763 NW 62nd St. Tea, coffee and cookies will be served. They will also be dedicating a stone marker with the date the building was built: 1890.

At 6 p.m. the Ballard Community Center is hosting the annual daddy/daughter dinner. This is the annual dinner dance for dads and their daughters. The food, decorations, and dress up theme is “South of the Border” (or any border for that matter!). Includes dinner, photo, crafts, and a DJ dance. $40 for the first daughter $10 for each additional daughter. Contact 206-684-4093 for more information.

You can also let your neighbors know you appreciate them by downloading these e-cards to share via email or Facebook.

Adding to the Festivals in Ballard, Erik Hroncich is introducing the first ever Ballard Fitness Fest. “In the spirit of feeling neighborly I have come up with a challenge, a fitness challenge, for everyone in Ballard and the surrounding area,” Hroncich writes on his blog.

Hroncich is the owner of EDGE Fitness (2821 NW Market St Suite H) but you don’t have to be a member of his club to participate. For ten bucks you can go in to EDGE and get a fitness assessment, which takes about 15 minutes. Three months later you come back in and go through the same testing.

The contest is simple;

To enter, you must live or work in Ballard (or the surrounding area, i.e.: Queen Anne, Magnolia, Crown Hill)

Call EDGE Personal Training (782-1505) and set up an initial fitness assessment During the dates of February 22nd and March 5th. (The fitness assessment consists of a body composition test, circumference measurements and body weight)

Kick your butt for 3 months and re-test between May 17th and May 27th

The winners will be based on individual improvement on a percentage scale. Hroncich gives this example, “If someone weighing 200lbs. loses 20lbs of total body weight and someone weighing 130lbs. loses 13lbs. they each lost 10% of their beginning body weight. The same goes for body fat % and circumference measurements.”

To get in shape, Hroncich is offering ten percent off training sessions at EDGE. He will also have sign-up sheets for group workouts and group runs if people are interested.

The grand prize is a $250 gift card to the Ballard business of your choice, three free training sessions at EDGE and an EDGE t-shirt. First prize is a $100 gift card to the Ballard business of your choice and the t-shirt. Second prize is a $50 gift card to the Ballard business of your choice and the EDGE t-shirt. Third prize is a $25 gift card to the Ballard business of your choice and an EDGE t-shirt. (Photos provided by Erik Hroncich, EDGE Personal Training.)

Each year Seattle Magazine publishes their “best of” for the year. For 2009, several Ballard businesses made it to the top of the ‘Reader’s Choice’ list.
Congratulations to:

“I just really want to do something. It breaks my heart to hear the stories,” Jill Domanico emailed us, referring to the devastation in Haiti. Today and Saturday Domanico Cellars will be raising money for Friends of Orphans Haiti relief fund. This is the same organization that the Shelter Lounge and Ballard Loft chose for their fundraiser on Wednesday night.

The winery will donate 10% of all proceeds from this weekend’s wine sales to the Friends of Orphans. The tasting room at 825 NW 49th St. will be open tonight from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. (Disclosure: Domanico Cellars is a sponsor of MyBallard.)

As you’re going through your closet on Friday morning trying to decide what to wear, why not wear red? It is National Wear Red Day, afterall. The day is part of the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” program, a campaign to increase awareness and lessen the risk of heart disease, the number one killer among women.

As you’re driving around town you might also see several buildings glowing red. For the next three days the Pacific Science Center, along with 200 other building across the country, will “Go Red” to stand in solidarity with women and the fight against heart disease.

After more than a decade on Market Street, another Ballard shop is closing.

Tableau (2220 NW Market St), which sells everything from furniture to necklaces, will be closing sometime late March. We spoke with the owner, Karen Olsen, who says, “It’s hard to make a go of it.” She cites the down economy and offers her opinion that “the big box retailers make it tough on small businesses.” Right now everything in the store is 25 percent off. Starting next week things will be priced as marked with a progressive sale until the last day. Her lease is up on March 31st so the closing date will be at some point before that so she can move her stuff out. (Thanks Carol for the tip!)

The Washington Federal Savings and Loan at 2020 NW Market has submitted a Land Use Application to tear down and rebuild their current space on Market.

The notice of the Land Use Application was published this morning by the Department of Planning and Development. The plans call for “a two story commercial structure containing 9,000 sq. ft. retail space (Washington Federal Saving Bank). Review includes demolition of existing 7,045 sq. ft. building.” There is also notice for a drive-up teller station and 15 parking spaces on the adjacent lot at 2021 NW 56th St.

Back in October, there was an Early Design Guidance Meeting for the proposal which the design team presented four sets different concepts. (Read the entire presentation and see concepts here. .pdf) “An important design consideration is to create an appropriate relationship with the Carnegie Free Library building to the west, as well as to address and extend the existing pedestrian walkway, which runs along the neighbor’s property line and provides an effective midblock connection for this otherwise long Ballard block,” the Design Review report (.pdf) states.

According to today’s notice, there will be at least one more Design Review meeting in the future as well as an environmental review. The Public comment period on this project runs until February 17th. (Thanks Dave for the tip and Silver for the top photo.)

Spikelike posted in the following notice in the forum:

We found a female tabby cat who is black and brown at our apartment building near 14th and 51st. We believe her to be an American Short Hair. It looks like her tail was broken when she was younger but has since healed, she tends to keep it curled up. She is very friendly and very loving as well as very curious.

“We will be keeping her with us for a day then taking her to the shelter on 15th between downtown and Ballard,” Spikelike writes. Here is another photo of the cat.

Here are her stats:
Sex: Female
Breed: American Short Hair?
Color: Black and Brown
Pattern: Tabby
Size: ~12-13″ tall, ~15-18″ long and does not weigh very much at all
If this is your fuzzy feline, Spikelike’s contact information is in the forum.

Update: “We found the missing kitty’s owner. Her name is Shasta and apparently she was stolen. I guess she escaped and made it to our door which is not far from her home. We are taking her home tonight.

Just as a note, she found her way home tanks to myballard.com and their forums! Makes me very happy that I live in a community where this could happen.”

On Tuesday, a police SWAT team swarmed Matthew Tucker’s house on NW 63rd Street thinking he was the armed suspect in several pharmacy and coffee stand robberies. They questioned both Tucker and his wife, but then released them. Tucker says police got the wrong guy, and he called TV stations to clear his name. KING 5 has the story here:

Tucker says officers threw him to the ground when they cuffed him, and investigators sifted through his house. “It was very humiliating, and I think it was excessive,” he told KING 5. He says officers targeted him because someone called in a tip that he looked like the security photo of the pattern robber.

Police will only say that Tucker is no longer a suspect, and they are continuing their investigation.