Neighbor of proposed hotel files appeal

Can’t argue with Kahrs complaint. Traffic and parking in the neighborhood has become a total nightmare.

I agree, parking is a nightmare on a busy evening, but they’re building a parking lot so I don’t see the problem

I agree with Bernie. Even if you allot one spot per hotel room, there is still a net gain of 34 spots. That means 34 fewer OAC members parked on the street.

Traffic and parking challenges are the signs of a healthy business district. If we went back to being sleepy “old” Ballard a lot of small businesses would have to close.
We need a little hotel in Ballard. The Olympic Athletic people are obviously successful at running a business, let them open a hotel too.

Maybe if the economy goes into further demise this guy will be happy? I mean, that would fix the traffic mess, right? And just what HAS been done about said traffic in Ballard? Besides cameras and bike lanes? Why not make the next condo a “car-free-condo” in where they sign something and have no cars. As in walking the talk. Just a thought. Had this thought for awhile now. Sounds simple. Thoughts?

This is a major city, not Mayberry … Your going to have to learn to live with traffic and parking.
Here is an idea for you Aunt Bea, instead of driving your “living outside your means car” down to the Ave … Walk!

Fighting growth isn’t the way to go, planning for it is. And this does with including it’s own parking. It’s amazing that one cranky guy can hold everything up. I’ve never understood why the gravel parking along both sides of Shilshole Ave weren’t more organized. It would be pretty cheap to cement over the gravel on the West side and paint stalls on both sides to maximize the parking there. That would funnel a lot of traffic searching for parking away from Ballard Ave by having tons of less ghetto parking (than the current set up) available one street over.

But it’s a nightmare, A NIGHTMARE I TELL YOU!!! AAAAAGH! Run awaaaaaay!!!!

Totally. A totally total nightmare. It takes like a total of five seconds before you can jaywalk across that street.

How are the dreams of those 34 OAC members? All pleasant? Or are they having….
.
.
.
….NIGHTMARES!!!!!!

Mayberry is a nightmare.

Ballard without a little hotel is a nightmare.

The economy is a nightmare.

Tourists staying in the hotel are going to use the lot. They are not going to look for overnight street parking in an unfamiliar city, where they don’t know the parking regs, and where they’d have to drag their luggage for blocks.

I agree, this kind of problem means you have a thriving business district. It’s a good problem to have. And they seemed to have planned for it just fine.

The overall mood of this thread is that “growth” is an accepted positive. I am not against a hotel in Ballard, I guess I’m just a little wary of some unintended consequences of ALL the growth going on. Two more, at least, condo buildings are now in the works (one at the former Denny’s and one at the former Sunset Bowl). How much is enough? As far as traffic is concerned, it is a realistic argument for residents who live here who might have some objections to all the people, and then all the cars. I really don’t want to be against anything, I just look at all the development and get overwhelmed. This isn’t Belltown. And of course there are good arguments either for or against making it Belltown. My personal opinion is that going out on a Friday night in the neighborhood really sucks now. Only a few years ago the weekend nights were pleasant. It all depends on what you want, of course. I applaud a neighbor who sticks up for the opinion that not all growth is necessarily good.

The sunset bowl property and the denny’s property are both going to be apartments.

You can’t get financing from banks without adequate parking. It’s too big a risk in the event the bank has to take the property back and the improvements likely wouldn’t equal the amount paid. Accordingly the bank would be upside-down from day one. Besides, the soil is likely dirty so it needs to be dug up and incinerated down in Oregon. As part of the entitlement process, there was (or will be) a traffic study showing grades of service which will end this attempt to stop a legitimate project.

How many spots would be good?

“people with SUVs ”

Won’t they get stoned for just driving in Seattle?

Unless I’m mistaken, what this appeal is requesting is “permitting zone parking on side streets for residents of the area.” If they switch to permitted zone parking I don’t think that will make your downtown Ballard parking any easier… unless you are a resident of the downtown neighborhood. It will make parking much harder.

AAAHHHHHHHH!!!! I’m moving to Burien – a sleepy little village that is reminiscent of Ballard (minus the better locale) from a few years ago.

Then, when people start building up the empty lots and under-utilized land, I’m going to bitch and complain and lament the loss of character and integrity.

So, yeah, build the f*cking hot and parking lot.

heheh lot, not hot. Whew, I got all worked up.