Community leaders have narrowed their choices among the 7 options for the new transfer station on North 34th Street in Wallingford. During a meeting last night, stakeholders selected their top picks.
Community members look over 7 design proposals
The new station will replace the current North Recycling and Disposal Station at 1350 N 34th (seen below). After the old station is demolished, the new one will be built on the same site. Each of the 7 proposed designs offered a different option on how to use the property.
Current transfer station
The Wallingford Community Council recently sent a letter to Seattle Public Utilities supporting only one of the 7 proposed designs. That design is Concept 3 (below), which currently doesn’t call for the east side of the property to be used as a recycling operation. It preserves the industrial buffer zone and the council is urging that a public park be built at the corner of 35th and Woodlawn Ave.
Concept 3
Jessica Vets, a stakeholder representing the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, spoke with us as other members of the panel tried to narrow their choices.
“My number one take is I want to connect retail, I want to connect businesses,” said Vets. “People come across the Fremont Bridge and they have no reason to turn right. I want them to want to turn right. What are we doing to make it pedestrian friendly, to make it when people go by they don’t go ugh, there’s the transfer station?”
At the end of the night, concepts 6 and 7 were eliminated, and options 1 and 5 were merged into one. The group also came up with a few new ideas that will be put into consideration at the next meeting of the stakeholders on October 21.