Fates of school and antenna tower among key issues

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

One of the Madrona's big issues is the evolution of Madrona Elementary, which for the first time in years has become strictly a neighborhood school. Its accelerated learning program, which had an enrollment of about 400 mostly white kids, was shifted to Lowell Elementary on East Mercer Street.

That means Madrona Elementary, which was the largest in the district, now has about 295 students with room to grow, says Principal Ed Brown.

There is a strong, positive feeling in the community that it has "recaptured" the elementary school, Brown says. "One of the big challenges now is parent participation. We need a real concerted effort to get parents involved."

The community also is facing a challenge of another kind. A heated debate has ensued with U S West Communications -- Wireless, which wants to erect a 75-foot pole outfitted with six panel antennas in the back parking lot at Roger's supermarket, near the corner of Union Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

The telecommunications pole would be about 10 feet taller than an existing antenna, which U S West owned and sold to AirTouch Cellular. In addition to Madrona, the new antenna is needed to serve the Capitol Hill, Madison Valley, First Hill and Central District, according to U S West.

In its conditional use permit application, the company says the new antenna, which would be shared with Western Wireless, "will not have a negative impact on the surrounding community, rather it is being placed there to serve it."

But the community has concerns, says Bill Hanson, community council president. In a letter to Seattle's Department of Construction and Land Use, Hanson says the tower is incompatible with surrounding homes and would undermine the effort to beautify Madrona's "gateway" street -- Union.

The neighborhood also fears that city approval of U S West's application may lead to future antennas being sited at the corner or nearby.

In recent months Madrona residents have worked hard to clean up the area around 30th Avenue and Union Street, Hanson says. The neighborhood is also brainstorming on a "gateway" marker to let people know they are entering Madrona, says Hanson, who works downtown at the U.S. General Accounting Office.

Some residents, taking a pragmatic view of the situation, suggest Madrona might be better off cutting a deal with U S West. In return for dropping its opposition, the neighborhood might ask the company to underwrite some local improvement, or scale back the size of the antenna, or both.

Continued:

• Community takes pride in diversity
• Prices of homes skyrocket as area goes upscale
• Keeping neighborhood integrated may be challenge
• Neighbors have worked together to build better, safer home