Updates on the process of planning Sound Transit‘s West Seattle (to Ballard) light rail:

FIRST TOPLINES FROM ‘EARLY SCOPING’: The slide deck above (also visible here) will be presented to the Stakeholder Advisory Group at its meeting this Wednesday (agenda here), and it includes toplines of what Sound Transit says it heard from commenters – in person as well as online – during the “early scoping” feedback period that wrapped up a week ago. It’s not the full “early scoping” report – that, ST says, will be out next month – but it’s important because public comment will be considered by this group before making its way to the Elected Leadership Group that in turn will, in about a year, make a “preferred alternative” recommendation to the Sound Transit board.

SPEAKING OF COMMENTS: This caught our eye when ST issued a reminder that “early scoping” is closed but that you can see the comments made on the map that was part of its “online open house” – note the number of West Seattle comments vs. everywhere else:

As you probably noticed in the slide deck atop this story, ST says it’s received 2,800+ comments in all for the West Seattle/Ballard extensions, so far.

ONLY ONE ‘NEIGHBORHOOD FORUM’ HERE: As we mentioned last week, ST now says the “neighborhood forums” will start in late April. Though the agency previously had suggested they would be deeper dives into individual areas, the list on the slide deck for Wednesday’s meeting notes only one West Seattle “neighborhood forum” is planned, out of the six locations listed (clarification: in the first round, ST notes).

LIGHT-RAIL DISCUSSION IN ADMIRAL: Tomorrow night’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting will include an unofficial light-rail discussion, led by ANA president Larry Wymer, who is a member of the West Seattle Transportation Coalition board. ANA now meets every other month, and at an earlier time; tomorrow’s meeting is at 6:30 pm at The Sanctuary at Admiral (42nd SW/SW Lander).