For Ballardites who love to complain about the the cookie-cutter mixed-use buildings that have sprung up around the neighborhood in recent years, this news should come as a bit of relief.

On Jan. 26, the city approved the unique, sustainable and slightly mysterious Greenfire Campus for construction at 2034 N.W. 56th St., the former site of Full Circle Yarn and Frame next to the Ballard Library and Neighborhood Service Center.

The development includes two separate buildings surrounded P-patches, orchards, a water feature, a tool shed, a large cistern, decorative fencing, a biofiltration system and other green infrastructure.

 The four-story building off 56th Street will include 18,505 square feet of office space and a café. The five-story building off 57th Street will include 18 residential units.

View the Greenfire Campus’ full design presentation here.

Out of work since her first child was born and exhausted after more than two years of job haunting, Ballardite Robin Lofstrom found employment in an unusual place: the highly competitive world of professional lice removal, which – if you can get your foot in the door – can be big, big business.

Lice are a real problem in schools, with 6 million to 12 million cases every year, Lofstrom said. The experience of having a child with lice can be frustrating and overwhelming for parents because of all the bad information out there, she said.

"When families get lice, they absolutely freak out," Lofstrom said. "But, they shouldn't."

And, as a mother of three, she knows from experience.

When her eldest son had lice for the first time, Lofstrom said she had no idea because he didn't itch and she thought his ever-present hood would protect him.

"By the time I found out, he was infested with 40 to 50 bugs," she said.

More park, less parking.

That was the sentiment expressed by many of the neighbors who turned out Jan. 24 for the first community design meeting for the future 14th Avenue Northwest Park.

Three potential schemes (view them here) were presented by design consultants Mithun, with the main difference being the location of parking for the project that will shift travel lanes on two blocks of 14th Avenue to the west and remove the gravel median strip to create a park on the east side of the street.

In one scheme, called Prospect and Refuge, street parking is located on the west side of the street. In another scheme, Sit a Spell, it is located on the east side.

According to the parking study done for the project, losing one side of street parking and the median-strip parking for two blocks of 14th Avenue costs the neighborhood about 65 parking spaces.