Currently being used as a pay-parking lot, the nearly 10,000-square-foot parcel will soon be redeveloped into much-needed park open space. Three planning meetings have been held to determine what elements will be included and to present the design the local firm Mithun created for the park.
But during the last such meeting in early June, parks supporters learned of a hitch: there isn't enough money to finish the park. The Parks Department estimates that roughly $80,000 is needed to complete the project. The additional money is required to pay for some fairly basic park elements, such as benches and paving the winding path that cuts through the upcoming park. Part of the funding issue is related to the property's slope: A great deal of grading work is required to turn the parcel into useful park space, costs that would not be necessary were the parking lot to be flat.
In response to the shortfall, several neighbors have come together to raise money to complete the project. Operating under the banner Unpaving Paradise, the hope is to generate the funds, donations and volunteer hours so that the park can be completed.
"I think everyone was surprised by funding issue, but we decided pretty quickly to try and find a way to make up the difference," said Jennifer Power, a member the Pike-Olive Way-Harvard Avenue Triangle community group. "This is really important to a lot of people in the neighborhood."
"There's such a lack of open space on the Hill that people have really gotten behind this project. Everyone wants to see it done right," said Saunatina Sanchez, who lives within blocks of the upcoming park and is the secretary of the newly reformed Capitol Hill Community Council.
The park
A key component of the park is a 24-plot P-Patch that will take up roughly one-third of the park's space. The park won't include a play structure. The prevailing view was that the park's size was too small to incorporate one; in addition, the money to develop and build a play structure isn't really there. But a skate dot (a physical element that skateboarders can use) is part of the grand plan. While funding for the skate dot isn't established, Power hoped that a someone will take on a specific effort to raise money for it.
"We are an urban area, with kids and teenagers, and they belong to the community as well," Power said. "We want them to use the park, too."
The Parks Department wants to complete the park in roughly one year. The time frame means that Unpaving Paradise needs to work quickly to apply for grants, arrange for volunteers and work on other fundraising sources.
Unpaving Paradise is in the process of learning what $80,000 buys. It's also working out how volunteer hours can be applied to the funding shortfall. Sanchez said the group will look for creative ways to raise the necessary money. It's a learning process that's still in its early stages.
"We're learning about specifics, as well as learning how the group can best work with the Parks Department," Power said. "For most of us, it's the first time we've tried to raise a large amount of money. We're kind of new at this."
A significant outreach effort will take place on Sept. 19, when the group will create a small park in a Broadway parking space as part of the National (Park)ing Day. Sanchez said a parking-space park will be a way to spread the word about the Summit and John park, the funding gap and generate greater enthusiasm.
"There is tremendous enthusiasm over this small park," Sanchez said. "There's such a lack of open space on Capitol Hill that people are really vested in seeing this one turn into something special."
"This little park is a place where the community has taken ownership," Power said. "It's going to serve a lot of people in the neighborhood, and the neighborhood really cares about it."
The next public meeting to discuss the John & Summit Park takes place on Sept. 10, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 1729 Harvard Ave.
The Capitol Hill Community Council's Open Space Committee will meet at 3 p.m. on Sept. 7, at the Olive Way Starbucks, 1600 E. Olive Way.
National Park(ing) Day takes place on Sept. 19. Unpaving Paradise will create a park in a parking space on Broadway near East Denny Way.
More information is available at www.capitolhillcommunitycouncil.org.
Unpaving Paradise can be reached at unpaving.paradise@gmail.com.
Doug Schwartz is the editor of the Capitol Hill Times. Reach him at editor@capitolhilltimes.com or 461-1308.
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