A plan announced at earlier meetings with community groups to add 6-foot-wide sidewalks to sections of the Queen Anne Boulevard system changed at a community meeting last week.
According to the $500,000 Pro-Parks Levy project manager, David Goldberg, installing sidewalks along one side on one block of West McGraw Place and on one side most of the length of Bigelow Avenue North was just a proposal-not a plan.
Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Ken Bounds wants to be very clear that the department wants to hear public comments before a final decision is made over the issue, Goldberg explained. The public meeting last week, the first of three, was "an opportunity to go back to square one," he added.
And there were many Bigelow Avenue residents at the meeting who were flat-out opposed to putting in sidewalks along their street. "I'd like to see the park nature of the boulevard preserved," said one man who added that he is opposed to installing sidewalks.
Caryn Buck argued that improving pedestrian access with concrete sidewalks would take away from the green space on the boulevard. "I find it disheartening that, in this day and age, we are contemplating removing green space in favor of hardscape," she later wrote Goldberg. "Maybe we should look at other materials besides a 6-foot slab of concrete, or taking part of the street," she said at the meeting.
"The boulevard character is not about sidewalks," said another woman at the meeting. "There are many problems on Queen Anne we can address more cheaply than putting in sidewalks."
Former Queen Anne Community Council member Karen Gillen questioned whether the Parks Department was up to the job. She pointed out that when Parks last took a look at Bigelow Avenue in the 1990s, the issue was roughly 85 incidents of private encroachments on park property. "The majority of the encroachments are still in the same place," she said.
Linda Dagg, who also lives on Bigelow, said she had a great love for the street. "I prefer it the away it is," Dagg said, adding that she was worried about the effect of tree roots on new sidewalks. "I do worry about sidewalks buckling and becoming unsafe."
On the flip side, Goldberg said that some trees might have to be removed to make room for the new sidewalks. They would be replaced with new trees, he has also said.
A woman at the meeting said she wasn't bothered by not having sidewalks on Bigelow. "I'm much more concerned about the trees than the sidewalks."
She wasn't alone. A man at the meeting said he was worried about erosion if trees were removed near his home on Bigelow. "Basically for me, I live on a critical slope," he said. "When the trees go, my house will go, too."
Others questioned whether Parks is maintaining the trees that are there now. Mark Mead, a senior urban forester for Parks and Recreation, said the Queen Anne Boulevard system is the largest entity the department deals with as far as trees are concerned.
Because of budget constraints, priority is placed on dealing with trees that pose hazards and risks, he said. "The biggest issue we have on the boulevard is large trees near the end of their natural lifespan," he added. That's not always apparent, Mead said, because the dying trees rot from the inside.
The Queen Anne Boulevard system is lined on either side with park property, and the project calls for signage to make that clear. But the idea was not universally accepted.
"I really oppose the idea of creating signage ... when we have such limited resources," one woman at the meeting said. The local residents already know the boulevard is part of the parks system, she added. "It seems like a waste of money."
Don Harper, from the community council, said he favored having identifying signs and pointed out that the Queen Anne Boulevard system is not just a neighborhood amenity. "This is a Seattle park," he said, "and everybody should be able to enjoy it."
The proposals for the boulevard system might include pedestrian lighting, and that was an issue for community council member John Coney. When the community council members campaigned for the Pro Parks Levy, one of the components was pedestrian lighting, he said. "That seems to have disappeared from this project," said Coney, who questioned whether eliminating lighting was even legal.
The next step is to refine the project scope after determining what Parks and Recreation feels both the department and community want, Goldberg said. That will include details such as signage, he added.
"Those won't be final plans," Goldberg was quick to add. "We will want public input."
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at 461-1309.[[In-content Ad]]
