The cash-strapped Seattle School District wants to unload some of its property around the city, and one parcel just west of the old Queen Anne High School is included.
The property consists of the old high school gym that has a 14-space parking lot next to it.
"The gym is the only thing we intend to sell," said Ron English, deputy general counsel and property manager for the district.
The gym is only rented out only part time to a man who runs basketball leagues, and the property would sell for millions, he said. "The district does not need it."
But there's a hitch. There were Master Use Permit conditions 20 years ago when the new John Hay Elementary School was built, and one of the conditions was that the parking lot and gym would stay, said concerned neighbor Mary Hegdahl.
It was a compromise on the neighborhood's part back then, and the reasons for concern in 1987 are the same as they are today, she ob- served.
"A lot of people are concerned about density."
More density means more traffic and more parking hassles for neighborhood residents, Hegdahl said, adding that most of her neighbors share the same view.
Existing zoning would allow up to 34 new housing units to be built on the site where the gym sits, according Steve Sheppard, a senior planner with the Department of Neighborhoods (DON). The department is involved because it's running two public meetings to discuss the issue.
The school district would also like the city to drop restrictions on the parking lot, which was to be reserved for the exclusive use of parents and staff at John Hay, according to Sheppard.
The first meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, in the John Hay auditorium will be run by a committee made up of neighborhood residents, a parent from John Hay and representatives from the school district, the DON and the Department of Planning and Development.
The second public meeting over the issue will be more formal, and it will be held in the John Hay auditorium at 6:30 p.m. on May 1, said Sheppard from the DON.
He conceded that neighborhood residents are less than thrilled with the prospect of the proposed land sale, and he suspects the committee will be against it.
"So it will be an interesting process," Sheppard said.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309
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