Because Seattle Parks and Recreation officials anticipate the University District to have 2,000 new households and 2,640 jobs by 2024, parks staff and the Makers urban design firm are developing a plan to identify potential sites for park acquisition.
Community members gathered to comment on this draft University District Park Plan on Sept. 13 at the University Heights Center.
Bill Blair, Pro Parks planner for Seattle Parks and Recreation, said the city has approximately $2 million from the Pro Parks Levy passed in 2000 and King County Conservation Futures Tax to acquire a site for a new park in the U-District.
"This plan will help guide the city's provision of parks and open space in the District," Blair stated. "But it is a guideline for the next 20 years - beyond the 2000 Pro Parks Levy. We've got the funding to do one thing now, but that doesn't mean that other projects shouldn't be done in the future."
He noted that this plan should be considered as part of future funding proposals as well.
The options
Although the U-District's existing facilities provide open-space resources that range from athletic fields and waterfront overlooks to regional trail connections, these spaces tend to be scattered along the perimeter of the community, parks officials say.
For this reason, this plan emphasizes the development of a centralized park serving multiple uses as its top priority, as well as a north-south link connecting the community's various open spaces.
This central park could be built along or near Brooklyn Avenue Northeast, between Northeast 47th and 43rd streets, or in the University Heights south lot, said Bob Bengford, a representative for Makers.
Seattle Public Schools currently owns the south lot and leases it to the University Heights Center for the Community (UHCC). The lot is also active on Saturdays for the University District Farmers Market.
Bengford explained that the city's acquisition of the lot would be contingent on convincing the UHCC to forego its use. Some form of agreement between the parks department and the school district also would be needed.
"I think the whole plan makes a good deal of sense," declared longtime community activist Patty Whisler. "However, my favorite option [is] using the $2 million as part of a deal with the school district for developing the south lot and securing the whole property."
Another option is to expand Christie Park, at Ninth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 43rd Street, through the acquisition of the two properties immediately south. The existing site, according to parks-department officials, is undersized, and additional park space would be needed for the growing neighborhood population. However, it would not greatly increase the U-District's open space, the primary focus of the plan.
Other options include upgrading Brooklyn Avenue to create a pedestrian corridor; encouraging the development of small and attractive urban plazas and partnering with the University of Washington to provide new open spaces in its Southwest Campus development.
Looking ahead
The parks department will make further revisions to the plan based on the community's input before these revisions are sent to the Parks Board at the end of October, Blair said.
He noted that the decision among these alternatives will stay open through the end of the year, "but soon afterwards we will need to make a decision" concerning the site.
Whisler said, "It all boils down to [whether] we can wait until plans are set for the big ideas that involve other agencies, or if we should just do something on a smaller scale. That's the dilemma we've been chewing on for years."
The plan's executive summary is available at www.seattle.gov/parks/proparks/projects/udistrict.htm.
[[In-content Ad]]
