Cottage Grove playground update: See the site plan; pitch in!

We’ve reported before about North Delridge neighbors banding together to add play equipment for younger kids to Cottage Grove Park. Today, we have an update from Betsy Hoffmeister with the North Delridge Neighborhood Council — who sent the newly released site plan (click the image to see a larger version, with the full legend) and this message to the community:

Dear neighbors and concerned citizens,

The North Delridge Neighborhood Council would like to seek your input on proposed additions to the Cottage Grove Park Playground. We are contacting you directly because you previously attended a meeting or gave comments on projects around Longfellow Creek, Cottage Grove Park, or Greg Davis Park. Many of you put a great deal of effort into creating the beautiful green spaces the neighborhood enjoys today and we are grateful for the thousands of hours you have all put into this work.

Since Cottage Grove Park was conceived of and built, neighborhood demographics have shifted a little bit. Along with conceiving of a park, many neighbors conceived babies and we now have a baby boom in the area! We have two sets of twins on 26th Avenue alone. Many of the parents of young children in the neighborhood have expressed a wish for a play space appropriate for children under the age of five. The current play structure is brilliant for older kids, but impossible for younger children to use, forcing caregivers to shuttle younger children to other area play spaces. As a consequence, the existing playground may be underused.

A group of interested parents and grandparents under the auspices of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council brought forth the idea of a small addition to the current playground, to include at bare minimum a swing set with toddler and big kid swings, a small climber, and some rocking toys. We had a series of public meetings, posted on West Seattle Blog, and met repeatedly with the Parks Department and the Department of Neighborhoods. Children in the neighborhood were enthusiastic about the idea. A Landscape Architect created a site plan, which is attached.

Based on community input, we raised $16,000 in in-kind donations and cash, and received a $15,000 matching grant from the City. Before we proceed, however, we want to make sure that stakeholders have had a chance to comment on the proposed site design.

If any of you are so excited about this idea that you would like to participate, that would be fantastic. The landscape architect estimates the total cost of the project at around $42,000, although the parks department figures it will be quite a bit more than that, meaning we have a long way to go before we can dig dirt. So any experienced fundraisers out there would be dearly welcomed!

If you have already commented, it would still be great to hear back from you. I am grateful for any responses.

Sincerely,
Betsy Hoffmeister
Co-Vice President, North Delridge Neighborhood Council

E-mail Betsy at: northdelridge@gmail.com. Meantime, NDNC’s next monthly meeting is 6:30 pm Wednesday at Delridge Library.

1 Reply to "Cottage Grove playground update: See the site plan; pitch in!"

  • n November 1, 2008 (4:19 pm)

    “Current play structure is brillant for older kids”???? Please tell us how! Our teens and us grown ups can’t figure out too much. We’re even unsuccessful making things up!

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