What’s next for West Seattle’s two other ‘landbanked’ future parks

We’ve been reporting on the planning process for the first of three “landbanked” park sites in West Seattle awaiting development, the one on 40th SW in the West Seattle Junction. We’ve been asked, what about the other two?

(WSB photos, both taken this morning)

They are, above, the Morgan Junction Park expansion site, north of the existing park, where the city demolished a commercial building in 2016. And below, the 48th SW/SW Charlestown site, which remains a meadow behind a low fence:

Both will go through a planning process, and we have an update on the city’s timeline – official planning for Morgan will start in the second quarter of this year, and for 48th/Charlestown, in the third quarter. That’s according to page 18 in this slide deck prepared for a briefing to be given to the City Council’s Civic Development, Public Assets, and Native Communities Committee at 2 pm tomorrow. The slide also lists the levy funding planned for developing those (and other) landbanked sites into parks – $1.4 million for Morgan and $1.2 million for 48th/Charlestown.

Lindsey March 20, 2018 (2:34 pm)

An enclosed dog run for the 48th & Charlestown one would be great, which is what it is unofficially used for now anyway. Or perhaps a nice P-Patch.

I also think a kids play area would be good too (like Ercolini), but I have concerns about safety for children there, as cars rip up and down that stretch or Charlestown at high speeds, especially in the summer.

Michael Waldo March 20, 2018 (2:59 pm)

Cool. Another smoking area for the Beverage pub in Morgan Junction.

Hot for Teacher March 21, 2018 (9:42 pm)

Sit down, Waldo

Tsurly March 20, 2018 (3:38 pm)

I’m waiting to see how many people will suggest that the Morgan site should be turned into a multilevel parking garage.

@ Lindsey I agree, West Seattle needs an off leash area for dogs, this seems like a good opportunity to make that happen.

quiz March 21, 2018 (9:53 am)

West Seattle already has a HUGE off-leash dog park.

https://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/westcrest-park
- Lindsey March 21, 2018 (3:17 pm)
  
  We do have a huge (and awesome!) dog park in West Seattle, and and my dog visits it every weekday. It is a really great space, but can be very busy and it is a little far for those who live on the northern end of WS. Additionally, the increase of apartments, condos, townhouses, etc. that are near The Junction and along California Ave. that allow dogs has skyrocketed in our neighborhood.
  
  My family is fortunate to have a house with a good size and fenced yard, but I know that there are many people who don’t. I also know that families with kiddos don’t want my dog in their kids’ play area.
  
  A smaller size off leash park can be more manageable for some dog owners, as it provides a closer environment to manage our pets. The 48th & Charlestown lot would be a good candidate for such a place. It is an open space, currently occupied only by a couple rouge raised beds that popped up, there is no designated “natural habitat” (that I’m aware of) that would be disrupted.
  
  If we could leave it as an open space to use, that would be OK, but we already have so many of those available. Legally though I can’t let my dog off leash there to run a bit, nor do I want to if it is a designated kid space. Kids shouldn’t have to play where a dog goes to the bathroom (even if we pick up the poo).
  
  There are so many playgrounds and open spaces; I love and use all of them (Lincoln Park, Schmidtz Park, Whale Tail, Mee-Kwa-Mooks, Alki Beach, Fairmount, Ercolini, Hiawatha, to name just a few). Just because we have one off leash dog park in West Seattle doesn’t mean we can’t have another one, does it?

montana March 20, 2018 (6:02 pm)

How about just leave it as is – open and go play in it, BYOToys, go sit in it and just enjoy. While I would love another dog park as a dog owner, I think this is much too tiny and would be best as open space with the garden on the side.

TJ March 20, 2018 (6:06 pm)

The Great Wall of China was built faster than these parks. The old mini mart has been demolished for a long while now, and with planning only getting ready to start coming up, I bet it won’t be until fall of 2019 when this small park is finished. Throw in a unneeded environmental review and could be longer. I don’t even think the play structure at the south end of Lincoln Park is done yet. Slow rusty gears of Seattle government at work

WSB March 20, 2018 (6:41 pm)

Construction of the Junction park that’s being planned this year is not scheduled until next year, so your 2019 estimate is likely accurate. As for the Lincoln Park south play area, that wasn’t expected to start until “late spring or summer.” Here’s our most-recent report.
https://westseattleblog.com/2018/01/marine-theme-wins-for-new-lincoln-park-south-play-area-and-you-still-have-time-to-have-a-say/

I’d expect an update at the April Morgan Community Association meeting but we’ll be checking with Parks sooner. – TR

MR A March 20, 2018 (6:41 pm)

I’ll gladly clean up the trash at 48th & Charleston for $1.1 million and then leave it as is since we like it that way. Think of the savings to the city!

Nw mama March 20, 2018 (7:21 pm)

I’m a parent w young kids voting for a dog park at 48th and Charleston. Maybe the dog owners will keep them away from kids play areas then!

Friends of Morgan Junction Parks March 20, 2018 (7:33 pm)

We met last week with Karimah Edwards, Capital Projects Planners for Seattle Parks and Recreation. Ms. Edwards is handling the public involvement process for this project. We came away impressed and hopeful that community concerns will be addressed. The timeline for public input is roughly:

-First public meeting before the end of summer;
-Second meeting 45-60 days later, with two or three design concepts presented based upon community input received during attendance of meetings and online input;
-Project out to bid this winter.

We’re going to try to get Ms. Edwards set up in a booth at the Morgan Junction festival in June, so you can persuasively present your case in person. In addition, we’re working to get Kelly Gould, the project manager who will oversee site remediation and construction, to speak at the next MoCA meeting on April 18th. Early signs point to the expansion being a nice asset to the community.

Michael Waldo March 20, 2018 (8:32 pm)

Please, has anyone scene people in the existing Morgan park? I drive by there all the time and all I see is people smoking and homeless people sleeping on the bench. This is what my tax dollars are going too?

WSB March 20, 2018 (8:55 pm)

Yes, actually, while I was taking the photo above this morning, there were two young women sitting on a bench talking. But if you’re seeing “people smoking and homeless people,” you’ve seen people too. – TR

Tsurly March 20, 2018 (8:34 pm)

I wonder if the $1.2M allocated for the Morgan Junction site includes an environmental cleanup. The property is listed as a leaking underground storage tank (LUST) site:

https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/tcpwebreporting/tcpreportviewer.aspx?id=csd&format=pdf&csid=6874

Additionally, given that a dry cleaner also operated on the property, there is a possibility it could also be impacted by chlorinated solvents as well.

Friends of Morgan Junction Parks March 20, 2018 (9:56 pm)

It’s our understanding that the budget for remediation is a separate process and not part of the $1.2M development budget. This will presumably be one of the issues addressed at the MoCA meeting in April.

Tsurly March 21, 2018 (7:45 am)

Thank you for the information. When is the April meeting?
- WSB March 21, 2018 (7:52 am)
  
  MoCA meets third Wednesdays in January, April, July, October.
  https://westseattleblog.com/event/morgan-community-association-meeting/
  Agenda and info will be on http://morganjunction.org when available.

Matt Hutchins March 20, 2018 (10:26 pm)

I’m up for being on the Charleston site’s steering committee. Who else wants to help? From experience I know that getting a park built in Seattle is an arduous task, requiring a lot of community activism just to keep the City’s eye on the ball.

Lindsey March 21, 2018 (3:23 pm)

I would happily participate! While I’m an advocate for an OLA, I really just want to see the space become something useful for citizens.
- Matt Hutchins March 22, 2018 (10:56 am)
  
  Great! I hope to meet you when the time to form a ‘Friends of ‘X’ Park’ comes!

Truth March 20, 2018 (10:47 pm)

I don’t want to sound like a jerk here but wouldn’t that morgan site be way better off as a retail bottom, apartments on top set up? The MJ could use a little more foot traffic and we are not really lacking for park space. LP is down the street, Gatewood playground, the little green space park. Let’s build some housing that doesn’t require destroying a single family house and actually close to transite.

WSB March 20, 2018 (11:34 pm)

It was originally pitched as potential transit-oriented development.
https://westseattleblog.com/2012/06/from-the-real-estate-file-morgan-junction-development-site/

artsea March 21, 2018 (7:14 am)

Other than in the heart of the Alaska Junction, how many of these tall new apartment buildings have any interesting retail stores in the ground floor locations? All I see are offices for accounting firms, law offices, and such. These do nothing to encourage foot traffic in our shopping areas.

T March 21, 2018 (3:00 pm)

I wish people just followed laws and that laws were enforced. They aren’t in general in Seattle. Examples: Look at all the illegal “camping” and despite signage and the laws already on the books, Charlestown & 48th plus school playgrounds, play fields and the beach all have dogs illegally. Animal Control is way outnumbered and underfunded.