Here’s how another park-to-be is getting used while waiting

We’ve been reporting on the Morgan Junction Park Addition site, bought by the city in 2014, planned for park development until the pandemic led Parks to put this and other projects on hold. In the short run, the former dry-cleaner/mini-mart site is supposed to get soil cleanup, but even that plan’s been dragging on. So community members set up an unofficial skatepark on the site – and that got relatively swift Parks action, shutting it down. We updated the situation in coverage of this past week’s Morgan Community Association meeting. That’s one of three “landbanked” future park sites in West Seattle. Today, an update on another:

Development of that park-to-be site on 40th SW between SW Edmunds and SW Alaska is also on indefinite hold but getting interim use as an unofficial dog park. As explained in a recent West Seattle Junction Association newsletter:

The Parks Department has this space slated to be turned into a beautiful park several years from now, so it has been fenced for some time. The fence is now down. We are asking that everyone who uses the green space clean up after themselves so we can continue to use it. We will have monthly cleaning crews of volunteers the first Saturday of each month at 10 am. Just show up and pitch in! Keeping the space looking good ensures the fence does not go back up. It will be a great place to walk your dog – just remember to clean up after your pooch, and take that doggy bag with you. The city is not supplying garbage cans right now. We are hoping with a lot of active use we can prevent any negative use of the space.

This one’s been owned by the city even longer, more than a decade; it was purchased even as the city asked for feedback on whether the site “made sense” as a park. Hundreds of apartments have since been built around it – Broadstone Sky to the south, The Whittaker across 40th to the east. There are many dog owners among their residents, noted WSJA executive director Chris Mackay in a conversation about this interim use for the site. She stresses that the city will put the fence back up if the site’s not kept clean. She also notes it’s irrigated and has lighting.

10 Replies to "Here's how another park-to-be is getting used while waiting"

  • ITotallyAgreeWithYou January 22, 2023 (7:15 pm)

    Is this really a place people want to hang out and walk their dogs when soil cleanup has yet to happen? Someone with expertise of the subject already warned about the safety of occupying the former Admiral Dry Cleaner building before soil remediation has occurred, and that involves a cement/concrete floor barrier between contaminated soil and people.

    • WSB January 22, 2023 (7:39 pm)

      This site isn’t the one that needs remediation – the Morgan site is.

  • TJ January 22, 2023 (7:22 pm)

    The pandemic is over. No more excuses now. Time to implement years old plans. Sadly, 2 years from now the properties will be the same with no park. Sadder is people keep throwing more money at the park levies. 

    • Concerned January 25, 2023 (5:39 am)

      Levies ended with the passing of the MPD back in 2015 did they not?

  • Broadstone Res January 22, 2023 (7:33 pm)

    I asked the guy that removed the fence why now and all he said was the City did t pay its bill? Glad it’s gone, wish they would put some TLC into the sidewalk and grass though. 

  • Matty January 22, 2023 (9:22 pm)

    I can’t think of a closed in dog park near the junction or north of Fauntelroy?Why not this space or the open field park at the bottom of Charlestown (and 47th?) isn’t one baffles the mind. 

  • Aaron G January 23, 2023 (9:46 am)

    There are a lot of folks in the nearby buildings who can be seen walking their dogs every hour of the day. Committing at least part of this space for them would be a good use and insure it doesn’t become a neglected space. This is a nice little stretch of street, too, with landscaping and swales, and a cafe. I look forward to seeing this as a park.

  • April January 23, 2023 (10:10 am)

    The best idea is a dog location. What the city wont tell you is that you can not have a park there as its to close to a cannabis shop. Parks and other projects that would have more than 50% children visiting can not be within a certain area of cannabis shops. Since Origins was there first, they will never be able to make it an official park. And Origins doesn’t have to move just because people want a park. Besides all the apartment building s close by allow dogs, so makes sense to make  it a dog  location.

    • WSB January 23, 2023 (12:35 pm)

      Origins will likely have moved long before this site’s development money is restored. Its permit work for the new location is well under way.

  • Brian January 24, 2023 (9:44 am)

    I hope the city takes swift action and puts a fence around the property and digs potholes all over it so no one can use it. That’s the way. 

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