One of the Seattle Parks West Seattle projects mentioned briefly during Monday night’s online meeting was the peninsula’s future second dog park (aka Off-Leash Area). This was the first update since Parks announced earlier this year that they had narrowed the options to Lincoln Park and an area south of West Seattle Stadium (below are graphics from that June announcement):
Without elaboration, the update Monday night was that the stadium-vicinity site might not be as “viable” because of a “complication” related to “electrification.” We subsequently asked Parks for details. Here’s the reply:
There is a possible FAS [Department of Finance and Administrative Services] project to create a
public andCity fast-electric charging station at this time, which could be used to support our transition to electrified golf carts at that site and other city mandated fleet operations. That project is still in its early stages and may need the space studied at West Seattle Stadium as a possible location for an off-leash area.
So, we asked, if the stadium-vicinity site is ruled out, does that mean Lincoln Park becomes the choice, or would other areas be brought back into consideration? That reply:
Nothing is a done deal, but as noted the top two recommended sites for the dog park in West Seattle based on community input and internal assessments are West Seattle Stadium and Lincoln Park. The factors in those selections are:
-Not conflict with existing park uses in a way that creates safety issues
-Not be located in a park that is a designated Seattle landmark, or be listed on the State or Federal register of historic places
-Not be located in natural areas under active restoration, or in an environmentally-critical area
-Have preliminary approval from the site owner, if not on Parks land
-Other considerations listed below
*Geographic Need
*Site must be Accessible (or a plan must be created to make it accessible)
*Site must not have significant vegetation and large trees
*Proposed site must be at least 50 ft. away from other property lines
*Flat sites are preferred to slopes, because surfacing erodes over time on slopesOur goal is to adhere to the timeline presented (Monday) night and update the community as soon as we have more information on the Off Leash Dog Park study.
That timeline said that Parks staff would work on a recommendation in December and that it would be presented to the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners early next year. As noted previoudly, the department also studied possible West Seattle dog-park sites at Me-Kwa-Mooks, Hamilton Viewpoint, and Delridge Community Center
THURSDAY UPDATE: Parks clarifies that the possible project near the stadium would be a city-only charging station, NOT public too, so we have struck out the “public” mention in the quote above. We’re also pursuing more followup information on that project.
But that’s not the full story. Dog ownership in Seattle is the highest in the country, at estimated 247 dogs per 1000 people. So we can estimate 30,000 dogs in WS. You insist one off-leash area is plenty. Why?
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