By Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Leaders from the Morgan Junction All-Wheels Association (MJAWA) met online to discuss the latest plans for an all-wheeled “skate dot” space (for activities like skating, scooters, and biking) in the south part of Morgan Junction Park when its expansion is built. The team also shared that they had reached a major goal with regard to volunteer hours (more on that below). 

The meeting last week was facilitated by Matt Johnston and other MJAWA members, and the most recent design concepts (such as the screenshot above) were presented by team members including James Klinedinst, project manager for Grindline Skateparks (headquartered in West Seattle). The complete set of designs are summarized in this PDF, focused on the roughly 1,500-square-foot skating area within the larger park.

The designs have been updated since the group’s previous meeting in early July, to incorporate feedback and make improvements to the layout and features. The project was also discussed last month at the meeting of the Morgan Community Association (MoCA) (president Deb Barker was also in attendance at the MJAWA meeting last week). 

Johnston summarized what transpired at an August 13 meeting in which the project was discussed with the city Design Commission, which Johnston described as “an influential group of architects and designers in Seattle who are a resource for projects like ours.” He said their design contractor Board & Vellum also gave a presentation at that meeting, and that the general feedback from the group was very positive, with “no dealbreakers or showstoppers.”  

Johnston said that community support and for the “skate dot” plan has been exciting to see, and that the project is viewed as “a high-value amenity, an activation of the space, a focal point of the park” and a “community hangout space.”

Next steps for the project, according to Johnston: After the revised concept passes through Seattle Parks’ project review process (which includes a rigorous technical review), then Grindline will begin the hard work of transforming the community’s design into detailed construction documents. This phase is expected to take several months, Johnston said, “but will be completed before the end of the year.”

According to project manager Klinedinst, the cost estimate for the skatepark-specific work is approximately $160,000, while the “civil earthwork” (which began in early August and is still in full swing at the site) is estimated at $145,000.

The overall timeline from Seattle Parks for the broader “Morgan Junction Addition Project” can be found here, with construction happening in spring-fall 2025 and completed by late 2025.  Some history: The site was purchased by the city in 2014 and was then “landbanked” for park expansion (see prior WSB coverage here)  The area was formerly the site of a dry cleaning business, which means that soil remediation work is required before the park expansion can be built. 

In the meeting last week, Johnston shared some additional good news: The MJAWA team has met their volunteer-matching goal by logging over $25,000 in volunteer hours, which in turn earned them a $44,000 Neighborhood Matching Fund grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Johnston said the entirety of the $44k has gone into “designing the all-wheels area, doing outreach and gathering public input, and producing the construction documents required for putting the project out to bid and constructing it.”

“This is a big milestone and represents a lot of sweat equity put in by a group of over 50 dedicated community volunteers,” Johnston said, and is “yet another example of how this community continues to show up for creating a safe and accessible place for active recreation in the heart of Morgan Junction.”

The MJAWA team said they plan to provide additional project updates at the October 16 meeting of the Morgan Community Association (MoCA).