12th Avenue Neighborhood & Business District

Cloud mock-up

The 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee got together last night for a great discussion about the James Court Park. Seattle Parks and the design team (Hewitt Architects and Ellen Sollod) presented 2 schemes for the park.  The majority of folks preferred the first scheme, as pictured above.  This includes a really cool feature called "the cloud," which is a flexible mesh material suspended above the center of the park on wires from adjacent poles.  In the "cloud" will be situated a series of (possibly) convex mirrored pieces that will reflect people and patterns from the ground as well as be see-through so that people can see through to the sky, creating different qualities of light for those under the "cloud."  I personally think it is a fantastically cool idea which will really set this park apart from others in Seattle.  Details are being figured out regarding the actual materials chosen and how the "cloud" will be illuminated at night.  There could be lights on the poles aimed at the cloud or perhaps the lights could be incorporated as part of the cloud.

The blue area in the scheme is not a water feature but instead a raised mound that can act as a stage or seating area. Plans are still coming together for what this piece looks like and how it might be used. Additional movable tables and chairs will be located throughout the park. The trees on the eastern side will act as a buffer against the single family residence adjacent to the park. The planters around the trees will also create seating options.

The full presentation, including the 2nd scheme is attached below. Stay tuned for a 3rd meeting on this park’s design, late August or early September.

Parks Presentation 2

Please join the Parks Department,  design team, and 12th Avenue community for a meeting next Tuesday, July 13th to discuss the design for the James Court Park. The team will be showing us several schematic designs for the park based on input from the community meeting back in May.  Click here for more information that came out of that meeting.

Please join us next week and share your thoughts. Refreshments will be provided.

Tuesday, July 13
5:30pm
Seattle University Alumni & Admissions Building
824 12th Avenue

Back in May the 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee met with the Parks Department and members of the design team at Hewitt to discuss ideas for the James Court Park. Below are some images from an exercise at that meeting. Community members were given green dots to place on elements that they would like to see in the new park. Red dots indicate elements that people did not want to see in the park.

Hewitt’s presentation from the meeting with more pictures and inspiration for the park can be found below. The next meeting will be Tuesday, July 13th at 5:30pm at the Seattle University Alumni and Admissions building at 12th and Marion. Please join us and share your ideas for the James Court Park!
James Court Park Presentation

The 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee put together an application to the Seattle Parks Department a couple months ago for funding for the James Court woonerf project. (Woonerf, a Dutch word, describes a street where bikes and pedestrians have priority over cars and is used as a way to slow down traffic and enhance the streetscape).  We have been invited by Parks to present more information as part of the application process so hopefully this is a good sign that we’re high up in the running for funding! If you are interested, the application is below, which includes more information about the project and the woonerf concept.

Woonerf Application

The Seattle Parks Department held a meeting last week to discuss plans for the James Court Park on 12th Avenue. Landscape design work will be done by Hewitt and Ellen Sollod, local artist and resident of the 12th Avenue neighborhood.

The 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee sent a letter to the Parks Department last year with a set of recommendations for the park design and these ideas were the basis for discussions at the meeting.

Neighbors at the meeting continued the discussion with these major themes emerging:
- Need to activate the park to keep it lively
- The park should celebrate and be a product of the community
- Despite its small size, the park needs to create a presence on 12th Avenue
- Possible use of play surfacing (the spongy stuff found in playgrounds) in molded sculptural shapes that could provide seating as well as a neat place to play on for kids
- There should be an interactive element at the park — something to get the community engaged with one another (tables for games, stage for performances, regular events, etc.)
- No room for a traditional swingset or other kid-only function
- This is also a chance to create a gathering space for the community and Seattle University students to come together
- The park should be bold and claim the neighborhood
- There should be some landscaping in the park but we are limited in the size so these elements need to be mixed with hard surfaces
- There should be some art element at the park (something interactive, a rotating exhibit, etc.)
- Some sort of artistic lighting feature at night to activate the park (although safety was not a huge concern from the neighborhood)
- The park will be directly across James Court from the new Seattle University student housing project with first floor retail uses. On the other side is WaterTown so there will be lots of people in the area and lots of "eyes on the park".

We are still seeking input and ideas for the park. The next meeting will be Tuesday, July 13th at 5:30pm at the Seattle University Alumni and Admissions building.

If you have comments or ideas in the meantime, please contact Susanne Friedman at the Parks Department at 206-684-0902.

Outside Saba Ethiopian Restaurant near 12th and Yesler

Outside Chatterbox at 12th and Spring

Check it out!
There are two more benches along 12th Avenue!

As noted in my earlier post when the first bench went in, Capitol Hill Housing received funding for this project from the Seattle Office of Economic Development’s Neighborhood Business District Fund and has worked with the 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee to choose a bench design and designate locations along 12th Avenue.

The benches were created from surplus granite curbstones available from the City of Seattle. Many thanks are due to Kevin Long of Urban Wilds who did a fantastic job on design and fabrication of the granite stones as well as installation on the sidewalk. We also want to thank Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio for help with the design, offering up a workspace, and general assistance with the project, Greg Lewis for help with installation, 12th Avenue Iron who fabricated the bench legs, Kate Leitch at the Seattle Department of Transportation for helping us with City permits, and to each property and business owner who supported this project.

Representatives from King County met with neighbors at the 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee meeting last week to discuss redevelopment plans for the King County Youth Detention Facility at 12th and Alder. Current plans for the site include demolishing and building a new, larger court room facility with structured parking for up to 600 cars. The existing detention facility along Spruce Street will remain. The design team presented three options, which are shown below. These were not intended to be concrete design plans but rather three concepts to show general themes and to generate conversation about what is needed and wanted at the site.

Please see the attached word document below to review the minutes of the meeting and find out more about the plans for the site. Also attached is a document from King County outlining why the current court room facility is being rebuilt. King County welcomes your comments and questions. For more information, please contact their outreach coordinator, Shanon Kearney, at 206-269-0229 ext 112.

Option A

Option B

Option C

May 2010 Meeting Minutes

limitations-of-current-court-facility

The first of five benches has been installed along 12th Avenue! This one is located at 1721 12th Avenue between Olive and Howell outside Lucky Devil Tattoo.

Capitol Hill Housing received funding for this project from the Seattle Office of Economic Development’s Neighborhood Business District Fund and has worked with the 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee to choose a bench design and designate locations along 12th Avenue.

The benches were created from surplus granite curbstones available from the City of Seattle. Many thanks are due to Kevin Long of Urban Wilds who did a fantastic job on design and fabrication of the granite stones as well as installation on the sidewalk. We also want to thank Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio for help with the design, offering up a workspace, and general assistance with the project, Greg Lewis for help with installation, 12th Avenue Iron who fabricated the bench legs, Kate Leitch at the Seattle Department of Transportation for helping us with City permits, and to each property and business owner who supported this project.

Be on the look out for four more benches to be installed along 12th Avenue in the next few weeks!

There are two important community meetings coming up soon to discuss redevelopment of the Youth Detention Center and planning for a new park on 12th Avenue. Refreshments will be provided.

Tuesday May 11
7:00-9:00pm
Seattle University Alumni & Admissions Building (corner of 12th and Marion)
Representatives from King County and their design team will be holding a meeting to discuss their redevelopment plans for the site near 12th and Alder. This includes demolition of the existing building and constructing a new courtroom facility, adding up to five stories of structured parking, leaving some land for later development, and possible impacts to the open space on the northwest corner of the site.

There will be time at this meeting for questions and small group discussions with King County. We encourage you to attend and share your thoughts.

Tuesday, May 18
5:30pm
Seattle University Alumni & Admissions Building
Parks staff will be hosting a planning meeting for the new park at the corner of 12th Avenue and E James Court. The Parks Department will share information on the project scope and schedule. Please join us and tell us what you want to see in the new park!

One of King County's early design schemes for the redevelopment at the Youth Detention Facility on 12th Avenue

King County is moving forward (again) with redevelopment plans for the Juvenile Detention Facility at 12th and Alder. Basically, the detention facility itself (along Alder) will remain. The existing courtroom and office building near the center of the site needs to be replaced and will be demolished. In its place will be a bigger and better courtroom facility. King County is proposing to move all family court activities to this site which will double the number of courtrooms needed. Their plans also include an elevated parking structure for some 500 cars. The rest of the site will be redeveloped at a later date, probably by a private developer to be mixed-use housing and retail. These plans have not been developed so no partners have been identified.  King County is considering saving the open space on the site, currently located on the northeast corner where the Whale Fin sculpture is currently located.

For more detail on early site layouts, please check out the good pictures over at the CD News . I believe these were taken at the most recent Squire Park Community Council meeting and provide a good background of the potential site layouts.

If you want more information or have feedback, King County will be attending the 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee Meeting at 7pm on May 11th .  The meeting will be held at the Seattle University Alumni & Admissions building at 12th and Marion and all are welcome to attend.