Dog-human workout installations — as illustrated by this concept art featuring the CHS News Hound — are coming (Image: CHS)
Parks officials said Tuesday night that the dog and human fitness installations will use “natural features” like stumps and logs — Jones the CHS News Hound demonstrates the idea (Image: CHS)
City officials say they are sticking to the plan to reopen a Capitol Hill green space that has been closed since September over “bouts of negative park activity” even though resources to help address public safety concerns will not be in place when the fences come down.
Parks department officials announced at Tuesday night’s community meeting that Seven Hills Park will reopen February 26.
“We feel confident about the partnerships we’re building,” Leigh Hindenlang, a planning manager with Seattle Parks told the crowd of park neighbors and supporters during Tuesday night’s meeting at Miller Community Center.
Parks representatives announced an artful “Rainbow Sign” from one new partnership at the 16th Ave at E Howell park will be part of the reopening.
Hindenlang also promised other investments are coming including “human & hound fitness installations” she and parks officials say will help link Capitol Hill-area parks with a circuit of low-cost, low-maintenance workout stations. A 3.1-mile “Healthy Capitol Hill Hike” campaign with signage and printed maps is part of the plan, Hindenlang said, as are hopes for more events and gatherings organized by community groups and parters like neighborhood Business Improvement Areas like the 15th Ave BIA.
While nobody woofed at the dog fitness plan, several neighbors at Tuesday night’s meeting barked at the city pushing forward with the February 26th reopening without more resources in place — not even the canine-friendly workout equipment.
“I am grateful for your work but this is bad news,” one park neighbor said about the updates presented Tuesday. “Don’t open it without a plan,” pleaded another.
Other neighbors in attendance said they supported the reopening — and some said use of the park has gone on through the closure’s fences, anyhow.
Others asked about whether grills removed after neighbor complaints about encampments last summer could ever be returned, how to get permission to safely distribute meals in the park, and how to convince the city to add restrooms to the space.
Not everyone supported the fencing
Most all agreed the city should do more to help maintain and clean the park. One official said visitors should see maintenance improvements as most parks in the Capitol Hill area now receive three maintenance visits a day. The Find It Fix It app can also be used to report needed clean-up.
The planned February 26th reopening comes a half year after officials and District 3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth met with park neighbors and residents of the Sanctuary condos developed inside the former First Church of Christ Scientist just north of the park over public safety concerns. In September, the fences went up.
The closure came on the fifteenth anniversary of Seven Hills Park. The project debuted in September 2010 around its central art element depicting the “original” seven hills of Seattle. The city acquired the property with funding from the 2000 Pro Parks Levy and King County Conservation Futures tax revenues.
The reopening and planning for a more structured approach to managing the spaces comes as municipalities face increased litigation over parks, safety, and encampments. Last year, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the City of Tucson could be held liable for failing to abate an encampment in its Navajo Wash Park, opening the door for residents to file claims for property damage or costs like installing security cameras.
In Seattle, there aren’t significant examples, yet, of neighbors heading to court over encampments but the city’s parks know legal battles well including the current court fight over the future of the Denny Blaine nude beach.
Parks officials said Tuesday there has been progress in shaping “Friends Of” groups to aid the city in helping to address concerns about maintenance, encampments, and disorder in Seven Hills and other area parks including Broadway Hill and Tashkent.
A similar meeting is slated for Wednesday night to address hoped for changes around the Central District’s Dr. Blanche Lavizzo Park.
The Tuesday night session also included feedback the city collected as officials have mounted an effort to address public safety issues through planning around activation and encouraging more people to use the parks. CHS reported here on the parks department’s findings around Seven Hills including rejection of threatened permanent fencing, and hopes for community gardening, youth play, and increased effort to address homelessness and services.
City leaders and parks officials say a model of partnerships with a strong core community group in the Cal Anderson Park Alliance and events and clean-ups sponsored by area businesses and organizations like Capitol Hill development and real estate firm Hunters Capital have helped improve safety conditions around the neighborhood’s large central park. They hope the template will work to help Seven Hills.
Small-scale, affordable improvements are also hoped to help.
Last month, CHS reported as D3’s Hollingworth announced a public safety “facelift” for Boylston Ave’s Tashkent Park highlighted by new strings of catenary lights and promises of improved maintenance.
Taking down the fences around Seven Hills Park will also come with a pulse of beautifying and restoration to prepare the space for the public to return after months of closure. A round of power washing, tree trimming, litter pick-up, and re-mulching is planned along with some mending of broken infrastructure. Work to repair or replace bollard lighting in the park will have to wait, however.
The planned dog and human fitness elements? Those will also come later as will any formal parks department activation projects. Getting a bonafide Friends of Seven Hills Park group in place must come first, officials said Tuesday night.
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