County Conservation Futures funds to benefit Magnolia, Queen Anne and Greenwood/Phinney communities

March 5, 2013

Summary

County funding will help acquire neighborhood green space

Story

An interlocal agreement authorized by the Metropolitan King County Council with the city of Seattle will allow King County Conversation Futures Tax Levy (CFT) funds to be used to purchase land for parks in Magnolia, Queen Anne, and Greenwood.

“The addition of park lands in Northwest Seattle neighborhoods will bring green space to these urban neighborhoods, enhancing opportunities to recreate and enjoy nature,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips, chair of the County Council's Transportation, Economy, and Environment Committee and representative of the Greenwood/Phinney neighborhood. “I am pleased to see King County’s Conservation Futures Tax funds contributing to a better quality of life in Magnolia, Queen Anne, Greenwood, and all of King County.”

The funds authorized by the County Council contribute $1 million towards the goal of acquiring a 5-acre property with shoreline frontage on Elliot Bay adjacent to Smith Cove Park on the southern edge of Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood, just south of the Magnolia Bridge. This addition would provide significant waterfront access, and it would eventually connect to the Pier 91 bikeway.

The Port acquired the property from the Navy in 1976 for industrial purposes, and is now negotiating its potential sale. The county will construct a combined sewage overflow (CSO) facility also on this site. As part of the transaction, Seattle has committed to acquiring this 5-acre property to add to Smith Cove Park. The Magnolia and Queen Anne communities have advocated the acquisition of this site as a park for many years.

King County will also contribute $200,000 towards the city of Seattle’s attempt to acquire property in the Northeast Queen Anne Greenspace in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood. It is a wooded ravine that connects the Trolley Hill Park and the Northeast Queen Anne Greenbelt. The property is part of the viewshed from Trolley Hill Park, and it would also provide a trail connection from that park to the rest of the Northeast Queen Anne Greenbelt. The property has been a long-term acquisition priority for the Seattle Parks Department, identified as far back as the 1989 Open Space Bond Program and is identified as a priority in the Queen Anne Neighborhood Plan.

King County will also contribute an additional $250,000 for the city of Seattle to acquire the Greenwood Urban Village Park. This is in addition to $500,000 in CFT funding contributed to this project in 2011. The property is located across from a recently-constructed and popular Greenwood Branch of the Seattle Public Library. Seattle just acquired this property in March 2012, and this allocation will complete the CFT funding for the project. The Phinney/Greenwood neighborhood was identified as having a deficiency in the supply of open space in Seattle’s “Assessment of Gaps in Seattle’s Open Space Network” report, in particular for the many residents living along and close to Greenwood Avenue.

King County CFT funds are collected throughout King County as a dedicated portion of the property tax for the acquisition of open space and resource lands. The Conservation Futures Citizens' Committee makes recommendations about which conservation projects to fund and provides those recommendations to the King County Executive to consider for inclusion in the annual budget ordinance. The Council’s passage of interlocal agreements allows the CFT funds to be distributed for the identified projects.