Yesterday’s Parks and Neighborhoods committee meeting was short, sweet, and efficient. We passed all the legislation before us out of committee and on to full council.
The first item of business was a piece of yearly legislation that transfers money into the 2008 Parks Levy Fund from King County Conservation Futures Levy proceeds. First passed in 1989, this interlocal agreement authorizes King County to appropriate proceeds from the Conservation Futures Levy (CFL) to the City of Seattle for specific projects. This year projects in the CFL Interlocal Cooperation Agreement included the Thornton Creek Park #6 Natural Area, Lake City Urban Village Park, Northeast Capitol Hill Urban Center Park, University District Urban Center Park, Wedgwood Neighborhood Park, Carkeek Park Addition, West Duwamish Greenbelt, and Leschi Natural Area acquisition projects.
Next we approved an acquisition for Parks in West Seattle, a land swap in Queen Anne to preserve parking for the Queen Anne Bowl playfields, and finally, a very generous gift of land along the Burke Gilman Trail.
West Seattle Junction area
Vacant lot acquired in West Seattle Junction.
Because it was the last meeting of the year, I wanted to mention some of the accomplishments of the Parks & Neighborhoods committee this year.
By the numbers:
Over the course of 17 committee meetings, we:
- Passed 19 council bills on to full council
- Made 36 appointments to boards and commissions, and
- Passed 2 resolutions.
Heard and evaluated the following reports:
- Community Centers People Counters installation
- Arboretum and Botanical Gardens Committee
- Aquarium (See the meeting agenda and supporting documents)
- RSJI reports from both DPR and DON
- Current P Patch projects
- P-Patches interest list
- POEL (Public Outreach and Engagement Liaisons)
- PACE (People’s Academy for Public Engagement)
We had follow-up presentations on SLIs for:
We passed legislation:
- Approving Neighborhood Matching Fund grants
- Making jurisdictional transfers of land to Parks from other Departments
- Authorizing leases for community centers and nurseries
- Amending Sand Point Historic District Overlay Plan
- Addressing Parks Board infrastructure issues, and more.
The appointments we made were to citizen’s advisory boards, including
- The Board of Park Commissioners;
- Parks Levy Oversight Committee,
- Seattle Youth Commission, and
- The Arboretum and Botanical Gardens Committee.
We continue to make progress on Greenways, with Ballard and Children’s Hospital, and with the Lake-to-Bay Loop.
While 2012 was a busy year, we expect 2013 to be even busier with the workplan for Don and DPR’s legacy plan. Sign up here to receive email copies of our committee agendas in advance.