May 23, 2000

Steinbrueck calls for park expansion

At a time when the city is planning major changes to its neighborhood park system, Seattle City Council member Peter Steinbrueck is looking for a way to open up downtown.

Steinbrueck hopes to build support to double the size of the downtown park named after his father, the late Seattle architect Victor Steinbrueck. At a briefing session Monday, Steinbrueck told fellow council members he believes the park -- at the north end of Pike Place Market -- should expand south onto the city-owned North PC-1 parking lot.

City Council member Peter Steinbrueck said downtown has been left out of the upcoming parks levy. He wants to double the size of the waterfront park named after his late father, Seattle architect Victor Steinbrueck. Photo by Sam Bennett

"There's no better use for this property than expanding the park," Steinbrueck said. "Downtown has the least amount of parks and open space per capita for any neighborhood in the city."

Steinbrueck's proposal came on the heels of an agreement last week to modify design of the waterfront Marriott to preserve views of the bay and mountains from Victor Steinbrueck Park and the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The hotel developer, Wright Hotels, agreed to angle the 360-room, eight-story structure so that its towers don't interfere with the views.

The proposal also comes at a time when the city is preparing to bring a $223 million levy to voters in November. The levy would fund park acquisitions, development, operations and maintenance, and would be up for renewal in eight years. It is the largest in the city's history, and Steinbrueck said in fairness to downtown neighborhoods money should be allocated for expansion of Victor Steinbrueck park.

"Downtown is expected to accommodate 40 percent of the city's population growth identified in the Comprehensive Plan through 2010," he said, "Given that, the necessary ingredient for the increased density that's coming is parks and open space."

Steinbrueck said his office is working on a cost estimate for the park expansion that could include a parking lot beneath the park.

How the city pays for the expansion could be a thorny issue on the council. Council members Nick Licata and Richard Conlin on Monday said the idea is good, but don't agree with Steinbrueck on how to fund it.

"All of us would be in support of the extension," said Licata, who added that he is against including the proposal in the fall parks levy. Conlin said he was "really reluctant" to change the $223 million parks package, at the expense of sacrificing another park project. The parks plan was drafted by the 28-member Pro Parks 2000 committee, which compiled the projects from the city's 37 neighborhood plans.

Rather than cutting one of the projects from the parks initiative, Conlin said expansion of Steinbrueck Park could be paid for out of the $12 million opportunity fund included in the Pro Parks plan.

Though Steinbrueck maintains downtown is severely short on open space, Conlin argued that the new civic center open space plan and waterfront sculpture park are significant additions.

Talk of developing the three-quarter-acre site is not new. Steinbrueck said the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority -- which manages the PC-1 parking lot -- has considered mixed-use developments for the site in prior years.

PDA Executive Director Daniel Lieberman said the site would lend itself best to a park.

"It's a very difficult site to develop anything on," he said, since the current parking lot is adjacent to Western Avenue and lower than Victor Steinbrueck Park. "A park is probably one of the most feasible opportunities, I would say."

"We need to have a good sense of the community interest before going ahead with a development," Lieberman added. The expansion would have to be approved by the council and the Pike Place Market Historical Commission.

Rocky, a Market craftsperson who sells jewelry, said he would favor park expansion as long as parking is preserved. "We could use more parking down here," he said. "It really is killing us -- the parking is so difficult."

Steinbrueck said the time is right to pursue the park expansion.

"I've been waiting years to promote this concept," he said. "This is the right time. Expanding parks and open space in the city is probably one of the most far-sighted things this council could do. It will be our legacy."