Visualize this: A new park for Ballard

Ballard may soon get something it has long craved: More open space.

The city of Seattle has reached a preliminary agreement to buy a 39,000-square-foot site for a new Ballard park at 7028 Ninth Ave. N.W. The city has agreed to pay about $3 million for the single-family residential property, using mostly Pro-Parks Levy funding.

The purchase is expected to be recommended by the City Council's Parks and Seattle Center Committee in a meeting April 8, and approved by the full council April 14.

Residents are thrilled, noting that Ballard was short on park space even before recent multifamily and commercial developments.

"It's almost an acre of mostly undeveloped property right in the center of Ballard; there's nothing else of that size available anymore in this community," said David Boyd, president of Groundswell NW, a local non-profit organization that aims to create and protect community parks and habitat.

Although the property lies obscured behind 12-foot laurel hedges, it has been coveted by many Ballard residents for more than a decade.

The city tried to buy the site about 12 years ago from the 7th Elect Church in Israel, but the group decided it did not want to sell. This time, when word reached residents that Realtors were shopping the property, Alyssa Smith, who lives across the street, called the Department of Parks and Recreation.

The sellers "never put a sign out," Smith said. "The city went as fast as it could. We're just excited it's going to be a park; everyone is pretty happy."

Boyd and others credited the parks department, especially property acquisitions manager Donald Harris, for jumping at the chance to buy the property before it was lost to developers.

Zoned single-family, the site could have accommodated up to 12 new homes.

"Don did a remarkable job of mobilizing and making this happen in a short time frame," Boyd said.

"The wheels of government don't usually go very fast, but this time they did. We're really grateful."

Harris praised the community for scouting parks and open space opportunities, then mobilizing once the property came on the market.

Residents called, wrote e-mails to City Council members and Mayor Greg Nickels urging the purchase.

"It's a very opportune, well-located piece, captivating piece of property," Harris said.

Harris said the property, though "not cheap," is one of the largest acquisitions made by the city in recent years to rectify an imbalance between density in Ballard and a relative lack of green space.

The site has a home and other buildings, but is a relatively quiet, relaxing place with lawns, fruit trees, and landscaped and vegetable gardens, residents say.

The city plans to apply for county and state grants to develop the park and open space according to what the community decides it wants, Harris said.

The plans could include moving the home, which is in good shape, for residential use elsewhere, and creating open space, a community garden, or other neighborhood amenities.

IF YOU GO

The Crown Hill Neighborhood Association will host a meeting about neighborhood and city parks Thursday at 7 p.m., featuring city Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher. The meeting will be held at the Crown Hill Activities Center, 9250 14th Ave. N.W.