New plan for Green Lake path

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

After three years of study and more public hearings than anyone would careto remember, Seattle park officials have a final plan to rebuild the popularbut well-worn path circling Green Lake.

But after all that, the design looks much like the path that exists today,only slightly wider and, of course, a lot smoother. Green Lake is the mostheavily used park in the city.

The new path would provide three lanes -- one for joggers and wheelchairusers, one for pedestrians and one for cyclists and skaters -- with more spaceand better separation between users.

Out of the scores of design proposals for the path, including one thatwould have turned the trail into a divided "freeway" through the park, thelatest plan is the only one that has met with widespread community approval,officials say.

The planners also promise to eliminate persistent puddles.

The proposal reflects the community's views about improving the lake path,said Bill Wiseman, president of the Green Lake Community Council.

"The idea was we didn't want to put freeway lanes through the park. Wewanted an upgrade rather than a whole new path," Wiseman said. The CommunityCouncil voted 55-0 late last year in favor of the current plan.

The proposed design represents "a sensible, practical approach" torestoring the long neglected path, said Councilwoman Sue Donaldson, who led acrusade last fall during city budgeting to get the project funded and built.

The new path is estimated to cost $2.4 million, a sum that some on the CityCouncil have questioned in light of so many competing city needs.

"There is a time to debate and a time to make a decision and we have madea decision and now its time to move on," Donaldson said.

The proposal, which will be aired at a public meeting next week, calls forthe new path to built in three sections, starting this fall. Work wouldcommence in September and conclude in May 1997, officials say.

The new path would follow the course of the existing trail with theexception of two areas where park planners propose relocating the path awayfrom the lake to avoid having to cut down some valued trees.

About seven mature trees would have to be cut down, but the city promisesto plant three trees for each one removed.

Plans call for a 4- to 5-foot-wide path closest to the lake that will beconstructed for joggers and walkers using gray-colored granite rock chips.Joggers now run on an informal trail adjacent to the existing paved path. Thechips would be compacted, making a surface firm enough for wheelchairs.

Adjacent to the jogging path would be an asphalt path 13 to 14 feet wide.It would be divided into two lanes, as is now the case, by a single whitepaint stripe.

The inner lane would be 7 to 8 feet wide and could be used by pedestrianswalking in both directions around the lake.

The outer lane would be about 6 feet wide and will accommodate cyclists andskaters, who would be allowed to travel around the lake in one direction only.

The total width of the path would be between 17 and 18 feet, not much morethan the existing trail, including the trampled areas that now exist on eitherside, said Edward MacLeod of MacLeod Reckord, a Seattle landscape architecturefirm.

Many of the conflicts between users should be eliminated by the new design.It offers more room and be better marked to indicate the rules of the road,MacLeod said.

The design will be made public at a meeting scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. Feb.28 at the Bagley Elementary School cafeteria, 7821 Stone Ave. N. A secondmeeting will be on March 27, at the same time and place.

A telephone hot line has been set up with information on the renovation andupcoming meetings. The number is 386-1969.