Seattle Parks and Recreation is hosting tours of the Atlantic City Nursery from 10 to 11 a.m. this Sat., Dec. 12 and Sun., Dec. 13.
Please meet Parks staff at the entrance of the nursery, located at 5513 S Cloverdale St. This facility, which has served for 50 years as a nursery to grow plants for Seattle parks, will close permanently in 2010.
The area will be opened to the public after a development process.
The Atlantic City Nursery property is a low area that separates the Pritchard Island residential area from the original lake shoreline and the residential area to the west. The property is bordered on the north and south by adjacent park properties, Pritchard Island Beach Park and Beer Sheva/Atlantic City Park.
What do you think? Go here to complete a brief survey on the best use of the Atlantic City Nursery.
Seattle Parks and Recreation held its first public hearing last week to discuss the future use of the Atlantic City Nursery site in Rainier Beach. Photo/David Mullarkey Images
Related:
- Dare to Dream: What Would You Do With a 7-Acre Green Space in Rainier Beach? (12/2/09)
- Parks Wants Your Input on Future Use of Atlantic City Nursery (11/20/09)
Who to know, where to eat & what to do in one of America’s most diverse zip codes!
{ 19 comments }
I was pleasantly surprised at the great turnout for the Atlantic City Nursery development/planning meeting. The main concern expressed was security and safety in the area. My question: Why don’t we see all of these concerned South Rainier Valley residents at the SRVSP (safety) meetings? I believe if all of our residents show their presence in the community, many of our safety concerns will resolve themselves.
If you can’t go on the ACN site tours this weekend you can still express your support of repurposing the greenhouses and other areas and structures in the site’s north section for growing healthy food for the community by writing to:
Emily Fuller, Project Planner
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98134
206-684-7047
emily.fuller@seattle.gov
Would I use the same address to express my support of other purposes? Not that I don’t support this one, of course.
I do.
@Colleen
“The main concern expressed was security and safety in the area.”
I think the first 15 minutes was about security and safety, expressed well by the immediate residents. But the rest seemed to focus on keeping that area useful to many residents, which means turning it into a public place. Whether that means a wildlife/wetlands spot like the other side of Cloverdale, or a public garden, the safety concerns should be dealt with while allowing the PUBLIC to enjoy that space.
Can’t we do both?
@Bien
I think you can use that address to express your support of any use of that parks property.
I came away from the meeting with the impression that there was a bimodal distribution of support for use of the park space. The two humps in the data were:
1.For the enjoyment of the people. The concepts ran the spectrum from ‘leave it alone/fence off a wildlife preserve’ all the way to ‘set up a Farmers’ Market/Horticultural Program/Urban farm.’
2. The safety/security concern. There was a general recognition that criminal activity in the secluded areas of Pritchard Beach and near Island Drive is a problem. Changing access to the property is a concern to the neighbors because of it’s past history.
I hope we can handle both of these humps. I think the parks land should be the enjoyment of all, but I think that the public safety issues have to be addressed so that more people can enjoy the space for good purposes than criminal activity.
I thought it was a good meeting, but I wished SPD could have been there to address some of the security concerns (that may have turned into a longer meeting, like this post). I doubt Parks thought this would have been so well attended.
Having structured activities around horticulture, education, and a market will provide a steady stream and range of people interested in being at the site. Throughout the day and into some evenings. More eyes and ears for safety.
Given its location, extending Beer Sheva park or other passive use will primarily attract the people who don’t want to be seen or heard.
I would like to see the area protected for the wildlife, in particular the south half of the property. In order to do that we need to keep the human traffic to a minimum in that area, keeping the fences up. This is a great opportunity to protect a unique area for wildlife for generations to come. I think using the north end as a small farm type thing would work but again I would want the fences to remain, both to protect wildlife and for security. One of the points made in the meeting was that using it for farming would increase foot traffic which would lead to decreased crime, but the increased foot traffic is only during daylight hours. Once it is dark, it is an entire different story.
Sascha, the fences are what I don’t like most.
I can walk down to Pritchard beach and through the wetland trail up to Cloverdale, cross Cloverdale only to come up to Park property that’s closed to me.
I can walk down Island Drive expecting to come out in Beer Sheva, only to hit fences. Sure, that’s a WET wetland, but maybe a boardwalk would keep my feet dry.
I was used to that situation, but having these meetings gave me a little hope that things would open up. Now, I’m wondering if some folks got the word early on & worked out a way to keep it closed. And that the meetings are just a formality.
I’ve benefited by this “open” process myself, whereby the rules had to seem to be followed, but the choice was made long before. Open a job posting between 3:05 and 3:06 AM. Write the requirements narrowly. Alert the chosen one only. Game over; only one applicant.
I hope that’s not the case here.
I don’t care what goes in there, but I’d like to be able to walk through and see it for myself.
Went on the site tour Sunday; there is obviously enough room for both wetlands/nature preservation and an urban agriculture concept – the fenced off area to the south really has few if any other uses due to topography and would likely suffer from human presence no matter how well-intentioned.
The urban ag advocates are looking to combine use of the existing green house and shade house structures and surrounding spaces with protecting the security and safety for the neighbors and respectful preservation of the natural and restored wetlands – once you walk the site its apparent that those can be mutually inclusive.
I was there on Sunday, too, Harry. And I agree.
In some ways I hope it doesn’t change much, but is still open to the public. Fences along the property lines should probably stay. The big gate should be tied back permanently. Vegetation along Cloverdale should come down if security is a concern; and it’s a nice place to look across, too. Nice rural feel to the place.
It’d be cool if native plants could be grown & sold in addition/instead of food. Salal & Oregon grape for low, low everyday prices.
I just had a great idea, speaking of fencing in the animals:
If the fences are going to stay, why not bring in a few goats, chickens, pigs & cows? Keep the rural feel, and allow city kids to experience a bit of farm life.
That would take care of the mowing, too. It’d be the coolest spot in the city, better than the zoo.
Bien,
My 12-year old daughetr agrees: she wants to see goats and chickens on the “farm” too.
Email to: rburbanag@gmail.com and we can exchange ideas
How about a stable? It could be used to teach horseback riding to the local kids – might be a good outlet for their energy.
The vegetation along Cloverdale supports many beautiful birds and their nests inlcuding many nesting pairs of Blue Jays, taking down all of the vegetation would destroy their homes. I think the gate needs to be closed at night, this area is an invitation for crime. It will be a perfect place for cars to enter and sell/do drugs, prostituion, etc. At the minimum a barrier needs to be erected to keep cars out. Also parking is already on Cloverdale, 55th, and Island Dr.
Even this past weekend with the few additional cars parked on Cloverdale for the tour it created a traffic hazard. One car was parked right next to one of the taffic islands, creating a hazard for driving. I do not support the introduction of animals on the property. I support a protected wildlife sanctuary. I like Harry’s statement that the area in the south would suffer from humans, no matter how well intentioned, well said
Woops somehow I made a typo, what I meant to ssay about parking was:
The vegetation along Cloverdale supports many beautiful birds and their nests inlcuding many nesting pairs of Blue Jays, taking down all of the vegetation would destroy their homes. I think the gate needs to be closed at night, this area is an invitation for crime. It will be a perfect place for cars to enter and sell/do drugs, prostituion, etc. At the minimum a barrier needs to be erected to keep cars out. Also parking on Cloverdale, 55th, and Island Dr. is already a problem.
Even this past weekend with the few additional cars parked on Cloverdale for the tour it created a traffic hazard. One car was parked right next to one of the taffic islands, creating a hazard for driving. I do not support the introduction of animals on the property. I support a protected wildlife sanctuary. I like Harry’s statement that the area in the south would suffer from humans, no matter how well intentioned, well said
Would like to see people getting horse riding lessons. Great idea!!
I moved to Island Drive in 1946 and over the years I have seen a lot of changes and tranformations. I support the idea of a protected wildlife area with the fences remaining. I also agree with Don’s comment and Harry’s comment about the negative impact of human traffic on the wildlife, no matter how well intentioned. I am also concerned with cars, traffic, and parking. As Don mentioned there really is no room to add more cars. The fences and gate must remain in place, Kubotoa gardens is considering adding fences because of vandalism, fences also protect the birds and animals.
If there is a way to allow access to the north end of the area only, protect the south end for the birds and animals, keep the fences in place and the gate in place, keep the cars over on Seward Park Ave or in the boat ramp parking lot
(walking is good exercise), I would not be against using the north end for some farming and agricultural education.
I too would like to see a secured area and an area for the wonderful birds and other wildlife in our neighborhood. I agree with the comments on the fence and gate staying in tact, also agree that the potential additional cars would be a problem so a plan to keep cars at Rainier Beach or the boat ramp is needed.
As long as all this wildlife protection talk isn’t actually a way to keep Pritchard effectively a gated community (as it almost is now), and people are serious about farm animals being a part, I would give up time & money (or blood & treasure) to help out. I really love the smell of a farm, and have nothing better to spend money on.
Harry, I’d email you. But the blog spot and gmail address, and lack of names on the contact page, screams one-man-band. Local resident.
But if it does turn out as just a way to shut the public out, I might just fire up IslandDrivewalkingtoursforthehomeless.marx.org.
We could help put up fences between the homes and the lake, to protect the wildlife. For free!
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