The citizen oversight committee for the Seattle Parks and Green Spaces Levy finalized their project recommendations for Opportunity Funding earlier this week. The $7 million Opportunity Fund will be divvied out to community initiated projects throughout the city, and one of the proposals to make the list was the Lower Kinnear Park Enhancement Plan.
We’ve been covering the developments of the Lower Kinnear Park Enhancement Plan, the brainchild of community group FOLKpark (Friends of Lower Kinnear Park), for some time. The final plan proposal was the result of a number of community meetings and town halls the crowd-sourced residents for their thoughts on how the park should be developed.
In August FOLKpark was awarded a $100,000 Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund to hire consultants to produce construction plans for the enhancement of the park. The Opportunity Fund oversight committee advises allocating $750,000 to get construction going on the project. The funds would go toward improving trails and signage in Lower Kinnear Park, restoring the native vegetation, and making connections to other trails in the Seattle Parks system. Read more about the Uptown loop trail that would connect to the park here.
The committee’s recommendations will be forwarded to Parks and Recreation Acting Superintendent Christopher Williams, who will make his own recommendation and forward them along to the Mayor and City Council. The Seattle City Council is expected to approve project funding recommendations in March 2011. If the recommendations are approved, construction will begin in 2012.
Read up on the Opportunity Fund, and the full list of oversight committee recommendations here (.pdf).