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).

Tonight, FOLKpark and some landscape architects are asking for your ideas on how to include Lower Kinnear Park in an uptown loop trail.  The special workshop takes place tonight (9/23) from 7pm to 8:30pm at the Queen Anne Neighborhood Center (160 Roy Street).  For more information and to RSVP, go to their Facebook page.

Image above from FOLKpark detailing Uptown Loop and how Lower Kinnear Park acts as a link to the waterfront.  Click here for larger maps.

This weekend Queen Anne-ers will have an opportunity to enjoy some of the neighborhood’s best eats, while supporting our own local nonprofit, FOLKpark. The volunteer organization dedicated to revitalizing Lower Kinnear Park has put together Happy Hour on the Hill event/fundraiser this Saturday, August 28 from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

A $15 ticket will get you access to a bunch of ‘happy hour’ discounts at local restaurants and sweet shops. All of the proceeds will go toward helping FOLKpark reach it’s Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund requirement. The organization won the $100,000 city grant earlier this month, and needs to raise at least $50,000 to be awarded the funds, which will be used in the upcoming design development phase of the Lower Kinnear Park Enhancement Plan. (The community actively helped develop this plan last spring. See the finalized plan here).

The following Queen Anne locations are participating in Happy Hour on the Hill:

• Betty – $8 drink and appetizer combo
• Paragon – $5 Martinis and $7 Appetizers
• Eat Local – Free farro salad with any purchase and get 2 bottles of Viognier for the price of one at $16.98
• Chocolopolis – $1 Chocolopolis truffles (limit 2) & 50% of a chocolate drink
• Wink – 15% off all cupcakes

Tickets are available at any of the participating locations, or can be purchased at the Uptown Stroll and art walk this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Counterbalance Park (at Queen Anne Ave N and W Roy St).

The fundraiser in being put on in conjunction with the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce. If you can’t make it to Happy Hour on the Hill, but would like to donate to FOLKpark, you can make a donation via PayPal on the organization’s website.

Those interested in volunteering with FOLKpark should contact Phil Prahst at philprahst@gmail.com.

Two projects on Queen Anne will receive a big financial boost from the city’s Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund. The City Council has approved $1.24 million in awards to support neighborhood projects across Seattle. The funding matches privately raised money, donated materials, and volunteer labor. Here’s a look at the Queen Anne winners:

Queen Anne Farmers Market: $33,706 to expand the market with weekly events promoting local food, healthy living, and community.

Friends of Lower Kinnear Park: $100,000 to hire consultants to produce construction plans for enhancements to the park. The community envisions improving entrances to the park, enhancing the park trails, and connecting pedestrian pathways between neighborhoods and the waterfront.

You can see a full list of this year’s winners here.

Applications for the Neighborhood Matching Fund Small and Simple grant program are due by 5 p.m. Monday, July 12 – that’s just three weeks away.

FOLKpark received $15,000 back in November through the Small & Simple projects fund for the redevelopment of Lower Kinnear Park.

Under the program, which first started in 1988, award recipients will receive up to $20,000 for their projects. Each award is matched by the communities’ volunteer labor, donated materials, donated professional services or cash.

Earlier this year the Interbay Neighborhood Association was awarded $17,000 in Small & Simple funds for the construction of two parks in the area’s commercial district.

To be eligible, an entrant must prove that their project will improve their neighborhood and community.

Resources:

Over the last year FOLKpark has been awarded two city grants, held a number of community meetings and park clean-ups, and helped develop a conceptual plan for the redevelopment of Lower Kinnear Park. Now the organization is preparing to take the next steps: raising the funds necessary to actually instigate the enhancement plan.

This Thursday, May 6 at 7 p.m. FOLKpark invites community members to participate in an informal meeting and help brainstorm fundraising and event ideas for the next phase of the park’s redevelopment. The meeting will be held at the Ten Mercer restaurant, located at, you guessed it, 10 Mercer St. in Lower Queen Anne, and will last approximately one hour.

“Now that the enhancement plans to Lower Kinnear Park have been finalized, our fund raising efforts will now move into full swing. Your help is now truly needed!” said FOLKpark Volunteer Coordinator Phil Prahst.

Phil asks that anyone planning to attend please RSVP by either emailing him at philprahst@gmail.com, or joining the event on Facebook.

Volunteers will be celebrating Earth Day (Thursday, April 22), by clearing out invasive plants at Lower Kinnear Park this Saturday, April 24. For those interested in participating, volunteers will be meeting at the Roy Street entrance to the park and working from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The clean-up is being spearheaded by the Scientology Environmental Task Force, which has been an active supporter of community group FOLKpark‘s efforts to redevelop and revive Lower Kinnear Park.

From 7 to 9 p.m. tonight, Thursday, April 8, FOLKpark will hold its third and final community meeting to present the final concept design for the redevelopment of Lower Kinnear Park. The concept design was created by HBB Landscape Architecture based on community input from the first two meetings.

To get an idea of what the final design entails before the meeting, take a look at the enhancement plan (.pdf). As always, the community meeting is open to the public and will be held at Bayview Manor, located at 11 W. Aloha St.

On Thursday, April 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. FOLKpark will hold the third and final community meeting at Bayview Manor, located at 11 W. Aloha St., where they will present the final concept design for the redevelopment of Lower Kinnear Park by HBB Landscape Architecture based on community input from the first two meetings.

According to FOLKpark, the final concept design “coalesced around six major themes” expressed at the first two community meetings:

• Activate the park with improved trails to increase accessibility for all and expand ADA accessible areas of the park while opening sight-lines to increase sense of personal safety;
• Leverage supplemental funding through the Green Spaces Levy for an off leash dog park;
• Respect the park’s historical significance and uses by creating gathering spaces, viewpoints and restoring the tennis court;
• Restore the natural environment by removal of invasive plants and addressing issues of drainage and re-vegetation of a dying/changing forest, building a forest for the next 50-100 years;
• Enhance the entrances with a common identifying feature/planting and signage to attract visitors; and,
• Provide a connection to other trails in the Seattle Parks system and to the waterfront by expanding the trail system to the Helix Bridge and at the same time remove pedestrian and biking traffic from crowded streets.

If you’d like to sneak a peak at the final design before the meeting, take a look at the enhancement plan (.pdf). FOLKpark also encourages those interested in the redevelopment of Lower Kinnear Park to pass out meeting announcement fliers (here and here) to friends and neighbors in Queen Anne.

FOLKpark has been working to redesign and revitalize Queen Anne’s Lower Kinnear Park with the support of a $15,000 Department of Neighborhoods grant and many community volunteers who have dedicated weekends to cleaning up the park.

Over the past few months the organization has enlisted the help of HBB Landscape Architecture to develop four concept designs for the enhancement of the park, built from community feedback at a series of public meetings. In order to finance Phase II of the project–design development and construction drawings–the group is applying for Department of Neighborhoods Large Project Fund, and is asking for community support in winning it. In an email sent out last week FOLKpark Volunteer Coordinator Phil Prahst wrote,

FOLKpark is applying for funding through the City’s Department of Neighborhoods Large and Simple Fund to take the conceptual design for Lower Kinnear Park into the next phase of design development and construction drawings.

Part of the application asks that we list individuals by name, address, phone and email that are willing to volunteer time or donate money to the project during the time frame of this grant, which is August, 2010 through January, 2011. I know we have asked you before, but we need your permission to use your name, etc.

FOLKpark is asking those planning on volunteering time or making a donation in the next year to fill out this short survey, which will be provided to the Department of Neighborhoods for grant consideration. For more information visit folkpark.org.

On Thursday, April 8, FOLKpark will be presenting the final conceptual plan for Lower Kinnear Park to the community at a public meeting from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Bayview Retirement Community, located at 11 W. Aloha St.

And on Sunday, April 24 FOLKpark will be leading a clean up in Lower Kinnear Park in honor of Earth Day. Volunteers are invited to come celebrate nature and clean up the park by clearing out invasive (ivy, holly and blackberries) from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Department of Park and Recreation will be providing tools.