Landscape Architect Articles

Community Group Sues Seattle to Stop Homeless Housing Next to Park10-20-08 | News

Community Group Sues Seattle to Stop Homeless Housing Next to Park

As part of the Base Realignment and Closure Act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development requested homeless housing be included in the redevelopment plan at Fort Lawton Historic District, a piece of land abutting Seattle?EUR??,,????'?????<

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels just can?EUR??,,????'?????<

In September, the City Council approved a redevelopment plan he proposed to build 216 housing units, including apartments for homeless people, at Fort Lawton near Discovery Park. The plan also calls for converting some of the 29-acre federally owned site into parkland.

Discovery Park comprises 534 acres in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, a peninsula looking out on Shilshole Bay in Puget Sound. It is the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

The park is on Fort Lawton Historic District (FLHD) land. Fort Lawton is headquarters of the U.S. Army Reserve?EUR??,,????'?????<

The upland portion of Discovery Park offers great views of Puget Sound. Homeless tent camps have sprung up in the park.

Much of the land was handed over to the city in 1972 and dedicated as Discovery Park in 1973.

The Magnolia Neighborhood Planning Council is suing the city of Seattle, Wash. to stop the redevelopment plan. The plaintiff claims the city violated the Discovery Park?EUR??,,????'?????<

The city plan still requires approval by the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It was HUD that asked for homeless housing to be included in the redevelopment plan.

Meanwhile a tent city of homeless people, called Nickelsville, was erected in Discovery Park on Sept. 22, 2008 to protest Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels?EUR??,,????'?????<

A group called the Real Change Organizing Project planned the camp and has elicited the support of the Northwest Justice Project to seek a court injunction to keep city officials our of the camp. The camp, which has pink tents, has already moved twice to stay one step ahead of the law.