By LEAH WEATHERSBY

At a meeting on Dec. 19 the Seattle Public Library board agreed unanimously to delay the design process for the new Greenwood library. The project had originally be slated to break ground in fall of 2001.

The boardıs decision came in response to feed back from a joint Phinney Ridge-Greenwood meeting with took place on Dec. 5. In a room packed with close to 100 people, it would have been hard to find two neighbors who were in complete agreement on Greenwoodıs new library design.

Thanks to Seattle voters who passed the ³Libraries for All² bond issue in 1998, Greenwood is one of several neighborhoods slated to receive a brand new library building. The new 15,000-square-foot Greenwood Library is intended to replace the communityıs existing library, which is approximately half that size.

Last June, after a lengthy search, the Library Board selected a site for the new Greenwood Library: a location along Greenwood Avenue, just north of N. 85th, that currently houses a McDonaldıs fast-food restaurant.

The Seattle Public Library system is still negotiating to buy the McDonaldıs site.

The proposal put forth by project architect Buffalo Design at the Dec. 5 meeting was a one-story, 15,000-square-foot building with a mostly glass exterior with about 40 surface parking spaces for patrons. The new Greenwood Library building would sit right off of Greenwood Avenue, while the parking lot would be situated on the Palatine Avenue side of the property.

Neighborhood concerns ranged from the buildingıs design (some felt that it did not fit in with the current architecture in Greenwood) to what some residents believed was a lack of available parking in the area, to which street the library would face.

³The design doesnıt fit in with the character of the neighborhood² one concerned citizen said.

Kate Martin, a landscape designer who lives in the Phinney neighborhood, was one of several people in the audience who criticized Buffaloıs proposed design. After the meeting, she told the Jet City Maven: ³The building looks like it was dropped out of ı70s Kirkland.²

Martin spoke with emotion during the meeting as she got up to propose an alternative design of her own for the new Greenwood Library.

Martinıs proposal included what amounts to a comprehensive redevelopment of downtown Greenwood. It shows many new mixed-use buildings coming in and even a new street, N. 86th, being created, which would run right next to the new library building. She said she has already talked to several landowners in the area who have responded positively to her ideas.

Martinıs concerns with the design proposed at the Dec. 5 meeting were many. First, she said, the pedestrian path planned is too narrow to make women and senior citizens feel comfortable about using it at night. Second, Martin pointed out that the zoning in that area allows for buildings up to 65 feet. She fears that a one-story library building would be dwarfed by the newer, larger structures that will undoubtedly come to downtown Greenwood at some point and she believes that the site could be more efficiently used by a mixed-use building that would include a library on the bottom floor. In addition, Martin said would like to see structured parking added to the project.

Martin has also pointed out that the McDonaldıs site poses a zoning problem because institutions such as libraries are not one of uses which would normally be allowed on that lot.

While Douglas Bailey, project manager for the Seattle Public Libraryıs Capital Program Office, said the Cityıs Department of Design Construction and Land Use has been supportive of their efforts to get an exception to the zoning, Mark Troxel of DCLU said that the exception will require a new ordinance that must be approved by the City Council and that, that process will take months to complete.

At the Dec. 5 meeting The library pointed out that a mixed-use building is often not readily identifiable as the library building and the library within it is usually difficult to expand.

While Bailey estimated the cost of adding a parking structure to the project at around $750,000, Harris said that structured parking has not been completely ruled out, though the added cost would have to be offset in some way.

Martin has been gathering support for her point of view. She has been circulating a petition that asks that the new library be built on the Palatine Avenue rather than Greenwood Avenue side of the site and asks for the creation of an open space area, effectively a N. 86th Street. According to Martin the petition has over 50 signatures.

But not all Greenwood residents share Martinıs concerns.

Gary Teachout, president of a community group called Friends of the Greenwood Library, which has been advising the Library Board on plans for the new Greenwood Library, voiced support for the currently proposed design. Teachout is also owner of the Garyıs Games store, which is located next door to the McDonaldıs site.

Teachout said he would prefer to see a library that is a stand-alone building, but added that he personally favors underground parking. He believes the costs could be offset by making it a pay lot.

One thing almost everyone seems to agree on is that new development is coming to Greenwood, and soon.

³Lots of (downtown Greenwood) property owners have one-story buildings on very expensive dirt,² said Teachout.

With the agreement reached at their board meeting on Dec. 19 to pause the design process, the library has responded to community voices like that of Michael McGinn, of the Greenwood Community Council who said he hoped the library would slow down and take the time to get the project right. The Greenwood-Phinney community has recently formed a Greenwood Library Community Liaison Committee to work with the library on design issues.

Martin plans to be active on that committee and continues to have confidence in her ideas for the Greenwood neighborhood.

³If (the library) canıt recognize that what Iım talking about is good urban design then I feel sorry for them,² she said.