By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Those who know Ravenna Park have seen Ravenna Creek flow peacefully through its lovely, wooded setting.

What some might not realize is that after the creek completes its 2,200-foot journey through the park, it drops into the county sewer system.

King County has also been working to get Ravenna Creek out of the sewer system for 10 years for an obvious reason: it's a waste of clean water.

At the same time, volunteers such as Kit O'Neill, president of the Ravenna Creek Alliance, have spent a decade working to get Ravenna Creek daylighted as much as possible down to the University Slough, sending the water through short pipes and arch culverts only where necessary.

After 10 years, the alliance's efforts are about to pay off - at least in part. Ravenna Creek will be daylighted for another 500 to 600 feet in the southeast corner of Ravenna Park and then drop into a pipe, which will carry the water out to the slough.

But back in March, the outlook wasn't so rosy. Confusion about the wording in last fall's Parks for All Levy jeopardized the project.

What happened is this: the language of the levy, which voters approved, called for daylighting the creek in Cowen, not Ravenna Park. While the two parks are connected, they are still considered separate entities, and technically, Ravenna Creek does not exist in Cowen Park.

According to Alix Ogden, executive assistant to the superintendent of parks, the confusion happened because the Parks Department was finalizing the language in the levy while City Council members were still negotiating with King County officials about sharing the cost of the project.

Ogden said that because it seemed that the county had already set aside enough money for the entire project including design, the Parks Department thought that they could earmark $412,000 in the levy for Cowen Park improvements alone. This includes restoring a stream, which will improve the drainage in the park.

However, in a letter to King County Executive Ron Sims and King County Councilmember Cynthia Sullivan dated April 14, 2000, Mayor Paul Schell and City Councilmembers Margaret Pageler, Richard Conlin and Nick Licata stated that " funds to design the course of the Creek within Ravenna Park have been earmarked in the proposed parks funding levy..."

In a reply letter dated May 9, 2000, Sims said "Our understanding is that the City will undertake responsibility for design, construction and maintenance of the portion of the creek to be daylighted within Ravenna Park..."

Fortunately for Ravenna Creek's advocates, an agreement has been reached between the city and the county. It now appears that close to $150,000 of the $412,000 the City will levy from Parks for All will go to designing the Ravenna Park project, while the rest will go to stream restoration in Cowen Park. The City will also be responsible for maintenance on the creek once it is daylighted. The City Council must still approve the plan which will probably happen sometime in May or June.

Having the City involved in the project is also expected to help a great deal in streamlining the permitting process. If all goes according to plan, the Ravenna Creek daylighting will likely begin in 2003.

Ogden did say that the City may ask the county to reimburse them if the county's portion of the project comes in under budget, but also said that they would not sacrfice the quality of the project.

"We don't want to skimp on the construction to get reimbursed for the design," Ogden said. "All the pieces are in place to get this project done."

Ogden also said the the Parks Cepartment has assigned Virgina Hassinger to manage the daylighting project.

In addition to partially daylighting Ravenna Creek and redirecting it to the University Slough, some public art installations are planned as part of the project. While it's not yet known what form that public art will take, the Ravenna Creek Alliance has already received permission to use Robert Frost's poem, "A Brook in the City" along the creek route.

For O'Neill, the public art aspect of the project repesents a partially successful ending to 10 years of hard work.

"The concept of daylighting will have visability," O'Neill said. "That is success."

For more info, call Virgina Hassinger with the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department at 233-7936.