Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 4, April 2003

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New park for Northgate?

By MATTHEW PREUSCH

King County Council Chair Cynthia Sullivan has pushed through a plan to transfer the County's Northgate North Park and Ride Lot at NE 112th Street and Fifth Avenue NE to the City for the creation of a new community park.

The vote cleared the first legal hurdle towards transforming the parking lot into open space for the neighborhood, Sullivan said.

But before the deal can be finalized the City needs to come up with funds to install enough parking spaces at the County's main Northgate Park and Ride Lot, located next to the Northgate Transit Center just south of the mall, to make up for parking capacity the County would lose by giving up the North Park and Ride Lot. The County has already passed $350,000 to help acquire the park property.

The North Park and Ride Lot has long been marked by City planners as potential open space. A successful transfer of the land would be a victory for a long-time supporter of the park idea, Haller Lake resident Velva Maye, who lives just north of the North Park and Ride Lot.

Sullivan said creation of the park would contribute to encouraging a more livable Northgate area.