Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 3, March 2004

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Dreams of fields

City Council to debate Magnuson Park playfields issue

By JAMES BUSH

Magnuson Park on a sunny Saturday morning in February is a beautiful, quiet place. A group of 40-something men playing a pickup soccer game provide the only activity on the otherwise deserted sports playfields, whose rusted soccer goals and makeshift wooden picnic shelter give them a rickety neighborhood charm. It's a clear day, so the Cascade Mountains and especially Mount Rainier are clearly visible across Lake Washington.

"It's irreplaceable," said Diana Kincaid. "It's a real gem of a park."

Kincaid and her fellow members of a citizens group called Friends of Magnuson Park are battling a City proposal to build 15 playfields at the park, including 11 that will be lit for night play. The City Council is just beginning formal review of the park master plan, with a final vote expected by early summer.

Although the prospect of bulldozers roaming through the park is upsetting to many, the lighting issue has stolen the show.

The current proposal calls for 628 light fixtures on 78 poles, each standing 65 feet to 85 feet. A nighttime lighting demonstration held in November 2001 galvanized opposition to the project, especially after neighbors learned that the very visible light show represented less than 5 percent of the light fixtures which would be included in the final project.

More recently, more than 200 people attended a Feb. 2 forum sponsored by Friends of Magnuson Park. The threat of massive light pollution has also drawn the attention of activists across the lake, who have formed the Eastside Friends of Lake Washington to monitor the project.

Critics liken the intensity of the lights to those in a major sports stadium, except that stadiums are used intermittently and most include surrounding structures that shield nearby areas from spill light. "Lake Washington acts like a big mirror," said Kirkland resident Rob Horwitz. "You couldn't put it anywhere else that would cause as much light pollution."

Field proponents reply that Sand Point/Magnuson Park, as Seattle's second largest public open space, should be more fully used for the benefit of the entire city.

Ed D'Alessandro, the fields advocate for the Seattle Youth Soccer Association and a soccer dad (his three daughters all play the game), said that Northeast Seattle produces an extremely high demand for youth sports, yet is one of the most field-less sections of the city. The LVR Soccer Club (the initials stand for Laurelhurst, View Ridge, and Ravenna) is the largest of the 13 different clubs that comprise his association, he noted. "This is a neighborhood park, he said of the playfields proposal. "A lot of the kids in the neighborhood need it."

Scott Freeman, a former youth sports coach and board member of the nonprofit group Friends of Athletic Fields, said demand for playfields has risen sharply, but few fields have been added to the City's inventory. "Field users have been in a crisis mode for almost ten years, every since girls sports expanded," he said.

While Freeman acknowledged that the sky glow which will be caused by the field lights is a legitimate issue, he said he feels it has been overstated by opponents. After lighting consultant Jim Benya spoke at a Feb. 2 Friends of Magnuson Park forum, Freeman questioned many of his assertions and said that Friends of Athletic Fields plans to hire its own lighting consultant.

"The Kirkland issue is just one that drives us over the edge," added D'Alessandro. Kirkland is about two and a half miles away from the park, he noted. "If you held up your thumb in front of your face, that would be as large as the park is going to appear [from across the lake]."

Field proponents also noted that Magnuson Park is hardly pristine wildlife habitat. The Sand Point peninsula was first paved over for use as a King County airport, then was transferred to the federal government as Sand Point Naval Air Station in 1922. After the former airfield was closed, the City acquired about 260 acres of park property in 1975, then another 90 in 1999.

While many naval station buildings remain on the upland portion of the property near Sand Point Way, the former airfield has all but disappeared (unless you count the tons of former airfield paving materials that form the base of Kite Hill). The trees and underbrush that grow in the still-swampy ground are now home to some 150 species of birds.

The park may not be pristine, but it is beautiful, replied Kim Wells, president of Friends of Magnuson Park. After 30 years recovering from the damage inflicted by the filling and paving of airport construction, "the whole heart of the park will start from ground zero," she said. "How long will it take to catch up?"

If the project is approved by the City Council, a unlighted, four-field natural grass "sports meadow" will be constructed starting this summer at a cost of about $873,000. Construction on the remaining 11 sports fields, all with lighting and synthetic turf, will get underway in 2006, at a cost of about $9.3 million (provided by the 2000 Pro Parks Levy).

Also planned is an ambitious, but as yet largely unfunded, habitat restoration project which would create numerous ponds and artificial wetland areas to the east of the sports fields.

Only about $3 million (also Pro Park Levy money) in wetlands project funding has been obtained by the City.

The City Council debate could be another chapter in that body's contentious relationship with Mayor Greg Nickels. In late 2002, the council passed a resolution asking for detailed information on field demand, as well as dictating new field lighting priorities. Nickels refused to comply.

Freeman said that both sides are trying hard to make their case right now, both to the public and to policy-makers. "Emotions run high because people really care about the park," he said. "But if people have good information, they'll realize it's going to be a fantastic asset."