Magnolia or Seattle Center;Where Should a New High School Be Located?

Here's a very comprehensive look at the situation over in Magnolia at Fort Lawton as written by Outside City Hall's George Howland, Jr.

It comes down to this:

Twenty-eight acres of surplus federal property should be a great opportunity for Seattle. Instead, it shows signs of becoming a terrible civic imbroglio. I fear that the interests of homeless people will be lost in the melee.

The feds have also designated the city of Seattle as the Local Redevelopment Authority for the site. The city can have the land for free provided it be used for public purposes like housing, a school or a park.

So again, like the situation with the former Federal Reserve building in downtown, the feds are offering this land first for public uses. 


There are three things that could be done:

• Mayor Ed Murray’s proposal is to build a new 235-unit affordable-housing development, including 85 studios for homeless seniors, next to Discovery Park. 
• The majority of the 2,000 public comments on the proposal support a new public high school on the site. 
• There is also significant public support for using the surplus land to enlarge Discovery Park from 534 acres to 562 acres.

Reading Howland's accounting of what the space would be like for homeless and low-income folks, I think it's great. 

Murray’s new development would include the following: 85 studios for homeless people who are 55 or older, 75-100 apartments of workforce housing (available to, for example, a single person who has an income of $40,000 or less—60 percent of the area’s median income) and 50 affordable town houses available for purchase, for example, by a single person with an income of $50,000 or less—80 percent of Seattle’s median income. It would also feature 15 acres of open space including playfields, an off-leash dog area and concessions.

That's a lot of help to many people including current residents in Magnolia.  My only concern - as others have pointed out - is that Magnolia is an isolated area with not-great bus service. 

Howland points out that there seems to be little public support for this idea in Magnolia which I find puzzling.

What about a new high school:

Using Fort Lawton to expand Discovery Park has significant support from the Discovery Park Community Alliance. Its leader, Elizabeth Campbell, led the successful 2008 court battle. She says about the current fight, “The city is dealing with people who have money and are active in the community.” Their neighborhood support and their ability to tie up the city in court should not be discounted.

There is now a Fort Lawton School Coalition group that has sprung up and they have a petition.

This petition is asking for the City of Seattle/Seattle City Council to direct the Office of Housing to partner with the Seattle Public Schools to create a fifth alternative that assesses the impact of a school along and additional park space. 

We promote the importance of including contiguous green space to sustain and promote wildlife in this critical habitat.

I note that the article states that the City and the district are talking about this together which is good to hear. 

This fall, the city can add a school alternative in the next step of the Fort Lawton EIS. The Office of Housing’s Alvarez says the city and Seattle Public Schools are now seriously evaluating Fort Lawton as a site for a new high school. “We are doing our due diligence with Seattle Public Schools,” Alvarez says.

If the school district decides that it wants Fort Lawton, city hall will seriously consider it. The city council knows the public schools are struggling and won’t want to be a roadblock.

If the school district doesn’t want the site, the Fort Lawton School Coalition is already lawyering up and may well mount a court battle.

Howland then explains the capacity issues in SPS and notes that the district is already talking about a downtown high school.  Now I thought those were behind-the-scenes discussions but apparently Flip Herndon has said this in public. 

The article in the Queen Anne/Magnolia news also has some other interesting statements from Herndon like if they put Center School in a new high school, it might "diminish" Center's program.  As well, he says that they are talking to developers about space for a downtown elementary school. 

Out of 78 Seattle neighborhoods analyzed by StatisticalAtlas.com, Magnolia ranks 11^th with its population of 3,500 children.

Currently, Memorial serves as the home stadium for four Seattle schools that do not have their own facilities (the reopening of Lincoln will bump that number to five).

At last week’s Uptown Alliance meeting, SPS Associate Superintendent of Facilities and Operations Flip Herndon discussed the potential of adding a 1,500-seat high school in the neighborhood on the site of Memorial Stadium. At last week’s Uptown Alliance meeting, SPS Associate Superintendent of Facilities and Operations Flip Herndon discussed the potential of adding a 1,500-seat high school in the neighborhood on the site of Memorial Stadium

Currently, Memorial serves as the home stadium for four Seattle schools that do not have their own facilities (the reopening of Lincoln will bump that number to five).

At last week’s Uptown Alliance meeting, SPS Associate Superintendent of Facilities and Operations Flip Herndon discussed the potential of adding a 1,500-seat high school in the neighborhood on the site of Memorial Stadium. At last week’s Uptown Alliance meeting, SPS Associate Superintendent of Facilities and Operations Flip Herndon discussed the potential of adding a 1,500-seat high school in the neighborhood on the site of Memorial Stadiu