Crown Hill community works to keep old school building

Seattle P-I and Times report on the drive by community groups to keep five surplussed Seattle school buildings as community centers.

Community plans for former elementary school in limbo now that it's up for grabs

Across Holman Road from a burger joint, stores and gas stations, children played in what neighbors hope will remain their park.

Boys enrolled at the preschool also on the site dug in the dirt with green and blue plastic shovels while others clambered over huge rubber tires.

Girls in helmets biked around the concrete playground, grass rising through the cracks. One took purple streamers off her handlebars and put them in her hair. Another plucked a yellow pansy, cupping it like a baby bird.

The former Crown Hill Elementary School site brings the community together, Crown Hill neighbors say. But Seattle Public Schools decided last month it would become surplus property for sale. The news has sparked both opportunity and panic.

The property is used by hundreds of children and adults daily, residents say. Tuesday, those at the Small Faces Child Development Center played outside, summer school and preschool students sat inside, legs crossed, and listened to stories. The Arc School of Ballet, which presents the annual "Nutcracker" in the school's former auditorium, held classes, while flamenco and yoga students also took classes nearby.

The 4-acre property was designated in Seattle's Pro-Parks Levy in 2000 for about $1 million in funding for design, development and construction of Crown Hill Park, assuming a long-term lease with the district.

Neighbors worked with Seattle Parks and Recreation to develop a plan that included open space, a soccer field and baseball field for children younger than 8, a small skate park, a bike loop, park benches and a community theater or amphitheater.

Concerned residents and businesses now are marshaling resources to do something they hoped would be unnecessary: Buy the site first.

"This park is central to our vision. It is our community," said Molly Hanson, president of the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association.

Some recent developments have given neighbors hope.

Seattle School Board members voted unanimously June 6 to amend the district's facilities master plan, stating: "Portions of sites at Fauntleroy, Webster and Crown Hill which are currently used as parks or playgrounds or are not currently used by the tenants should be offered for acquisition as public open space."

University Heights and the Allen site (Phinney Ridge) also were designated surplus.

Donald Harris, property and acquisition services manager for the parks department, said "the city is evaluating how to deal with all those sites" in light of the district's recent decision.

"Basically, what the surplus (Crown Hill) site means is that somebody's got to buy it," Harris said. "The community is mobilizing resources to see how to buy it. The community believes they can come up with the money. ... I've been pretty impressed with what they've been able to do so far."

The Pro-Parks Levy Oversight Committee also recently decided to continue reserving the previously designated funding for Crown Hill Park, rather than shifting it to another project amid the indecision.

"We're very determined," Hanson said, adding that the school district has given the community a year to develop a plan for the property.

Catherine Weatbrook, a board of directors member for Small Faces Child Development Center, the site's master tenant, said the center's current lease with the district expires in May 2008. A sought-after 10-year lease extension "apparently has fallen by the wayside," she said.

David Tucker, spokesman for Seattle Public Schools, confirmed that the district gave the community a year to come up with a plan for the site; he did not have a cost estimate. Ron English, the district's deputy general counsel and liaison for the project, is expected to be among the speakers at a community forum Wednesday, but could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The Cascade Land Conservancy plans to conduct a feasibility study for the site.

"CLC is working with the Small Faces Child Development Center, the Crown Hill neighborhood and the city of Seattle on developing a plan for the potential acquisition of the site," conservancy spokesman Steve Dunphy said Tuesday, adding that the effort is "in the preliminary stages."

Meanwhile, neighbors are concerned that the property, particularly a piece along Holman Road designated for ball fields, could be purchased and turned into housing and/or retail space. The land is zoned commercial, Hanson said.