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About
the Magnuson Community Garden
The history of the garden is
detailed to assist others in how the garden was built.
This page provides an overview of the process.
What Is the
Magnuson Community Garden?
The Magnuson Community Garden is a
4-acre multi-purpose garden located in Seattle's Warren G.
Magnuson Park. It was developed by volunteers from many
organizations over several years. And, it is still and
work in progress. The garden has been developed under
the guidance of the Magnuson Community Garden, a nonprofit
organization.
Several components make up the
Magnuson Community Garden. They include the Magnuson
P-Patch, the Children's Garden, the Native Plant Nursery, the
Native Plant Boarders, the Orchard, and the Amphitheater.
The idea for a community garden in
Magnuson Park began in 2000 when the Department of
Neighborhood's Sand Point P-Patch needed to be moved to a new
location. For 25 years, the P-Patch had been on property
leased from Seattle Children's Hospital on Sand Point Way
across from the former Sand Point Naval Station. Children's
needed to build on the property. The desire for a new
community garden was expressed to city officials at the time
when the city was developing reuse plans for the
decommissioned Sand Point Naval Base. The community
garden concept was considered by the commission developing a
master plan for Sand Point.
The Magnuson Park
Concept Plan, adopted by Seattle City Council Resolution
No. 30063, called for a 4-acre community garden to be
located immediately east of the Brig in Magnuson
Park. The garden will serve horticultural purposes
related to plant education, demonstrating native plant
materials, composting, facilities to accommodate gardening for
persons with physical disabilities, in addition to relocating
the displaced Sand Point P-Patch at NE 70th and the Burke
Gilman Trail. A coalition of Sand Point gardeners and
other interest groups worked on the design phase of
multi-purpose garden which will provide educational
opportunities, programs to integrate gardening into
community center activities, and involve the on-site
transitional housing families, special plots for production of
organic vegetables for local food banks, as well as space for
gardeners involved in the city's P-Patch program.
The Magnuson Park
Concept Plan
The Magnuson Park
Concept Plan provided guidance for the Magnuson Park
design. It included a Concept Plan Map and the
1997 Physical Development Management Plan for Sand Point as
amended by Council
Resolution No. 30063. The final plan was prepared
by Mayor Paul Schell's Blue Ribbon Committee appointed in June
1998. It was the result of months of work city staff and
the design team lead by Jones & Jones Architects and
Landscape Architects. The Blue Ribbon Committee
was charged with conducting a comprehensive review and
assessment of the Sand Point Magnuson Park peninsula,
including planning, operations, management and financing
elements. The Blue Ribbon Committee's recommendations
were considered by the Council in September and adopted on
November 1, 1999. See Magnuson Parks Vision
for a 21st Century Park
Why a Community
Garden/P-Patch was Included in the Park
Community gardens are
part of the concept of providing open space in an urban
environment. When Seattle was working on its Urban
Village strategy of denser, pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods
in the city's comprehensive plan, community gardens were
considered essential public facilities. Urban
gardening can be an important community development
tool. The Blue Ribbon Committee recommended a philosophy
to guide park use which basically related to the question,
what will a use contribute to the park and its other users,
and what public benefits would the use bring. A
community garden in the park will contribute to park use by
providing park users educational opportunities, amenities, as
well as a place to bring people in the neighborhood
together. Several community gardens have been developed
in Seattle Parks including Bradner Gardens, Lincoln Park, and
Queen Anne Terrace.
The Garden Vision
and Mission
A multi-purpose
garden was envisaged on the designated 4-acre site. Completed,
it included neighborhood gardening opportunities,
educational programs such as demonstration gardens, composting
methods, and native plant cultivation. The garden serves
seniors, transitional housing residents, youth, and the
handicapped as well as neighborhood P-Patch
gardeners. The garden encourages people to enjoy
an environment that promotes beauty, neighborliness, healthy
living and stewardship of the natural resources of the Sand
Point Peninsula.
The mission of
Magnuson Community Garden is to enhance the quality of urban
life and strengthen community bonds by creating and sustaining
an organic garden in Sand Point Magnuson Park that will foster
environmental stewardship, horticultural education,
rejuvenation, and recreation
Planning the
Magnuson Community Garden
Initially, the lead
for planning a community garden at Magnuson Park was the
Magnuson Community Garden Coalition, a group of organizations
with a common vision to promote urban ecology, environmental
stewardship, beautification of the park, education, and
healthy food gardening. Public input was sought to
present ideas to the coalition and the landscape architect
engaged to create a plan for the garden. A series of
three public meetings took place May 25, June 7, and July 11,
2000 to develop a final plan which was submitted to the
Seattle Design Commission and the Seattle Parks
Department. The Coalition voted to become a nonprofit
called the Magnuson Community Garden in the summer of
2001. Administration of the project was transferred to
the nonprofit board in November 2001. See Magnuson
Community Garden Organization
How Was the Garden
Funded?
Interested gardeners
met in November 1999 to discuss applying to the city for a
Neighborhood matching grant to cover the costs of designing a
garden in Magnuson Park. A Small and Simple, $10,000
grant was applied for under the name of the Magnuson Gardens
Coalition. As part of the grant requirement, gardeners
pledged volunteer time (in-kind match) to match the dollars of
the grant. The grant was awarded to the group in March
2000 and the process of community outreach and garden
design began. A second Small and Simple grant was
applied for and received to detail the garden design. The
Garden applied for a Neighborhood Large Construction Fund
Matching Grant to begin physical construction. In
addition to the matching grant, funding was used from the Pro
Parks Fund levy passed by voters in the fall of 2000.
The basic infrastructure and initial plantings were
completed in the spring of 2004.
The Design Process
Notices were
published in the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce on
March 31, 2000 soliciting the services of a landscape
architect to assist in the design process. The firm of
Barker Landscape Architects was selected to render a concept
design. Three public meetings were held. The first, on
May 25, 2000, to solicit ideas from the public, the
others were to comment and suggest changes to the draft
concept. The design was finalized and reviewed and
approved by the Seattle Design Commission and the Parks
Department. Final construction drawings have been
prepared by Barker Landscape. A SEPA review took place
in October 2001 with notice published in the Daily Journal of
Commerce.
The Matching Fund
Grant
Seattle's
Neighborhood Matching Fund Program is a partnership between
the City of Seattle and neighborhood-based organizations. The
City supplies cash for a neighborhood project and the
neighborhood matches the City's contribution with volunteer
labor, donated materials, professional services, and cash. For
more information see the Department of Neighborhoods Matching
Fund Programs. The Coalition received two
$10,000 Small
and Simple Projects Fund awards. Persons
participating in the planning process pledged $10,000 in
volunteer labor, donated materials, professional
services, and cash. The Garden applied for a Department
of Neighborhoods Large
Project Fund for construction the fall of 2001, and was
awarded $150,000 which was matched by in-kind labor,
materials, and cash.
For detailed
description of the design-build process see the pages:
Reviewed 03/2013
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