Major Maintenance Project Information
Hiawatha Playfield Field Renovation
Address:
2700 California Ave SW; Seattle, WA 98116-2451
Current Status
Parks conducted several meetings with the Seattle School District, Friends
of Olmsted Parks, and the Hiawatha Advisory Council to refine the 2002
concept that was prepared by DA Hogan & Associates. The final concept
was presented to the community at a meeting held on December 12, 2007,
at the Hiawatha Community Center. DA Hogan continues in the capacity of
project designer.
Per the current schedule, the new field will open for use in late October
2008.
Project Description
Budget:
$3,600,000
Funding sources:
Seattle Parks and Recreation, $2.5 million
Seattle Public Schools, $1 million
King County Council (Dow Constantine), $100,000
Construction begins:
Summer 2008
Project complete:
Late Fall 2008
The Hiawatha Playfield will be renovated with synthetic turf and updated
lighting. Baseball, soccer, and football will be represented with full-sized
facilities. Three lanes of a non-conforming rubberized track will encompass
the sports field. Each lane will be 3.5 feet in width. The existing
field events located on the east side of the Community Center will also
be renovated.
Hiawatha Playfield is an Olmsted park and as such any changes to its
existing condition must be reviewed and approved by the Landmarks Board
and its subcommitte -- the Architectural Review Committee (ARC). ARC
has reviewed the concept twice in the past few months and the full Landmarks
Board will likely review the project details sometime in February 2008.
The football grid will be minimally striped with boundary and 5 yard
lines.
When Olmsted designed the Playfield in 1911, he only needed to accomodate
baseball: football, in its infancy, was primarily played at the college
level, and soccer wasn't yet recognized in America. Now, almost 100
years later, those three sports (plus track) must fit into the space
as it was created from Olmsted's original design.
In order to accomplish this so that the sports fields are optimally
oriented, the single, signficantly large elm located at the south end
of the existing soccer field, must come down. This elm suffered storm
damage in 2003 and is susceptible to Dutch Elm disease. As the elm will
likely suffer additional impacts during the pending field construction,
it is prudent to remove the tree now rather than compromise the fields'
orientation.
In recent years 13 young trees were installed within the inside of
the existing track. These trees will either be moved or replaced elsewhere
depending on their value.
Community Involvement
Public Meeting
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Updated
March 5, 2008
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