Lincoln High is getting a $19M update. An earlier version of this story mentioned that that part of this would involve changing the parking lot into a playfield (which would have a pretty big impact on the surrounding neighborhood), but I got a few notes that this was in error. Rachel wrote:
I just wanted to correct some of the information you posted about the proposed athletic field at Lincoln High School. I was on the design committee as a community participant, and the plan to is to keep the north lot as a parking lot when the school is renovated, as well as take over the current library/Solid Ground parking (which belongs to the school district). The master plan would convert the west half of the parking lot into a small playing field in the future. But funding for that is contingent on future building levies (there is no current funding for it, nor for providing seismic and ADA upgrades to the two east buildings).
Also, there will be no outdoor athletic/play spaces in the current plan (the plan is for students to use the fields at Lower Woodland).
[Also of note,] the gym and theatre (the 2 east buildings) will NOT be seismically retrofitted or modified to accommodate disabled students under the current plan. The buildings have not been updated since they were built in 1959, and would not likely withstand a major earthquake.
If you want to learn more about it, there’s going to be a community meeting on Thursday to learn about the Lincoln High renovations in general. Presumably, the parking lot conversion will be part of it.
Lee Basset writes:
The plan for renovating Lincoln High School will be presented to the community on June 23rd from 6:30 to 8:00 at the Lincoln High School Auditorium. This renovation is part of the Seattle School District’s “Building Excellence” bond program. I think the community will be pleased with many of the ideas being proposed. However, the design team was faced with significant challenges due to the age of the building, size of the lot, and historic preservation constraints. Perhaps the biggest constraint has been an inadequate budget which resulted in disappointing compromises: non-compliance with American with Disabilities Act access standards in the east building, no seismic upgrades to the east building, no significant theatre upgrades, and no outdoor athletic facilities. The east building issues are to be addressed by future bond funding.
As a former Lincoln High School faculty member, community resident, and member of the renovation advisory team I have mixed feelings about the plan. On the one hand, I believe the design team has come up with educationally sound ideas and an attractive design. On the other, it seems unacceptable to go forward with a design that fails to meet seismic and ADA standards in all buildings.
Please plan to attend, learn about the plan, and share your enthusiasm and concerns.
A bit more info can be found on the BEX IV project page.
I sent out an email regarding the multi story parking structure and play field mentioned in the Lincoln design review meetings notes and received this:
Response: The parking garage was never part of the project. It was
brought up by one member of the SDAT as a “nice to have”. There was a
concept plan to have a play field at the western portion of the existing
parking lot. The eastern portion of the existing parking lot would remain as a
parking lot. At this junction in early design we are removing the playfield
from consideration because of budgetary limits so the entire parking lot would
remain.
The parking lot/play field debate is a small part of the design. The designers suggested reducing parking, not eliminating it and there is no budget for it, so it’s not part of the initial plan. I hope people focus on the entire plan during the meeting and not the one aspect. There are plenty of other items that need the community’s input: earthquake retrofitting, outdoor gathering spaces, classroom layout, bus circulation and more need attention. This project is about creating a safe, useful and wonderful space for our children the thrive and for our community activities to take place. Let’s come to the meeting with that in mind.
Regarding the parking vs field comment. I’ve lived through two interim high schools at the Lincoln site and parking and traffic was horrendous with a parking lot, I can’t imaging what it would be like without one. A sport field would be fun though.
I also believe that the traffic flow should be carefully thought out. Currently everything gets bottlenecked as cars exit East onto the one way (north bound) Woodlawn Avenue. I wonder if exiting on the West side to Interlake would be a better option as you could go West on Allen to Stoneway, or North on Interlake to 45th, or South on Interlake.
The bigger issue for me – and a great reason to attend the meeting (especially if you have elementary of younger students who might attend Lincoln in a few years) – is that the school district has budgeted NO MONEY for seismic upgrades, despite the fact that the gym and auditorium have been declared seismically unfit and were last updated in 1959. The amount of money allocated for their overhaul of the building is ridiculously small – barely enough to cover the cost of replacing all of the warped windows that won’t close and definitely not enough to make the building safe in the likely event of a large earthquake. Here’s more info from someone who was part of the School Design Advisory Team (SDAT):
The School Design Advisory Team (SDAT) is made up of SPS teachers, staff, a student, architects and community members. The SDAT is working on remodeling the Lincoln Building and met from 6/15-5/16. The SDAT is very concerned that the gym and theater buildings are seismically extremely unsafe and have last been upgraded in 1959. SDAT recommended upgrades and the architects/SPS responded that there aren’t funds to upgrade the buildings.
If you go to this site, you will find the notes to all the Lincoln design meetings:
http://bex.seattleschools.org/…/school-design-advisory-team/
On this particular slide, you will note the need for seismic upgrades on the gym and auxiliary buildings on the east side of campus (see page 29)
http://bex.seattleschools.org/…/bulk…/Lincoln-SDAT-Mtg-1.pdf
I just went through all the minutes on Lincoln High. I see that a seismic engineer was asked to look at several buildings, but I did not see anywhere in the minutes that the buildings have been deemed unsafe. What is the source of “the buildings are extremely unsafe”? There are plenty of buildings constructed in 1957 that are seismically sound, hence the question. If there is a definitive opinion by an engineer, then I am concerned.
The lack of a playfield or sports field for LHS is also an issue. Lower Woodland Field is already being used by Hamilton.
Definitely.. build/design/create a multi-sportsfield/playground/ dogs off leash park with no parking! Magni idea!
So you’d like to use the space for Fido to run free while taking away parking for parents who are there to pick up their kids? How do you propose parents get their kids at the end of the day? Wait, don’t tell me…..
Presumably, because the kids are in high school, most will be bussing, walking or biking. They can meet parents in the school loading areas or on a nearby street if they need a ride. I’m not even sure existing high school have parking lots to accommodate parents parking during pick up and drop off. That would be interesting to find out.
The last two interim high schools had lots of students driving cars. Roosevelt students drove more than the Garfield kids, but either way it was a mad house.
Oh yes, I remember that all too well. The hope this time around is that it won’t be such a problem because the students will be from the area, not people driving in from other neighborhoods. And, from what I hear, there will be an effort to encourage alternatives to driving. There was no incentive to do that with the interim schools because the students (and parents) and school administration were not invested in the neighborhood because it was temporary.
Fewer parking would discourage driving though. The harder and the more expensive to park, the fewer people who drive.
Tell us more about how the city and the HALA boosters’ War On Cars is just hyperbole from evil car drivers.
Ha. Having seen Ballard, Garfield and Roosevelt students at Lincoln, I can ASSURE you that high school students drove to Garfield. Plus, many more teachers and staff. All competing for parking with residents, the two banks, the 45th street clinic, and Hamilton staff.
Isn’t noncompliance with ADA…. against the law? Oh wait, Memorial Stadium isn’t ADA compliant either. You might as well not attend the high school if you can’t go through commencement.
Enough with the wilting sarcasm: Lincoln has been on the go list for years, and probably shouldn’t be occupied NOW (fire sprinkler issues come to mind). Rules were bent to provide an overflow location and those same rules are being broken to reopen it.
I’m pretty sure Cathy’s post was all sarcasm
Has anyone noticed that Hamilton School seems to be functioning quite well with virtually no parking?
Yes but Hamilton has a smaller staff and no kids driving. Lincoln (I assume) will have more staff and 3/4 of the students possibly eligible to drive.
Given the abundance of bus routes serving the area within a few blocks of Lincoln, what you cite may be an especially good reason to not provide parking.
There were adequate bus routes during the last interim schools and that didn’t stop a large population of the students from driving. It would be great to come up with some incentives.
My daughter graduated from Roosevelt two years ago, and I have to say – the kids drive to school because it’s cool, so they can drive somewhere for lunch, for prestige, etc. They’ll drive 2 blocks to school if you give them a chance. Convenient bus routes (and anything sensible) have absolutely nothing to do with it. Incentives (or bribes, whatever) that work would take creativity. Maybe some sort of very restrictive RPZ with big fines for several blocks around the school.