Here is an update from the project manager, Paige McGehee, for the Seattle Public Schools search for a site for an athletic field for school athletic use. Note the meeting scheduled for this coming Wednesday, the 20th, has been moved from the Lincoln Library to the Commons inside Hamilton International Middle School.
Dear Community Member,
Thank you for your continued interest and engagement around the location for a new synthetic turf field for Lincoln High School students.
In advance of our next community meeting on November 20, here is an update on what we’ll be discussing:
- A revised plan for Wallingford Playfield:
- We are proposing a smaller, half-size synthetic turf field that maintains current community use while supporting Lincoln High School and Hamilton International Middle School students for P.E. and after-school activities.
- This approach ensures the park’s character remains intact, balancing current community use with minor additional school-related use. We are not planning lighting for this revised proposal.
- Evaluation of alternative sites:
- We have carefully reviewed suggestions from the community, including Gas Works Park, the Lincoln parking lot, Queen Anne Bowl, and Meridian Park. At this meeting, we’ll explain why some sites are not feasible and share insights into our selection process.
- While Queen Anne Bowl has been eliminated as a permanent solution, it remains a potential interim option.
- Next steps and stakeholder engagement:
- We are exploring longer-term possibilities for a full-size field, including Woodland Park, which offers opportunities for a more comprehensive and thoughtful solution.
- Your feedback has been instrumental in shaping these proposals, and we’ll continue to work closely with Seattle Parks and other stakeholders to refine our plans.
We understand concerns around over-activation and changes to the park’s character. These discussions have guided us to ensure any solution aligns with community values while addressing student needs.
📅 Date: Wednesday, November 20
⏰ Time: 6:00 p.m.
📍 Location: Hamilton International Middle School – Commons – PLEASE NOTE THE UPDATED LOCATION BASED ON COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
A virtual option will also be available. More details: http://www.seattleschools.org/lincoln-field
We look forward to your input on November 20. Your participation is key to shaping a balanced, equitable solution for our students and the community.
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Isn't gradually phasing out football programs the long term solution that makes the most sense?
Are you suggesting that phasing out the boys’ football program (but hopefully not the girls’ flag football program) would negate the need to an all-weather field? What about other sports? A soccer field is about the same length, and preferably wider than a football field.
I personally believe that American culture couples competitive sport too tightly with the educational system, certainly more than is done in many other countries.
I think it would be fine (if not better) for us to transition in the direction of having competitive youth sports be done primarily in community clubs unaffiliated with schools. This is already the case for many sports; if you want to compete at archery or luge or tae-kwon-do Lincoln doesn't have a team for that and you'll have to look for an external group to practice with. Would it be so bad to make this be the case for the rest of the sports too?
If this were to happen it wouldn't really be necessary for every school to have a full-sized football field at its disposal. I do realize this is something of a fringe opinion and will not be seriously considered anytime soon.
School definitely have PE needs, and football just happened to be a bad choice for PE, therefore really not much reason for schools to support this specific sport. It's really just a tradition thing.
For keeping the tradition, I recommend Lincoln High to get rid of the football team but keep a football appreciation club and assign them a classroom to watch football films. They can do a football game re-enactment every year in the Wallingford Playfield.
There's no particular need for football or soccer to be part of a PE curriculum. The point is to get kids moving, and there are lots of great activities that can be done in a smaller area than football or soccer requires.
The need for this facility then comes from the tradition that any respectable high school will sponsor a competitive team in these sports who will then compete for bragging rights against other nearby schools. To do that they need a full-sized practice facility in close proximity to the school. Absent that tradition the need for a field mostly evaporates.
Very few kids play a sport for bragging rights; they play because it’s fun. For many kids, a fun sport is a team sport, played on a field. That’s a great reason to support having a field for them.
Soccer practice facility requirement is way lower, and do not need a soccer field. Same as many other sports. Really, why football, which has very low participation rate in general? Baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, and tennis all got higher percentage of students playing. It makes more sense to build basketball/volleyball facility for PE needs, or just some grass field for soccer and baseball practices.
Also, wasn't the sentiment some time ago to phase out football for health reasons? Do we now move on to other topics already?
I agree, football is a waste of space. There are already facilities for basketball, volleyball, and tennis at Lincoln. Golf just isn’t going to fit in Wallingford. What’s needed is an all-weather field for soccer and frisbee— not just for practice, but for games, so that home games can be played in the neighborhood
This seems like a reasonable compromise to me. A half-sized field will still add a lot of use cases to the Playfield that aren't currently possible and will make the park less cramped than under the "full field" alternative that was floated initially. It seems that SPS and Parks & Rec have listened to a range of community voices and are adapting their approach accordingly, which they deserve praise for. I hope that we can all have a positive meeting on the 20th.
Hmmm… let’s see… upgrade Hamilton, but stop maintaining Wallingford Playfield and continue using the field in winter. Then complain about the condition of the field and cite poor condition as a reason to replace the field with synthetic turf. Create the problem, then resolve it by kicking everyone else off the field, to resolve said “problem” in your favor! Baloney!
Despite concerns raised by Wallingford, and over 30 years of planning, jointly, by the School District, Community Council and the neighborhood, it was School District Facilities that messed things up by the nearly overnight decision to try to place the City’s largest high school on the City’s SMALLEST property. District Standards require a minimum of 17 acres for a high school. Lincoln is 6.7.
Middle school minimum is 12 acres. Hamilton is 2.0 acres. Largest middle school on a site too small for an elementary school.
In other words, School District Facilities creates a problem, ignoring those in the community expressing concern, ignoring 30 years of School studies and Facilities Master Plans, runs the local field into the ground, and then tries to place the largest school on the smallest site, and then expects the community to give up their ONLY open space due to the messed up School District planning???
Lincoln has been using Lower Woodland park for athletics since BEFORE 1924. It is not like this design condition was not known ages ago. We tried to get the School District to wise up. They insisted, as they have insisted for years, no decades, that they do not need Wallingford Playfield for their programs. Do not punish the Wallingford community for the stupidity of Seattle District Facilities.
Both schools are here and not going anywhere. Past grievances with the school district are not a valid reason to oppose the plans for the park.