The Maple Leaf play area dedication is Saturday, May 18, 2013 from 10 a.m. – noon. The park features a zip line, climbing rocks, and a children’s garden.

The community knows Roxhill Park as the “Castle” park and at this celebration they will celebrate that it will still be known as “Castle” park and the new streetscape skatepark north of the play area.

In 1994, the community built the original castle play structure at Roxhill Park. In 2011, during the extensive community planning process for the Parks and Green Spaces Levy funded play area renovation project, the community learned that the castle would be removed. They made a commitment to organize the volunteers required to complete the “build” of another Leather and Associates play area design. The community build was realized over five days in early November 2012, resulting in the new castle structure and play area. The volunteer and community support was great!

“I didn’t understand the importance of this park when I signed on. But I get it now: kids need a place that is special, just for them, something that says ‘I value you.’ Well, nothing says ‘I value you’ quite like ‘I built this for you with my hands,” said Mat McBride, Delridge Neighborhood District Council Chair and Roxhill Volunteer Coordinator. “This park is a testament to the work of everyone who believed that. I’m honored to have been a part of it.”

The Parks and Green Spaces Levy included $450,000 for planning, design and renovation of the play area and $600,000 for the planning, design and construction of a skatespot. The community received a Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple Award of $20,000 that allowed for the community build out of the play area.

Seattle Parks hosted five public meetings for these combined projects and presented the skatepark designs for review by the Seattle Design Commission. The Citywide Skatepark Plan, developed through Seattle Parks and Recreation with extensive community input, recommended Roxhill Park as a good site for a skatespot. In Seattle, a skatespot is defined as a skatepark ranging in size from 1,500 to 10,000 square feet.

The Rob Dyrdek Foundation (now the Street League Skateboard Foundation) donated design services and skate features for the park from Street League DC Pro Tour.

Parks’ in-house landscape architects worked with California Skate Parks, who designed the skatespot. Parks awarded the construction contract for the skatepark to Grindline Construction of West Seattle.

The Roxhill Park skatespot is the Street League Skateboard Foundation’s eighth “Safe Spot Skate Spot,” a program conceptualized by Rob Dyrdek, which seeks to create safe and legal havens for skaters across the country. The main goals of the program are to provide communities with safe and legal skate plazas, increase and encourage the active engagement of people in the sport of skateboarding, and design and develop skate plazas in cities and towns throughout the world. The program also provides an alternative option for communities with limited budgets or space restrictions to develop real street-skating locations.

Roxhill Park improvements are the result of many public/private partnerships working together. This event celebrates both the completion of the project and the amazing work done by the neighborhood, the extended West Seattle community and the entire skate community. 

For more information on the project please visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/projects/roxhill/  for more information about this event please contact Karen O’Connor at 206-233-7929 or Karen.o’connor@seattle.gov.

For more information on the Street League Skateboard Foundation, please go to http://robdyrdekfoundation.org/.

The Neighborhood Park & Street Fund (NPSF) awards up to $90K to fund park or street improvements, so make sure you get your application in by February 4^th!

If you want to see how much the project you have in mind would cost, check out SDOT’s list of approximate project costs per project type.

For more information, please visit the NPSF website or for transportation related projects contact John Vander Sluis, SDOT NPSF project manager, at john.vandersluis@seattle.gov or (206) 684-4617.  For parks related projects, contact pamela.kliment@seattle.gov or (206) 684-7556.

The community celebration will feature performances by the International School of Martial Arts lion dancers and the Morning Star Korean Cultural Center youth performance group.

This community driven park renovation revitalizes a loved neighborhood park!  The new park is inviting with open site lines and lots of usable space.  The old shelter has been restored with ample gathering and seating space. The play area offers new and varied play opportunities including drums! 

This park renovation was supported in part with $79,000 from the Neighborhood Matching Fund.

The Neighborhood Projects Fund is made up of two funding sources – Cumulative Reserve Funds (CRF) and Neighborhood Street Funds (NSF). The fund will accept applications for projects valued up to $90K for park or street improvements, such as pathway upgrades, tennis court repaving, accessibility improvements, traffic calming, playground upgrades, school zone speed limit signs, etc. This funding source is not recommended for sidewalks, as sidewalks are typically more expensive than this funding allows.

You may apply to the fund by completing the application form which is available from your Neighborhood District Coordinator or online at http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/btgnsfcrf/.  Applications can be submitted by mail (PO Box 94649, Seattle, WA  98124-4649, Attn: Wendy Watson), by FAX at 206-233-5142, or by email to NeighborhoodProjectFund@seattle.gov.

 Don’t delay, apply today!

The NPF is made up of two funding sources – Cumulative Reserve Funds (CRF) and Neighborhood Street Funds (NSF). The fund will accept applications for projects valued up to $90K for park or street improvements, such as pathway upgrades, tennis court repaving, accessibility improvements, traffic calming, playground upgrades, school zone speed limit signs, etc. This funding source is not recommended for sidewalks, as sidewalks are typically more expensive than this funding allows.

You may apply to the fund by completing the application form which is available from your Neighborhood District Coordinator or online at http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/btgnsfcrf/.  Applications can be submitted by mail (PO Box 94649, Seattle, WA  98124-4649, Attn: Wendy Watson), by FAX at 206-233-5142, or by email to NeighborhoodProjectFund@seattle.gov.

Skate Like a Girl received grant funding for their YES program in part because YES is designed to promote healthy lifestyles, minimize negative activity in skateparks, and connect with Seattle youth who may not be involved in their communities elsewhere. The program will train qualified interns and Coaches in Training (CITs) to implement free summer programs for local youth, and is structured to create a safe, positive environment for neighbors to come together. The grant total amounted to $20,200.

Skate Like a Girl is a local, grassroots program running with the goal of empowering youth through skateboarding activities. YES is a program designed by Skate Like a Girl to help teach leadership and employment skills to local young adults.

For more information, please visit Skate Like a Girl’s website at http://skatelikeagirl.com/yes or contact Skate Like a Girl coordinator Nancy Chang at be info@skatelikeagirl.com

The community is encouraged to attend the open house meeting and see how the community’s vision from last year’s design meetings has developed into a new plan for the park. Participants will learn about the proposed restoration of the forest, the link to the waterfront, trail improvements, tennis court renovation, and the off-leash area.

The project is one of 15 to receive funding from the Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund. A final meeting will take place on October 27, 2011.

For more information about the project and FOLKPark please visit www.folkpark.org.  To see the preferred design visit the web sites: http://seattle.gov/parks/projects/lower_kinnear/enhancement.htm or contact, Kim Baldwin, Project Manager at 615-0810 or kim.baldwin@seattle.gov