SEATTLE—March 12, 2008—The City of Seattle has chosen the Seattle Housing Authority to manage the planning process for the reuse of Fort Lawton, an army base located at the northeast corner of Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighborhood.

Stakeholder meeting in Magnolia, March 14, 2007

Brian Sullivan, a development manager with SHA (above, right) has been assigned the lead in coordinating the process for SHA. Sullivan played a key role in the planning for the High Point redevelopment, working with residents and other stakeholders to design a new neighborhood that would meet the community's needs. In addition to the Housing Authority, a number of nonprofit partners are also involved on the planning team. Partners include the YWCA, United Indians of All Tribes, the Archdiocesan Housing Authority, Habitat for Humanity and the Cascade Land Conservancy.

According to Executive Director Tom Tierney, "We agreed to take on this project because  our experience in rede-velopment over the past ten years has honed our skills in planning new mixed-income communities. We believe we can work within the requirements of the process for closing this base to repair the damage to the site from years of intensive use and knit it back into the neighborhood."

The reuse process is controlled by Base Closure and Realignment guidelines (called BRAC) from the federal government. Preference is given to new uses that incorporate housing for homeless people. The City's goal for the site is to create a mixed income community that will include market rate housing, housing for first time home buyers, self-help housing and housing with services for formerly homeless people on the site.

"Our challenge is to address all of these hopes for the site by working with the neighborhood, the various partners and the guidelines for re-use," noted Sullivan. "We will need to pay close attention to the concerns of the neighborhood and to encourage creativity in the site planning process."

Seattle Housing is in the process of identifying a design and planning firm to assist with the process. A series of neighborhood meetings is scheduled with the goal of developing a plan for the site by next fall.

The next meeting in the process will focus on a stakeholder discussion on goals and visions for the Fort Lawton reuse plan.
Sat., March 29, 9 am -1 pm at Magnolia Lutheran Church, Fireside Rm.
2414 31st Ave. West (cross street is West McGraw).