The planning process is gearing up for millions of dollars of improvements to Jefferson Park. About 40 Beacon Hill residents gathered last week at Jefferson Community Center to hear officials of the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation describe the many works being planned and a few under way now. A new gymnasium will be built at the center, and a children's play area, tennis courts and basketball courts will be relocated. Seattle Public Utilities, which manages the two reservoirs to the west of the center, will repair the south reservoir and decommission the one to the north.
Plans now call for returning the space occupied by the north reservoir to public park land.
SPU also plans to put a soft lid over the south reservoir - although residents are expected to lobby for a hard lid, which could accommodate grass and be used as additional park space. Seattle Golf, the nonprofit organization that runs the golf course, also has changes in the works. The driving range will be redesigned and rebuilt as will the golf maintenance facility. The city is beginning a site-planning process for all the changes in the park, Bullard said. The goal is to ensure that those changes that will happen soon, like the paths and the new gymnasium, and those envisioned in the future, like a possible expansion of the community center, are well-planned and work together.