Snap Judgment
The Debate Over Housing at Discovery Park
Magnolia neighborhood residents successfully sued when the city tried to acquire 34 acres of U.S. Army land abutting Discovery Park for affordable housing. Now council members have inked a five-year lease on the space.
Image: Seattle Municipal Archives
Stick with the housing plan or let parks be parks?
“I would like the site to be open space or parkland, maybe with elements such as a dog park. There will be much opposition to affordable or low-income housing there.”
—Carol Burton, Magnolia Community Council board member
“We hear a lot about acquisition of open space and the need to build affordable housing. This seems like the perfect place to accomplish both.”
—Rob Johnson, Seattle City Council member, chair of Planning, Land Use and Zoning Committee
“Parks are typically surrounded by single-family-zoned areas that put up an economic wall preventing lower-income families from living near those great city assets. Case in point: Discovery Park.”
—Dan Bertolet, Sightline Institute, senior researcher on housing and urbanism
