6th Avenue NW, between NW 43rd and NW 50th Streets

In November 2019, the first leg of the 6th Avenue Neighborhood Greenway gained funding via the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods’ Your Voice Your Choice program. Groundswell NW provided a microgrant to this group. In 2020, a portion of 6th Avenue NW will become a designated right-of-way, with bicycle-friendly speed humps, stop signs at east/west-bound intersections and 20 mph speed limit signs. People riding bikes can connect to the Burke Gilman Trail at NW 43rd Street.

This is a “Yes we can!!” story of neighbors coming together for a common cause. Back in 2016, residents of NW 49th Street noticed a lot of cut-through traffic that was creating a dangerous, uncontrolled intersection at 6th Avenue NW. Mapping software such as Google Maps and Waze had begun directing more traffic through the neighborhood.

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The 2014 Ballard Open Space Plan update sought to gain a better understanding of our community’s current and future open space needs and to identify opportunities to create and enhance parks and public open spaces in the greater Ballard area.

17th Ave NW between NW 62nd and 63rd Sts.

In the 1990’s Groundswell NW and the Ballard Open Space Coalition (BOSC) first identified property at the corner of 17th Ave NW and NW 63rd as an acquisition opportunity as part of their Ballard/Crown Hill Open Space Inventory and Action Plan. In 2003, Seattle Parks Department purchased this property and in 2007, purchased the adjacent property to the south. With word of a new park in the making, the Friends of 63rd St Pocket park (now Friends of Ballard Corners Park) applied for and received matching grants from the Department of Neighborhoods to hire Barker Landscape Architects to work with the community to design and develop this unique pocket park complete with a stone living room, an homage to the old corner store, a children’s climbing structure, fruit trees and a rain garden. Ballard Corners Park celebrated their grand opening Oct 10, 2009 as Groundswell NW celebrated our 20th anniversary. Groundswell NW continues to partner with the Friends of Ballard Corners Park through fiscal sponsorship and supporting their efforts to care for and activate the park.

Ballard Corners Park & King 5 Evening News

CLICK HERE to see the 2017 interview at Ballard Corners Park and the National Wildlife Federation.

Learn more
Seattle Parks Page for Ballard Corners Park
Facebook

Email David Folweiler

Join us
The Friends of Ballard Corners Park hosts a work party twice a year, spring and fall. Subscribe to our newsletter to learn about the next opportunity.

NW 57th and 58th between 4th Ave NW and the Burke Gilman Trail at Seaview & 38th Ave NW; 17th Ave NW between NW 90th St & Ballard Ave.

Greenways are slow, low-traffic streets connecting parks, libraries, schools, and businesses for pedestrians and bicyclists who need safe and comfortable routes through the City. Formed in 2011, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, http://seattlegreenways.org/, began as a volunteer coalition representing many neighborhoods across Seattle to plan and advocate for the City to build neighborhood greenways. Ballard residents and Groundswell NW, along with other Ballard community organizations came together to support a greenway along NW 58th St. resulting in Ballard’s first greenway opening September 2013 with a second greenway along 17th Ave NW opening in 2016.

The group is now Ballard-Fremont Greenways and Groundswell NW continues to support the group with Microgrants for work on a future 6th Ave NW Greenway, improvements to 14th Ave NW in the brewery district, and their advocacy for neighborhood greenways as the City considers new routes in Ballard and Fremont.

Ballard-Fremont Greenways received a $500 Microgrant in the fall of 2023 to move planters donated by East Ballard Community Association down 14th Ave NW from Gemenskap Park to 51st and 53rd, creating safer intersections, especially for cyclists and pedestrians. Here are highlights from their final report:

We began in September with cleaning out the planters that were donated by the East Ballard Community Association. We completed most of the work that day, but had to return to finish with one that contained a wasps nest and another that contained a Strawberry tree. Two other planters with trees are still in their old locations, unfortunately. They thwarted us. https://photos.app.goo.gl/9dWv6ZRbavbuyZ7y9 

Our second volunteer day included renting a pickup (cost donated by a member) and moving the planters down to their new homes in the Brewery District–the right-of-ways in the intersections of NW 51st St. and NW 53rd St on 14th Ave NW. We all got a work out that day. https://photos.app.goo.gl/oKF54B1xG9TYHK5m7 

And finally we had a dirt moving party. By this time, two of our planters were taken, so when the dirt was delivered, we found we had too much soil. The rest was donated to local p-patches and community groups. The planters that remained were all filled with soil and plants purchased from Swanson’s Nursery were planted, along with a couple of donated bushes and some reclaimed daffodil bulbs and an iris from the original planters. https://photos.app.goo.gl/hw1vd9Gd5BfdeStp7 

All in all, there were over 95 hours of volunteer time completed by 15 members of the Ballard-Fremont Greenways group over 3 days. The planters are already doing their job keeping the intersections clear of illegally parking vehicles that block sight lines. Soon the City of Seattle Department of Transportation will install stop signs at all of the crossings of those intersections to also aid in slowing traffic and building safety for people crossing the street. The permit from SDOT has been fulfilled and approved. Thank you again for helping us make this project a reality!

Learn more

Facebook: www.facebook.com/BFGreenways

Join us

The Ballard-Fremont Greenways group meets monthly.

See ballardfremont.seattlegreenways.org for information and to sign up for future meetings.

8527 25th Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98117

For 43 years the Ballard P-Patch has been a vibrant community garden in the north Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. This garden offers important green space in the Ballard neighborhood and provides numerous services and opportunities to the local community.
Today the garden is at risk.  Economic pressure to develop real estate in this neighborhood means that this fertile ground may literally be sold from under the feet of the Ballard P-Patch.  Now is the time to secure this land, protecting the garden as a community treasure for generations to come!

Learn more

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theballardppatch/

Website:
http://www.ballardppatch.org/home.html

KUOW Fundraising Article:

https://kuow.org/stories/these-gardeners-must-raise-2-million-dollars-to-save-their-p-patch

Connect with us

info@ballardppatch.org

8735 19th Ave NW, 98117

This 4,000-square-foot park, located in the Crown Hill neighborhood, has many trees and native plants, boulder seating areas, and a winding nature path. It is a quiet spot at the convergence of two street ends, connected by a staircase. Groundswell NW identified this space in the mid 1990s as part of the Ballard Open Space plan and the City purchased the property in 1997 for park development.

More natural area than park, Crown Hill Glen is tucked away between 19th and 20th NW where these two avenues dead-end at NW 89th Street. First identified as an open space opportunity through Groundswell NW’s Open Space Inventory in 1996, the site is a hidden gem, and testament to the ongoing stewardship of its neighbors.

The natural surroundings look as if they have always been there...but this is not the case at all. George and Theadora Plumis, who were married in 1931, bought these four lots and the adjoining house and lot to the south in 1940. This was the Plumis' first home and its then rural surroundings gave Mr. Plumis a chance to recreate a bit of the farming culture of their Greek homeland by raising chickens, goats, sheep, and fruit trees.  During the war, it served as a Victory Garden.  It was plowed by horse until well into the 50's!

The Plumis' children sold the house and south lot to private individuals, but the park land was purchased with Conservation Futures Tax funds through the Seattle Open Space program.  Groundswell NW played a key role in the acquisition, then with the North Salmon Bay Community Forestry Board got an initial grant from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to develop the site. Neighbors hired Barker Landscape Architects to hold community meetings, and come up with an urban forest plan.

The plan included many native plants, a nature trail, a natural play area, and a stair climb which connects 19th and 89th to help unite the previously divided neighborhood.  Natural elements, recycled materials, porous surfaces for drainage, columnar basalt bird baths, logs, boulders, benches, and water for irrigation create a rich habitat area.

Funding included a Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund award, a grant from King County Department of Natural Resources, with help from the Seattle Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates, and King County Council member Larry Phillips. Throughout the planning, development, and construction of the park, Groundswell NW acted as fiscal sponsor, providing non-profit tax status.

The most amazing thing was the response from the neighbors who organized a garage sale, a bake sale and family dance, a barn dance at the Tractor Tavern, donations from local businesses, plus many hours spent digging out weeds from the site.  Even the children pitched in, carrying buckets of rocks and mud from here to there.

Learn more

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/park_detail.asp?ID=4070

Join us

The Friends of Crown Hill Glen continues to tend the site with monthly work parties. See the GNW event calendar for the next work party

14th Ave NW between NW 59th and NW 61st

The intent of the 14th Ave NW Park proposes to convert two or more blocks of 14th Ave NW between NW 59th and 61st from existing roadway and parking median to a linear community park green space, green infrastructure, and incorporate safety improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles for 2 blocks along the east side of the street. This proposal builds on a Visioning process begun in 2006 by the East Ballard Community Association through a Department of Neighborhood’s Small and Simple Matching Grant (14th Ave NW Visioning Project, Carlson Architects) to create a linear park along 14th Ave NW from NW 65th to Salmon Bay.

In 2011, the park received funding from through the Seattle Parks Levy and hired Mithun to work with the community to design the park. In 2016, the park was give the name “Gemenskap” pronounced Yuh-MEN-skawp), which is the Swedish word for community. This park is still in the design phase with plans to break ground by 2017.

Groundswell NW has partnered with the East Ballard Community Association since 2005 through mentorship and fiscal sponsorship.

Learn more

Website
Facebook
Twitter: @eastballard
Email Dawn Hemminger

Join us
The East Ballard Community Association meets monthly, hosts adopt a street clean ups in the Spring and Fall, and other events throughout the year.  Subscribe to our newsletter to learn about the next opportunity.

How To Grow a Park - 2013 Seattle Ignite Presentation [Dawn Hemminger]

NW SEATTLE LANDSCAPE WITH LOCAL CHARACTER

When you think of Groundswell NW, you may first think about parks, but our mission is deeper and includes nurturing, creating, and activating the natural habitat. As we learned while we were updating the Ballard Open Space Plan, large parcels of land to create new habitat are hard to find, but, what we do have is a lot of backyards and patio/deck space that can provide food, water and shelter for our local wildlife! This is why Groundswell NW has joined the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to sponsor NW Seattle as an active Community Wildlife Habitat with the intent of getting community certification.  

We are seeking neighbors and partnering organizations to help us spread the word and provide mentorship. If you’re interested in helping, please contact us today!

If you want to get started on your own, you can certify your backyard or patio wildlife habitat with the National Wildlife Federation today by completing the application in ‘Certify your Backyard Habitat’ link below.   

• BACKYARD HABITAT IMAGE GALLERY

• CERTIFY YOUR BACKYARD HABITAT

• DIY WILDLIFE HABITAT HOUSES

• FOLLOW US

2001 NW CANOE PLACE, SEATTLE, WA

Salmon Bay Park Stewards (SBPS) was founded in 2018 by Katie Roberts and Sylvia Koodrich. These two local working mothers wanted to partner with as many neighbors as possible to ensure Salmon Bay Park would remain a beautiful and vibrant space that is well maintained and welcoming to all. Within the first several months, based on input from people from across the Ballard community, this group facilitated conversations about developing a neighborhood block watch network and hosted a series of inaugural community-building events in the park itself, including: a neighborhood picnic, an outdoor movie night, a landscaping and clean-up party, a Halloween parade, and a winter celebration featuring Ballard High School's vocal jazz choir. The group was instrumental in garnering neighborhood support to replace and add park benches in 2019 through the Your Voice, Your Choice competition and partnered with the Seattle Police Department to conduct a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) evaluation which will pave the way for further safety-focused improvements on the park grounds

Since the group’s founding, Katie and Sylvia have reflected a great deal on their initial partnership with SPD in light of the ongoing national dialogue around the police system and, in particular, how police brutality disproportionately harms people who identify as BIPOC. Their original partnership with SPD was established in response to a reported youth sexual assault that took place in the park. Considering the potential negative impact this relationship could have on neighbors who identify as BIPOC, they are committed to thinking differently about how to support citizen concerns about safety. With a commitment to be as constructive, people-centered, and inclusive as possible going forward, the group is now focusing all its energy on building community among park visitors and spearheading collaborative park maintenance projects.

The group also partners with the city to provide disaster preparedness trainings and is excited to continue hosting fun, outdoor events for all thanks to your help and generosity! 

Learn more

Seattle Parks web page for Salmon Bay Park
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SALMON BAY NATURAL AREA
5300 – 34th Ave NW, Seattle, WA

Groundswell NW worked with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) and other partners to raise over $1 million to purchase, restore, add public access improvements and steward this "last wooded shoreline in Ballard," south of NW 54th St. just east of the RR bridge.

After six years of community effort, the property was preserved through a phased purchase. The shoreline property flanks both sides of the 34th Ave. NW shoreline street end, between The Canal event center and the railroad bridge. Together with the street-end and adjacent publicly owned land, the Salmon Bay Natural Area protects over 680 linear feet of largely undeveloped estuarine shoreline.

The property went on the market in the summer of 2000. In the year following, Groundswell NW worked to craft a purchase strategy, using a variety of resources, from city, county, state, and federal salmon recovery funds to Neighborhood Matching Funds. Over $65,000 was contributed from private sources, including $10,000 from Consolidated Restaurants, owners of the former Hiram's Restaurant. The project received a major boost from City Council member Richard Conlin, who sponsored a $335,000 allocation from the SPU budget. Groundswell NW received Neighborhood Matching Fund awards to develop conceptual plans for the site and $150,000 for acquisition. A $160,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and a $50,000 King Conservation District grant.

The phased purchase was negotiated by Cascade Land Conservancy (now Forterra). A number of private and public funding sources were obtained.

The property was first identified as a top priority acquisition opportunity in the 1996 Ballard/Crown Hill Open Space Inventory. In 1997 developers proposed to build five homes west of the street-end and a three-story commercial building to the east, essentially between the former Hiram's deck and the water. The exception in Seattle Shoreline Code that allowed single-family development over water in this area was rescinded by the City Council following the listing of Puget Sound salmon as an endangered species. This precluded the over-water portion of the development proposal, while leaving open the possibility of water-dependent commercial development.

The Salmon Bay Natural Area is a rare opportunity to enhance the degraded estuary of the greater Lake Washington watershed, a critical environment in the life cycle of threatened Puget Sound salmon. As the smolts make their way through the Locks, battered and disoriented by the abrupt transition to salt water and vulnerable to predators, an area for refuge and adjustment to the new environment is essential for their survival. Restoration of this property enhances this refuge, giving the smolts a better chance of gaining the body weight they need to thrive in the open ocean. The property also offers a public overlook and resting spot adjacent to the Burke Gilman Trail, and an educational site where people can learn more about the importance of Ballard's shoreline to salmon recovery.

Using multiple matching fund grants, Groundswell NW hired J.A. Brennan Associates Landscape Architects, to develop plans and oversee construction, with neighborhood volunteers doing much of the invasive removal and upland planting. Money for a landmark element to draw people to the site were enhance by City Percent for Art funds, and we worked with the Office for Arts and Culture to commission Native American artist Marvin Oliver to create Salish Welcome. Groundswell NW and the City of Seattle continue to steward the site - work parties are held regularly to clean up the site and surrounding areas; remove blackberries, ivy, and other invasive species; and plant new species to restore the site.

Learn more
Email Dave Boyd

GREENWOOD AVE N BETWEEN 55TH & ARGYLE, SEATTLE, WA

When you think of community gardening sites in Seattle, you may just pass right by this small but very busy garden niche in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood. Also known by the neighbors as ‘Come Grow with Us’ this garden is a place where neighbors come together to grow community, grow plants and preserve open space.  The garden is open to all in need from all backgrounds and serves as a visible product of land stewardship and a healthier urban environment.

The community garden goals include:

• Improve and increase access to local, organic and culturally appropriate food.

• Educate the community about sustainable urban agriculture and vegetable garden practices

• Help low income and homeless neighbors develop self-reliance and improve nutrition through a hands-on garden experience.

• Support urban pollinator habitat and corridors.

• Engage the community with ongoing outreach, communications and seasonal gardening events. 

Access to healthy, local food is a basic human right. Some of the food generated from this garden is donated to the Phinney Meal Program, supporting low income and homeless individuals, families and veterans.  With the increasing need for healthy, affordable food, Groundswell NW provided Seed Money in 2019 to expand the community garden space, allowing renovation of the plots to be both accessible to all and compliant with SDOT.

Learn more

Contact Us
SJU Community Garden website

Join us
The Seattle Clean Street Collective hosts cleanups once a month on Saturdays from 10AM-12PM. The location will vary by month.  To stay up to date with each event, subscribe to their mailing. Events typically start with breakfast and introductions before heading out for an hour and a half of street cleaning.

Seattle Clean Street Collective
Groundswell NW Microgrant Recipient
April 2017
 

The Seattle Clean Street Collective is a dynamic group of volunteers brought together from various neighborhoods in King County to educate and inspire environmental cleanliness and health. The team works with volunteers to keep our streets clean and beautiful. They conduct bi-monthly clean-ups throughout Seattle, where they collect trash and debris for proper disposal.  In December 2016, Seattle Clean Street Collective reached out to Groundswell NW for a  microgrant and to help with outreach to the NW Seattle community. Groundswell NW awarded a $500 microgrant towards purchasing custom t-shirts, fluorescent safety vests, an A-frame sign, and promotional yard signs. On April 9, 2017, The Seattle Clean Street Collective hosted a cleanup event at the Ballard Locks and will be hosting future events that will be posted on our events calendar.

Learn more
Website http://www.seattlecleanstreet.org/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/seattlecleanstreet/
Email info@seattlecleanstreet.org

Median along 36th Ave NW between NW 60th and 62nd and the connection along NW 61st & 38th Ave NW to the Burke Gilman Trail and Seaview.

In 2008, Sunset Hill neighbors came together to improve the corridor between Sunset Hill and Shilshole Ave. With fiscal sponsorship from groundswell NW and support from the Sunset Hill Community Association, they applied for and received a Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple Matching grant to develop a concept plan to improve this important corridor and then to do one or more modest landscape enhancement projects. The grant paid for a design consultant, Barker Landscape Architects to work with the community, City departments and adjacent private property owners to create a plan to:

• remove noxious and invasive plants

• plant low growing, drought tolerant plants in the median ends to improve visibility and sight lines

• improve the pedestrian connections (a separate application to the Neighborhood Street Fund led to improving the crossing at 36th and 62nd)

• beautify the area and increase the pleasures of walking, biking and driving

Learn more
Facebook
Email Dave Boyd

Join us
The Friends of Sunset Hill Shilshole Gateway host work parties throughout the year. Subscribe to the Groundswell NW newsletter on our Engage page to learn about the next opportunity.

876 N 36th STREET, SEATTLE, WA

When you think of iconic spots to visit in Seattle, The Fremont Troll will be at the top of your list. This is why it was such an honor for Groundswell NW to become the fiscal sponsors for the Friend’s of the Troll’s Knoll who had a great idea back in 2009 to create a park and p-patch along the east and west sides of the Troll. With Kimberly Scrivner in the lead organizing her neighbors, the west side of the park received $685,000 in 2011 through the Seattle Parks and Green Spaces Levy and opened to the public May of this year. If you’re standing facing the Troll, walk along the sidewalk to your left and follow the windy path up the hill along a green space to a bench with a view and community P-Patch at the top.  

With ½ of their vision under wraps, Friends of the Troll’s Knoll are still on a roll and are concentrating their efforts now on the east side with a new neighbor in the lead, Kaley Bender. Kaley brought neighbors together for a block party in August 2016 with the help of a Department of Neighborhood Small Sparks grant. We’re also pleased to announce that Friends of the Troll's Knoll received a $450 microgrant from Groundswell NW! These funds provided key resources for their inaugural clean up day on October 8th, 2016. SDOT helped pull out blackberry bushes, do some landscape cleanup and mulching. Following community events for the site were supported by Tableau Software who awarded $5,300!  Congrats to Friends of the Troll's Knoll, thank-you Tableau for supporting this great community project and thank-you to grass-roots community organizers like Kimberly and Kaley who continue to inspire us to create, activate and care for parks, open space and habitat!

Friends of Troll’s Knoll are now supported by Seattle Parks Foundation as fiscal sponsor.

Learn more
Troll’s Knoll Seattle Parks web page
Facebook

Troll’s Knoll Park

Sunset Substation Park

Hazel Heights P-Patch

Broadview Emergency Hub

Burke Gilman Trail