Shoreline City Council Approves Plan To Save Ballinger Neighborhood Open Space

In a long-awaited decision, the Shoreline City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve a that would preserve six to seven acres of a piece of property in the Ballinger neighborhood for park space.

The result of an extensive joint planning process between city officials, the school district and members of the Ballinger neighborhood, the plan will allow the school district to sell the 16-acre property to a developer to raise money to help fund schools through an endowment. However, the buyer will be obligated to dedicate six to seven acres of the southern portion for park space in exchange for higher density development in the northern part.

City council members hailed the plan as an example of community partnering.

“A year ago this was a tough issue,” City Council Member Will Hall said. “Things had gotten to the point where people were trying to duck things or shift responsibility. It has been an extraordinary honor and pleasure to watch what has happened since then.”

Council Member Doris McConnell said she was impressed with the outcome of the project, especially considering it allows the school district to fulfill its obligation to get good money for the land to further its obligations to education.

“It just shows that when we have people working together, the solution is probably much better than any one person could have thought,” McConnell said. “It’s also important that the school district has a fiduciary responsibility to the community. They are the keepers of the property and cannot sell it for less than what they think it is worth.”

Council Members Chris Eggen and Chris Roberts recused themselves from discussion and voting, citing conflict of interest. Shari Winstead was absent.

Janne Kaje, co-chair of the neighborhood group that worked with the city and school district to develop the plan, said he was grateful that the neighborhood would get to retain its only piece of large, open space.

“For the kids in the neighborhood, most won’t notice anything different,” Kaje said. “For them, it’s always been for sledding, baseball and playing. But it means the next generation will get to enjoy it, too. It will be there forever as a city park, and you can’t beat that.”

The property was once the site of Kellogg Middle School, but a fire and waning enrollment numbers led to the school’s closure and relocation to the remodeled Thomas Morgan Middle School, which took on Kellogg’s name. Ballinger neighborhood residents have used the field in the southern portion of the old school site as a recreation space for decades.

At one point, the city considered building a municipal jail on the site—an idea that caused a stir among residents.

The current plan will allow certain so-called "institutional" uses, such as churches and community spaces, but Planning Director Joe Tovar said at previous meetings that a developer would more likely use the property to build a residential development.

Since the new zoning language will allow a much higher density than the space's previous designation, a developer could potentially build condos or apartments, a possibility a few residents said they had reservations about in earlier meetings.

To assuage concerns of one resident who lives adjacent to the northeastern corner of the property, the Planning Commission added language to the zoning code that would require a developer to add additional landscaping between the two properties to act as a buffer.

The code also requires the developer to retain a substantial portion of healthy trees along the entire eastern side of the property.

A plan for the future park will likely not come in the near future. The school district must first sell the property, then the developer must dedicate the park portion. At that point, park staff will come up with a park plan, which will go through a public process, and, eventually, approval from the city council.

Regardless, the open space at the Aldercrest Annex will remain.