New Kid On The Block After Nine Years Of Neighborhood Activism, Historic Cannon’s Addition Is Home To The City’s Newest Park
Park grass now peacefully sprouts on a patch of land that once disrupted the harmony in Historic Cannon’s Addition.
Nine years ago, a developer wanted to put a nursing home on the rocky bluff at the west end of 14th Avenue, but neighbors fought the plan so hard the developer pulled out.
Now it is the city’s newest neighborhood park, the first one built in Spokane in four years.
Parks officials said the credit goes to a corps of neighborhood activists who, after winning the land-use battle, refocused their energy on buying the land and building a park there.
Their success is an example of how grass-roots action is changing the character of Spokane neighborhoods.
“I am proud beyond belief,” said Sheila Collins, a leader in the drive.
She and her neighbors did it by putting up some of their own money, and working with the city to conquer the tangle of red tape inherent in property development.
The 5.7-acre site overlooks the Latah Creek Valley from a small basin tucked below the surrounding homes.
Two brightly colored play sets decorate the front of the park. They have monkey bars, climbing chains and five types of slides. A swing set is nearby.
An oval walking path stretches along the bluff. There is a small restroom, picnic tables, benches and paved parking. A newly paved cul-de-sac with sidewalks provides the access on 14th Avenue.
A dedication is planned in early June. The park is yet to be named.
Already it has become a neighborhood gathering spot.
“I think it’s great. It’s got a great view,” said Melissa Weller, who visited the park with her daughter on a sunny afternoon last week.
Weller said she usually walks laps on the gravel path, which is laid out in such a way that she can keep an eye on her daughter at the nearby play set.
Another neighbor, Cherie Dellwo, said she formerly would drive her children to Comstock or Manito parks several miles from her home, but now they can walk just a few blocks to get to the new park.
“We never thought this would materialize, but it has,” she said. “Every time I come here there are lots of kids.”
Her 6-year-old son Garret said his favorite thing is the red spiral slide on the larger of the two play sets.
“I think it’s fun,” he said.
Not so long ago, the land was little more than a dump for fill material, a difficult piece of property to develop because of its location part way down the bluff.
It sat vacant as an investment for the former owners, who bought the land in the mid-1960s.
In the late 1980s, a nursing home company from Portland sought to build there. A contentious battle erupted, and neighbors carried the fight to City Hall, said Collins.
The developer pulled out in the face of the opposition, she said.
“We simply outlasted them,” Collins said.
Neighborhood activists made no secret of their desire to turn the land into a park instead, and they had the financial resources to make it happen.
Cannon’s Addition is a federally designated community development neighborhood and, as such, receives annual government allotments to spend on upgrading public amenities.
In the early 1990s, the Cannon’s Addition steering committee began setting aside most of its allotment - about $20,000 a year - for the new park. Later, that money became crucial in winning the competition for a larger state grant.
The city approached the owners of the property and asked them if they would be willing to sell the land for a park.
Despite the animosity that had built up over the nursing home dispute, the owners agreed to divide the land from a 7-acre parcel to the 5.7 acres the city wanted.
The selling price was $170,000.
The neighborhood contributed $15,000 in community development money to the purchase. A state grant paid another $85,000, and the Parks Department put up the remaining $70,000 in the 1992 land purchase.
Ralph Mincks, one of the former owners, said some of the residents of the neighborhood still won’t speak with him because of the nursing home plan.
He said he still believes a nursing home would have been better for the city because it would have contributed property taxes to the general fund.
“It’s something, if you own property, you run into,” he said. “The neighbors think they can tell you what to do with it.”
But Mincks eventually cooperated with the development of the park by granting a sewer easement across vacant land he owns next to the park. He also agreed to a paving project on 14th Avenue.
Now that children are hanging from the monkey bars there, Mincks said, “Maybe it’s good they have a place to go.”
Buying the land from the owners was only one of hurdles.
City policy requires that parks have access from paved streets, but the end of 14th Avenue was gravel at the time.
Collins worked with the city and property owners along 14th Avenue to form a local improvement district to pave more than a block of the street.
It wasn’t cheap.
Wayne Krafft, who lives on 14th Avenue, said his property alone was assessed about $5,000 for the paving.
The Parks Department paid its $41,000 share, too.
Krafft said the reason he supported the paving project was because it was a key to the park’s development.
Raising money for construction was another potential problem.
For nearly a decade now, the city hasn’t been able to finance the full costs of new park construction. The city has relied on a state grant program to pay about half those costs.
Competition for the state grants is keen. Only about a third of the requests statewide receive money in any given year, said Paul Crutchfield, an assistant park manager.
The proposed Ben Burr Park east of Ferris High School has lost in state grant competition for five years running.
But, on the first try, the state’s Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation awarded a grant to pay half the cost of construction for the Cannon’s Addition park, Crutchfield said.
The quick approval came because the park had financial support from the neighborhood and the park is located in an older, inner-city area, he said.
Since the site was once used as a dump, the city hired an engineering firm to make sure it wasn’t polluted.
The land sloped so steeply near the middle of the property that 11,000 cubic yards of fill material was needed to create a gentle slope.
A drainage system was installed to handle storm runoff from the residential areas above.
The cost for the fill, drainage system, engineering and park design was $93,500.
A contract of $228,000 was awarded to Nelson Landscaping of Spokane for construction of the park.
Mike Stone, a parks manager, said the city won’t release its final payment until the grass is mowed at least once, ensuring that the initial seeding takes root and covers all the dirt. The trees are guaranteed for one year, he said.
The total cost is estimated at $532,000. In all, the neighborhood spent $131,000 in community development money for the property and its development.
City officials said the Cannon’s Addition park was built probably as quickly as any park in recent history - from land acquisition to completion.
For a neighborhood that never had a park of its own, the park stands as a point of pride. Energy that went into its development is now spilling into other neighborhood projects, like the formation of a new neighborhood council.
Those who are not activists are enjoying the results just as much as neighborhood leaders.
“People are walking down the hill to the park and back endlessly,” Collins said.
“It’s very, very exciting. The neighborhood is changing in a real positive way.”
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