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About FoWP

A. Background
Bob Goldberg, Greg Flood and Christie Rodgers founded Friends of Wallingford Playfield (FoWP) in March 1999 to gather community input regarding improvements to the playground at Wallingford Playfield. As the FoWP Steering Committee, they developed a detailed survey that was distributed to the neighborhood between April 1999 and September 1999. Approximately 1600 surveys were distributed to park users and over 110 surveys were returned. The survey added over 100 people to the FoWP membership and helped identify the volunteers needed to contribute the hours and monetary commitment necessary to apply for a Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple Grant in July 1999. The grant was awarded in September 1999 and was used to hire the landscape architecture firm of Allworth Nussbaum (A/N) in October 1999 to facilitate a series of public design workshops and develop a Master Site Plan for the park. The survey also helped identify the specific areas for improvement of most interest to the community. The results of the surveys were tabulated and presented to Allworth Nussbaum for use as the starting point of the design process.

In late October 1999 members of the FoWP Hiring Committee met with A/N to review project goals, develop a strategy for the design process, share survey results, discuss the FoWP outreach parallel process, determine a communication plan, and conduct a park walk-through. The Hiring Committee transitioned to the Design Committee and a series of three public design workshops were held December 4, 1999, January 13, 2000 and February 17, 2000.

B. Community Input Strategies
1. Public Design Workshops -- The three public design workshops were held at the Fremont Public Association Building in Wallingford and facilitated by the landscape architecture firm of Allworth Nussbaum (A/N). Attendance at the first workshop was nineteen adults, six children who participated in design activities, plus half a dozen toddlers who enjoyed the childcare provided. The second workshop included thirty-nine adults, five children who participated in the design activities, and approximately a dozen toddlers. The third, and final, workshop was attended by thirty-eight adults, four children who participated in the design activities and eight toddlers at the onsite childcare.

At the first design workshop, Dale Nussbaum presented an overview of the project and provided a list of park elements and issues identified in the survey. Attendees then broke into small groups, each led by a representative of A/N, to discuss the various park elements and how they felt about each of the features. A/N used the information and additional data from the FoWP parallel process (see description below) to develop three concept plans for the park. These three concept plans were presented to the community via the FoWP parallel process prior to the second design workshop and again at the second design workshop on January 13, 2000.

During the second workshop, community members again met in small groups and consensus was reached on most of the design elements. The size and shape of the arbor feature was not resolved and discussion was tabled until the next workshop. Based on community input from the second workshop and from the parallel process, A/N generated a single Draft Master Site Plan. This plan was again distributed throughout the neighborhood using the FoWP parallel process prior to the third design workshop.

Prior to the third design workshop FoWP developed a "Money Game" that included cost estimates developed by A/N for each of the proposed park elements. Using the game, community members were invited to select their preferred elements while staying within a fixed budget. Dale Nussbaum presented the Draft Master Site Plan at the third, and final, design workshop on February 13, 2000. Small groups were again used to review the design elements and, using the ihMoney Game,ly participants ranked the elements according to their most favored projects taking into account the cost of each feature and the total budget. Following the final design workshop, members of the Design Committee met with A/N to finalize the design elements to create the Final Master Site Plan using the input from the third workshop and its associated parallel process.

2. Parallel Outreach Process -- In addition to the three public design workshops facilitated by A/N, FoWP developed an extensive parallel outreach process to gather input from people who could not attend the design workshops. The goal was to provide community members with the same information that was presented at the workshops. Several formats were used to present the information to the neighborhood. Information was presented via 1) web pages located at the Wallingford website, 2) large format display boards mounted in several prominent community locations, and 3) flyers distributed to 1600 residences and businesses within a four to six block radius of the park. Additional avenues such as telephone reminders, press releases in local newspapers and newsletters, email notification of community members identified from the FoWP survey and from design workshop sign-in sheets, and outreach to Hamilton Middle School and Latona-at-Lincoln were also used to raise awareness of the project.

a. Website: Project information, meeting dates, a site plan, and a description of the process were posted to web pages at the Wallingford website (www.wallingford.org) prior to each workshop. The posting prior to the first workshop described the project and invited visitors to send their input on park elements they liked or disliked. The second posting included the three fully annotated concept plans along with a method to rate the features in each concept plan and provide comments via email. Prior to the third workshop the website included the annotated Draft Master Site Plan and provided an opportunity to evaluate and comment on specific site elements. Participants could also play the ilMoney Gamele and select park features within a budget. After each workshop, the information from the website and email input was presented to A/N for inclusion in their work and the web pages were updated to include a brief synopsis of the workshop results.

b. Display Boards: Prior to each of the design workshops, large full-color display boards were placed at the Wallingford Library, the local QFC and at Tully™s Coffee. The boards described the project, listed meeting dates and a project time line, and provided website and contact information. The information presented on the display boards mirrored the information that would be presented at the upcoming design workshop. Small cards with FoWP contact information and a description of the parallel processes were available at the boards for community members to take home and refer to throughout the process.

c. Flyers: In the week before each of the workshops, approximately 1600 flyers were distributed by over 20 volunteers to residences and businesses located within a four to six block radius of the park and made available at the Wallingford Library and other public places. The flyers informed residents of the various ways to participate and included a description of the project, the meeting dates, ways to contact FoWP, directions to the website, an explanation of the design process and information about the upcoming workshops.

d. Telephone Reminders, Press Releases, Email, and Hamilton Middle School Outreach: Several days prior to each workshop FoWP volunteers telephoned the 120 community members identified via the FoWP survey and from prior meeting signup sheets, to remind them of the upcoming design workshop, to encourage them to visit the website, to look at the community displays, or otherwise participate in the project. Press releases were sent to several local publications as well, including the North Central Outlook, The Seattle Press, the Wallingford E-news and the Wallingford Community Council (WCC) Wallpaper newsletter. The FoWP Design Committee provided project update emails to the email list of 120 community members. The periodic emails included information about the project, workshop reminders, workshop summaries, and reminders to visit the website.

After the first design workshop the outreach was expanded to include Hamilton Middle School and Latona-at-Lincoln in an effort to collect additional input from those park users. The committee worked with Bill Levin and Andy Brinks at Hamilton Middle School and their students used the FoWP design activities in class to review park design materials and fill out input forms.

C. Fundraising Process
FoWP intends to establish a Fundraising Committee and identify key potential sources of support to serve as the basis of our fundraising during Summer 2000. If all goes well, a Letter of Intent will be submitted in July 2000 and application will be made to the Department of Neighborhoods for the Semi-Annual Fund in Fall 2000. This grant would be used to fund production of design drawings and specifications and to fund the initial phase of construction for the park. Application for the grant in Fall 2000 will allow construction to commence in Spring 2001. Factors that may affect the decision of when to apply for the grant include identifying sufficient volunteer support and allowing a reasonable interval between the Meridian Playground project which is currently under construction.