What Happened at the Wayfinding & Kiosk Design Kick-off
Clicking on the map image opens a new window with a larger version of the map.
Members of the West Seattle Trails Alliance and interested West Seattleites met on Saturday, October 18, 2008, at Camp Long to kick off the year-long Wayfinding and Kiosk Development program. This kickoff event was intended to help establish the schedule and priorities for the design, location (siting), art elements and development of the ten (10) kiosks (possibly one more for 11 total*) and 60 on-street markers (wayfinding signs) which will be part of the West Seattle landscape and streetscape. The Alliance received a Large Matching Fund grant from the Department of Neighborhoods ($99,700) for this work and we have one year to accomplish a lot of tasks.
The results are shown on the map above - those present discussed and decided to begin the work on the southernmost three kiosks, all located in the general Fauntleroy neighborhood area. The next steps are to set up a series of Fauntleroy-area meetings and include community members from Arbor Heights, Westwood, Morgan Junction neighborhoods. The schedule discussed at the Camp Long meeting is relatively aggressive and calls for several meetings between now (October 23) and the first of the year - January 2009, with the expectation that the content, artwork and siting can be accomplished for these three kiosks in such a way that they will be installed and ready for use by February or March, 2009.
* Harbor Properties and Blue Star Development have both expressed interest in possibly helping with the funding of an additional kiosk which would be sited in the Fauntleroy Way-Alaska Street traingle area now undergoing significant development. This additional kiosk would help direct West Seattleites to the coonsiderable park and recreation facilities located slightly further east in the West Seattle Golf Course-Camp Long vicinity and also to those wishing to traverse down Genesee Street (at Avalon) to the Delridge area.
The second and third phases of the Kiosk development program could begin once the first phase is underway later this year. The reasoning behind choosing the Fauntleroy area as the first to be outfitted with wayfinding markers and kiosks was that this end of the West Seattle peninsula is less familiar to many who live here and is visited by a large number of both Vashon residents and residents from the rest of the city travelling to Vashon or to Lincoln Park. It was felt by those attending the meeting that the Alki, Admiral and Alaska and Morgan Junction areas were more familiar to more individuals and less in need of immediate wayfinding.
The map above shows the complete wayfinding and kiosk system which was proposed to the Department of Neighborhoods, the Department of Transportation, and the Deparatment of Planning and Design. The blue kiosk areas are expected to be covered by a grant request to be submitted in October, 2009. The yellow kiosk area is the one being proposed by the Harbor Properties/Blue Star Development representatives and needs further discussion.
As soon as the Fauntleroy-area meetings have been established, we will post the meeting dates, times and locations here as well as in other West Seattle publications and websites.