In conjunction to next month’s installation of a signed bike route along Fremont Avenue, the Greenwood Boys and Girls Club has proposed a project to create a community hub for all ethnicities, ages and groups in the neighborhood.

The bike route will start downtown, and goes north on Dexter, to Phinney, to Greenwood, and to Fremont and then it connects with the Interurban Trail.

Traffic crews will be installing signs from North 80th to North 145th street.

The Boys and Girls Club, located at the cross streets of North 87th and Fremont Avenue North, wants to turn half of its parking lot into a community plaza that leads into the playfield and playground on the property.

“People used to enter on 87th but in the 1970s they put the parking lot on the south end of the building and there’s all sorts of cars there and a driveway that is in the path where kids enter the club,” said Kate Martin, community volunteer for the Car Free Club Entry and Community Project.

Project members decided that they would eliminate the curb cut on the bicycle lane and move the car entry to the alley, freeing up space to make a welcoming entry into the club and eventual community plaza, Martin said.

The parking lot would be mostly for vans and some of their participants since most of them walk to the club, said Guy Williams, executive director of the Greenwood Boys and Girls Club.

“We’re creating a campus for the club right now,” Martin said. “A real park-like campus to be connecting those things; car-free entry, community plaza, outdoor learning area and field.”

The Seattle Department of Transportation will create a curb bulb at the current club entry and instead of 87th Avenue leading into the club driveway from Aurora Avenue, it will connection to the club’s parking lot with an extended sidewalk with street trees, Martin said.

The department of transportation Web site says, “A curb bulb is a radial extension of a sidewalk at a corner or mid-block location used to shorten the crossing distance for pedestrians, provide access to transit, and expand the landscape/furniture and/or walkable zone. Curb bulbs are a technique used to promote traffic calming.”


The Car Free Club Entry and Community Project has proposed the project to the Northwest District Council for a Neighborhood Matching fund of $100,000.

The district council gave it 90 out of 100 points and that score will be averaged with the score from a citywide review team.

“From this point forward it will be a long and tedious process because we may not get all the funding due to the financial stress the city is going through,” Williams said.

Martin said that it is a very competitive year in terms of applications. Since there is a possibility they will only receive partial funding, some elements may have to be sclaed back or eliminated.

“This is the first Boys and Girls Club in the state of Washington, it was established in 1943,” Williams said. “We certainly need to do our part to make it easy for pedestrians and for kids and community members since we are the oldest club and it’s a corner stone of this community.”