A group of residents near Carkeek Park are exploring the possibility of turning the Viewlands Elementary School site into a multi-use, shared public campus after the school closes this fall.

The group, called "Viewlands Future Use Task Force," is looking to partner with the community, city and Seattle Public Schools to create a "community campus" for education and recreation purposes in an area lacking public facilities, said Kate Martin, a member of the task force.

"It would be great to think that we could take that whole idea of public use and have something for everyone," Martin said. "More of a nucleus for a community that doesn't have one."

Viewlands, located off 3rd Avenue Northwest, is one of seven buildings the School Board voted to close this fall.

The community around Viewlands and north of Northwest 85th Street is growing in density, but the area doesn't have a community center, said Martin. The nearest community centers are more than two miles away.

"For some reason we just seem to fall off the radar map," said Martin.

Population growth in northwest Seattle has been putting pressure on local open space like Carkeek Park, which borders the Viewlands property, said Lex Voorhoeve, chair of the task force.

Voorhoeve, a volunteer with the park for the past eight years, knows from first-hand experience that people are trying to find recreation closer to home.

Along with rising gas prices and increasing fees for state park and recreation areas, local parks are becoming overcrowded, he said.

For instance, parking never used to be a problem at Carkeek. But now, on a sunny weekend day, visitors are hard pressed to find a spot, said Voorhoeve, a member of the Carkeek Advisory Council.

The number of picnic table rentals at the park has also gone up from an average of 300 to more than 450 per year in the last few years, he said.

"That's a clear indicator," Voorhoeve said. "There are hundreds of condos going up. Where will those people go? They go to Carkeek Park."

Carkeek, a ravine, is more confined than vast open areas like Discovery Park in Magnolia, so visitors find themselves dodging Frisbees and footballs on crowded days, he said.

"We are looking to the future," Voorhoeve said. "We need more level land to provide those recreational facilities for all the families moving in."

The jump to the neighboring 7.5-acre Viewlands property was easily made. New ball fields could be built on the site and the 30,000 square foot building could be used for summer camps, after and before school programs, community meetings or even artists' lofts, Voorhoeve said.

State law requires that school district facilities be used for kindergarten-through-12th-grade activities, so a district program would likely be part of the mixture of community services offered. But the task force also wants to ensure there would be something for all ages.

Part of the planning could include conducting a community survey to find out what kinds of programs or activities teens would actually participate in.

"All over we just need some level areas to play," Martin said. "We need to have places for people to play and gather as a community...if we have that, then we're golden."

The group hopes to garner the support of school district officials to create a joint use agreement between it and the parks department.

The school district won't say whether it would support the plan until the School Board decides what to do with all 19 of its surplus buildings, said Ron English, with the district's property management department.

The district is reviewing whether the buildings they plan to keep, which include Viewlands, can or should be put to educational use before deciding to lease them out. Staff will be looking at that issue over the next several months, said English.

The district will likely keep the Viewlands building for future school use based on a projected population growth in the north end of the city.

Money will be a question, too.

Parks and other city departments are dealing with operations and maintenance costs associated with the Prop Parks Levy, and several community center, library and fire department capital levies that went towards the construction and renovation of new facilities.

The parks department has given the group the OK to look into the project but have said so far there's no money to maintain a larger Carkeek Park.

The school district is also struggling financially and is looking to make money from surplus buildings. While the School Board will probably consider the idea, it may not be financially viable, said board member Sally Soriano.

"It's become clear to me that to broaden that we really need the city as a partner," Soriano said.

She could see setting up a joint agreement between the district and the city where the entities shared the building for multiple uses.

The group plans to apply for a city matching funds grant to hire a consultant that would study the feasibility of the plan and also determine what the needs of the community are.

"This kind of concept is really viable," Martini said. "We're thinking bigger than tomorrow."

Task force member Jack Heavner said he hopes creating a public gathering place would give "people a sense of community" and at the same time help prevent juvenile crime.

"I think it would do nothing but help to address every age level in the community," said Heavner, also a member of the Northwest Police Precinct Advisory Council.

Because the project could take at least a year or two to complete, there's some concern that the building will sit empty after the school program leaves this fall. Martin and the other task force members are worried a vacant building would attract graffiti and other criminal activity.

"Finding a way to keep the building alive in the interim is really important to the community because we don't need more crime," said Martin.

Rebekah Schilperoort may be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com