There’s a new mural in progress by the empty lot at the corner of 12th Avenue and E Fir Street. It is being painted by students from Pratt Fine Arts and should be finished (weather pending) this weekend. Special thanks to Umpqua Bank, owners of the lot, for helping to make it look better!

There’s been a lot of talk about a woonerf in the neighborhood lately and I realized that maybe I need to do a post describing what a woonerf is!

Woonerf is a Dutch term for a street where bikes and pedestrians have equal share of the street as cars. Woonerven (plural of woonerf) create spaces in cities that give pedestrians a little more breathing room, slow down traffic, and provide gathering spaces. Most woonerven don’t have curbs and have a different paving pattern than a typical street. This alerts cars to slow down and blends the sidewalk with the street.

Why are we talking about a woonerf? The 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee applied for Opportunity Funds through the Seattle Parks Department and we are very close to getting the final word that we received funding to build a woonerf on James Court between 12th and 13th Avenues. A woonerf here would be adjacent to the planned James Court Park, and would make the park feel bigger, blending the park space with the new shared road space. The woonerf will also slow down traffic on James Court since at rush hour it can be a shortcut around the busy Cherry and 12th Avenue intersection. Seattle University’s new mixed-use building at 12th and Cherry will also be a great neighbor for the woonerf. Students coming and going from the building will activate the park and woonerf (and be all the more reason to slow down cars on James Court!)

We also have the opportunity to add some green infrastructure to the woonerf. This can cut down on stormwater runoff from the roadway and add some more green space along James Court.

Here’s a drawing showing how the park, new development, and woonerf will work together.

And some more information on a woonerf can be found here: Woonerf Info

Stay tuned here for information on upcoming public meetings!