The Interbay Neighborhood Association has been awarded a $17,000 matching fund Small and Simple grant through the city’s Department of Neighborhoods to fund the construction of two small parks/sitting areas to service local businesses and their patrons.
“The Interbay Neighborhood Association was concerned that there was no place to sit outside for the over 100 employees working north of Dravus Street,” INA Executive Director Bruce Wynn wrote on the INA blog.
The award funds will be used to construct two “mini parks” with sitting areas. One will be located next to the Denali Fitness building on Bertona, between 16th Ave W and 17th Ave W. The other will be next to the Dusty Strings building, located at the north end of 16th Ave W.
Wynn says the INA will be matching the grant money through additional funding from the Burlington Northern railway, the Office of Economic Development, and a number of volunteers, landscape designers and builders whose time can be counted toward the matching amount. If everything goes according to plan, Wynn estimates that the mini parks will be completed in the fall.
“We have hired a landscaper who will oversee the building of the two mini-parks. We are in the midst of permits now and that takes about 3 months. We hope to begin building by June and have it completed by the end of September,” he wrote in an email to QueenAnneView.
According to Wynn, the project will make Interbay’s business area, which hosts hundreds of employees and customers every day, a more approachable, comfortable and neighborly environment.
“When the parks are completed employees and relax and soak up the rays on a beautiful day in Interbay,” he wrote on the INA blog.
(Photos courtesy of Bruce Wynn and the INA).