I've found another one. Forgotten, discarded and disregarded out-of-the-way parcels within the parks boundary but not considered "Discovery Park" by most visitors. Bay Terrace road briefly made "headlines" a few years back when it was raised as a possible property to give American Eagle (AE) in exchange for the Capehart parcel. AE indicated that the property had tremendous development value with many buildable parcels overlooking Salmon Bay to the north. Fortunately, this proposal was abandoned after plenty of shouting and yelling at a few well planned public meetings. But the lesson was clear. Ignore it at your own peril!
As you may recall, Bay Terrace road extends north from the North Parking lot traffic circle and supplies access to a group of private residential lots at the dead-end. The portion of the road that is within Discovery Park is lined by vacant lots that used to contain military housing, but were torn down in the 60's and 70's. Further down the road, outside of Park boundaries, the road accesses about 10-20 residential homes, most of which have the same valuable views to the north overlooking Shilshole marina. Since the road is a dead-end, only limited local traffic uses the road.
Unfortunately, because of the abandoned appearance of the vacant lots within the road, this portion has become a favorite hang-out zone for off-leash dogs and their owners, late night kegger partys and other less desirable activities. I've heard many complaints over the years from property owners about this.
My challenge to those with vested interests (property) on Bay Terrace Road is simple. If you don't want a)the City to sell it off to developers for money and b)unsavory types to use it for illegitimate purposes - take some ownership and responsibility! The property owners are the ones who benefit (and suffer) the most from its development or non-devwelopment. You should be the ones taking the lead. How to do this? Simple. First, planting of additional native conifers and deciduous trees along the road would greatly add to the habitat carrying capacity of the Park. The proximity to an active salmon migratory passage makes this an ideal habitat enhancer. And it would be very cheap to accomplish. Volunteer labor organized to plant a few inexpensive trees. Second, removal of the concrete pads along the road would further discourage illegitimate users, eliminate the "abandoned lot" appearance and enhance habitat. We've demonstrated elsewhere in the Park that removal of unused pavement is cheap, has widespread support among Parks staff and is relatively easy to achieve.
So remember the recent threat of development and learn a simple lesson. The more you treat it as your own, the less likely someone will try to take it from you.
