Come and Celebrate!

 

When: November 16, 12pm – 2pm

Where: HPIC

Questions/RSVP   Hannah, Hannahk@sustainableseattle.org

 

Have you seen it?  Highland Park Improvement Club (HPIC) is busy transforming the parking lot with green infrastructure. Since January, the HPIC Greening Committee has been working with Sustainable Seattle to design and install the rain garden that is now there for everyone to enjoy.  Almost 150 people showed up on June 1 to be a part of the Community Planting Day.

In August, the cistern was connected and is now busy collecting water from these Fall storms. Stay tuned as a community team creates an art piece that describes what this rain garden is doing to help keep the Duwamish River clean.  Once the art piece is complete, we will install it with a community-wide celebration.  Details coming soon.

The rain garden and cistern are just the launching point for the transformation of this community center – and now HPIC is ready to start the next step: a second rain garden and a community courtyard.  The second rain garden is already going in the ground, collecting excess water from the cistern. The community courtyard, which will be built using permeable pavers, will surround the current rain garden and is funded by a second Green Grant to Sustainable Seattle from King County Wastewater Treatment. These developments will not only beautify the parking lot but potentially provide a way for HPIC to reduce their surface water fees through the stormwater credit program.

As part of this project, Stewardship Partners will be working with Sustainable Seattle and HPIC to hold a community Depave event, funded by a King County Green Grant to Stewardship Partners.  The event will bring the community together to break up a portion of the asphalt in the parking lot, setting the stage for permeable pavers and more planting areas. The project will not only beautify HPIC and draw attention to this neighborhood gem, it will also provide the launching point for a Depave campaign across the county that will remove tons of unnecessary pavement from our communities. Details about all the changes coming to the parking lot are still in the design phase – and you will have a chance to add your voice to that process.

Do you want to stay in-the-loop about the project?  Here are a couple of ways you can participate right now:

–          Come to the Celebration on November 16! Details above.

–          Join the HPAC mailing list to stay in the know

–          Be a part of the Greening Team and add your voice to the design process

–          Connect the Team to local resources that would expand the project

–          Tell your neighbors about the project

–          Enjoy the new green features

–          Help launch our region’s depave movement

–          Adopt the actions at the club on your property – contact Hannah at Hannahk@sustainableseattle.org to learn how.