The People's Lodge fits Discovery Park
It is a model for the innovation and compromise needed among the tribes, neighbors, park supporters and City Hall to get this project built.
Difficult decisions remain on parking, traffic, commercial activity and financing, but they are not insurmountable. For now, it's the progress that is noteworthy.
The United Indians of All Tribes Foundation released a site plan by Seattle architect Johnpaul Jones that converts the original plan of a hulking People's Lodge into three buildings and cuts total square footage by 40 percent.
Most importantly, Jones skillfully reduced the height, bulk and visual impact that doomed earlier designs.
The architect's work, paid for by the city, was warmly received by officials and critics worried about the preservation of Discovery Park's quiet tranquility and intimate contact with nature.
That is what planners sought 30 years ago for the 521-acre park in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood.
Discovery Park is a recycled army base once destined to be a missile site. Washington's congressional delegation and local leaders secured the land with historic legislation that has helped 700 communities around the country get surplus federal property for parks and recreation uses.
Indian activist Bernie Whitebear led a 1970 occupation at Fort Lawton when the future of the property was in play. When the city received title from the U.S. government, a nearly 20-acre piece was carved out to be run by a Native American foundation with a 99-year, renewable lease.
Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center opened in 1977 with Puget Sound and snow-capped Mount Baker in spectacular panorama.
Daybreak is a hub for Native American programs and cultural events, especially during Seafair. The vision has always been larger, and more cumbersome. The sheer mass of the proposed People's Lodge was a dead weight. Legal challenges and bureaucratic setbacks stymied expansion.
Jones' innovation was to divide the project into three buildings that flow nicely on waves of elevation that move down a tree-covered slope. What was once to be 148,000 square feet has been reduced to 90,000 square feet spread over a 350-seat performing-arts theater, Hall of Ancestors and a Potlatch House for 1,000 people.
Dramatic reductions of height, scale and even the addition of sod rooftops lower the profile and presence. Structures could be scaled back again after a business plan is developed to see how the project can sustain itself and cover capital costs.
Here is where compromise and innovation are essential. The foundation needs the flexibility anticipated in the original lease.
Potential traffic impacts can be reduced by careful management and scheduling of events. But the center needs facilities, such as suitably sized cooking space, for large, periodic events. In turn, concerns about cooking smoke and odors ought to be addressed with ventilation and filter systems.
Parking is particularly vexing. Sharing the 200-plus spaces in the park adjacent to the center works, especially when a meadow is used for summertime overflow. Adding a modest amount of permanent parking to the north would not harm the park.
Expecting the tribal foundation to make room for event parking on its sliver of land is not fair, and would only put more traffic on a winding access road next to private homes.
Park defenders have to be realistic about the impact of this tiny site on Discovery's 521 acres.
A new generation of Indian leaders is pulling together what promises to be an extraordinary cultural asset. A long-stalled idea is moving ahead with renewed energy.
The late Bernie Whitebear would be proud.