Originally published Saturday, August 2, 1997

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

At the far end of Magnolia is Discovery Park, the jewel of the city. Seattle's largest park with more than 500 acres, it exists only through the work of hundreds of residents and politicians who fought to create it and are now left to defend it.

As early as 1930, the federal government offered the land to the city for use as a park. But the land was secured until 1969 under the leadership of late Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson. Three years later, first daughter Tricia Nixon Cox presided over the land exchange.

The latest wrinkle is a 148,000-square-foot lodge proposed by United Indians of All Tribes, which operates Daybreak Star Art and Cultural Center within Discovery Park. United Indians holds a 99-year, renewable lease with the city for 19.5 acres, a relationship that was forged when the federal land was transferred to the city.

"Given the size and scope of the lodge, the project involves a significant amount of (new) parking," says Fritz Hedges, the Parks Department's citywide division director. "It's probably fair to predict it will be controversial. The discussion will probably revolve around its scale rather than the concept of it. Most people would agree they have a right to be there and with the general type of uses they are talking about."

The "People's Lodge" was planned in the 1970s as a cluster of buildings, says Jamie Garner, general counsel and project manager for project. The concept now is to create a single, more efficient building that will have room for a performing arts theater, a museum-quality permanent exhibition space as well as space for revolving exhibitions, an educational resource center equipped with computers and a library, and a large, indoor gathering space that could accommodate meetings, conferences or powwows.

United Indians has no intention to operate any type of gambling or gaming operation at the site, nor could it legally do so, says Garner.

Bob Kildall, president of Friends of Discovery Park, questions the need for such a huge lodge, which he says would be roughly 15 times bigger than the new Discovery Park visitors center, located near the main entrance.

Over the years, dozens of development proposals have been put forward for Discovery Park. Had even a handful come to fruition, Kildall says, the park's precious habitat for "people and critters" would have been destroyed.

Unlike the city's more cultivated parks, Discovery remains a pastoral setting, a quiet place for visitors to get away from noise, cars and even people, Kildall says. "But it's hard to keep that ideal, to keep it from being developed."

Discovery Park is home to eagles, herons, falcons, foxes and beavers. In August 1981, a 100-pound, wayward cougar was discovered in the park. The bewildered cat eventually was tracked, tranquilized and trucked to the Cascade foothills where it was released back into the wild. The story was turned into a children's book.

Changes are coming to Discovery Park just as they are to the rest of Magnolia.

The trick, Kildall says, is for the community to get involved. "Right now," he says, "there's just an awful lot to do."

Continued:

• Great views, a changing scene
• Assortment of lifestyles lends charm to area
• Feistiness a neighborhood trademark