Drafter
Clerk 08/13/2026
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to the temporary release of a restrictive covenant over the property commonly known as 12531 28th Avenue NE, Lake City, to support the construction and future operation of a community center and affordable housing within the city of Seattle.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. In 1944, trustees for the Lake City Lions Club conveyed to King County by statutory warranty deed APN 383450-0635 "for park purposes."
2. The King County park and recreation board, predecessor to the King County department of natural resources and parks, considered the area for a County park, but deemed it too small for development.
3. After King County declined to establish a park, the successors in interest to the grantors of the original deed quitclaimed the reversionary interest in the property to King County.
4. King County subsequently conveyed the parcel to the Lions Club, conditioned on the Lions Club using the property "as a site for a youth center building to provide recreational guidance to the young people in the Lake City community, and for no other purpose." King County's deed conveying the property to the Lions Club memorialized this restriction, providing, in pertinent part, that the property "be used solely for park and recreational purposes."
5. In 1964, the Lions Club conveyed the property via quitclaim deed to the city of Seattle, which included the park and recreational use restriction imposed by King County.
6. Seattle Parks operated a community center on the property until 2023, when a fire led to the building's closure.
7. The Seattle Office of Housing, in partnership with Seattle Parks, desires to colocate a new community center with affordable housing where the former community center was located. The housing would have an average affordability of approximately forty-nine percent of the area's median income.
8. In conjunction with the development, the city of Seattle intends to complete a boundary line adjustment of APN 383450-0635, which would create a "parcel Y" and a "parcel Z." Parcel Y would be comprised of open space land, while parcel Z would be the location of the mixed-use affordable housing development.
9. Because the entirety of APN 383450-0635 is restricted to park and recreational uses only, King County must temporarily relinquish its interest in the deed restriction to allow for the city's proposed redevelopment.
10. Upon Seattle's completion of the boundary line adjustment of APN 383450-0635, the parties will rerecord the deed restrictions on parcel Y substantially in the form as Attachment B to this ordinance.
11. Parcel Z will continue to fulfil the original intent of the deed restriction through the operation of the community center on the property.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. The executive is authorized to execute a temporary release of the restrictive covenant over the property located at 12531 28th Avenue NE, Lake City, substantially in the form of Attachment A to this ordinance, to execute a new restrictive covenant over parcel Y substantially in the form of Attachment B to this ordinance, and
to take all actions necessary to execute and implement the temporary release and reinstatement of the restrictive covenant.