• The Belltown p-patch with parking lot in background.

"We could have an twelve-story tall building going up right next to us, blocking out the light," explains Judy Ness, a gardener who's been with the Belltown P-Patch for over a decade. "We're concerned."

Building height limits would allow for a 125-foot tall mixed-use building or a 65-foot tall commercial space to be developed on the site.

The group hopes that they can sell the idea of a pocket park to the city—despite its prohibitively steep price—as a component of the waterfront redevelopment project. They've written to King County council members as well as city officials pitch their idea and solicit feedback. ("I'm not sure what they can do for us," Ness says of the KC council members she's contacted. "At this point, we're just trying to get the word out and see what can be done.") Gardeners have also met with representatives from Seattle's P-Patch Trust, Sustainable Seattle, and the citizen's waterfront advisory committee.

But they face obvious hurdles.

The city is beyond broke, and two fantastic existing parks—the Olympic Sculpture Park and Myrtle Edwards—lie just blocks north of the garden, weakening arguments that Belltown needs a multi-million dollar pocket park. And the group currently has no game plan for acquiring the funds, outside of asking the city and county for help. "What we have are questions—what if we could procure this lot? What if we could procure more lots?" Ness asks rhetorically, speaking of the Skyway Luggage building that is for sale adjacent to the parking lot (Skyway owns both sites) for another $2.275 million. "If the planets were in alignment, buying both lots would be perfect. What a legacy to the city, all that expanded green space."

In lieu of money or a plan, gardeners have hope. They point out that it took at least three years of lobbying in the late 90's to get the city to purchase their current p-patch.