It’s Official: No Shoreline Jail!

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced today (May 13th) that a plan is in place to provide cities with 150 beds in the King County Jail until 2020. Mayor McGinn is recommending to Bellevue, Clyde Hill, Kirkland, Redmond, Shoreline and Yarrow Point that they end the siting process for a new jail in north/east King County. Stopping the process will remove the Shoreline site, along with the other sites, from further consideration as a possible location for the construction of a regional municipal jail.

A tremendous “Thank You” to all who were involved in this long process.

Read King County’s Announcement here.
Read City of Shoreline’s response here.

BUT WE ARE NOT DONE! Now we have to turn our energy to convincing the Shoreline School District and the Cities of Shoreline and Lake Forest Park to work together toward a common goal: Saving Aldercrest Annex as a park for our children and our children’s children. Please take action!

1) Get involved with Friends of Aldercrest and be a part of shaping the vision for the site. SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE ALDERCREST and get your neighbors to do the same.

2) Go to a school board meeting or send the board and superintendent a letter urging them to do the right thing. Keep Public Lands in Public Hands! Save Aldercrest as our Community Park!

3) Go to a Shoreline or Lake Forest Park city council meeting and urge your elected representatives to make it a top priority to secure this PUBLIC LAND as park space.

4) Come to a joint meeting of Friends of Aldercrest and the Ballinger Neighborhood Association where city staff will talk with us about several big picture issues for our neighborhood. May 25, 7:00 PM at the Aldercrest Learning Center, small gymnasium, at 2800 NE 200th Street.

The Shoreline School District’s Aldercrest Annex site, near the borders of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and Mountlake Terrace, has been selected by the North East Cities Municipal Jail Planning as one of six possible sites for a new 640-bed Municipal Jail complex to house misdemeanor inmates.

This website has been created to help unite, inform and organize residents in opposition to the Shoreline Jail.

Of the six proposed sites, Aldercrest Annex is by far the most inappropriate choice.

• It is located in an almost entirely residential neighborhood, 95% residential within a quarter mile. Many houses and apartments border the property.
• Several schools are in the immediate vicinity, Living Wisdom School, Wonderland Development Center, Discovery School, Lake Forest Park Elementary, Lake Forest Park Montessori, Whizz Kids Academy and several day cares and after school programs. Some are located directly across the street from the proposed jail site!
• The location is currently a valuable green space and recreational area, including soccer and baseball fields, a tennis court and a track that our community can not afford to lose.
• It is across the street from Brugger’s Bog Park, the only small park in the area where children and families can play.
• Increased traffic, sirens and noise will drastically affect the quiet neighborhood.
• Property values will plummet if you live nearby. Lower property values lead to less money for our schools, fire department, libraries and other essential services.
• Stormwater from the Aldercrest site drains in to a small tributary to Lyon Creek that already experiences occasional flooding.

For more in-depth reasons why Aldercrest is the wrong site, read the Comparison of Zoning and Current Use Surrounding the Proposed Jail Sites.

Time is of the essence. Your involvement is required to help ensure that the Shoreline site is not selected to build the new jail.

Please subscribe to our email list, our RSS Feed, join our forums and GET INVOLVED!

Location: 2545 NE 200th ST. The site is bordered by 25th Ave NE, NE 200th ST and NE 195th Lane.

Shoreline / Aldercrest Jail Site

Google Map of Jail Site

View Shoreline NEC Jail Site in a larger map