City parks planners are shopping in Morgan Junction for a place to build a public park and it could be where the monorail station was slated to be built.

The Pro Parks levy approved by voters in 2000 provided money to buy land for a park in Morgan Junction, plus about $300,000 to develop the park.

Establishing a public park in the vicinity of California Avenue and Fauntleroy Way has been a goal since the early 1990s when residents, landlords and business owners wrote the Morgan Junction Neighborhood Plan. Similar plans were written by people in the Alaska Junction, Delridge, Westwood and the Admiral District as part of the Seattle Comprehensive Plan. Those areas were designated "urban villages."

Topping the parks department's list of potential sites is the former monorail station site in the 6400 block of California Avenue, where West Seattle Video Vault and Fauntleroy Autoworks used to be.

In an unusual bid for the monorail site, the parks department wants to partner with Gary Sink, owner of the Beveridge Place Pub. Sink's lease on the pub expires in about two years so he wants to buy the Video Vault building and turn it into a pub. He'd need space on the north side of the building for four parking spaces.

Seattle Parks and Recreation would acquire the other part of the parcel, where Fauntleroy Autoworks used to be, for the new park, said Don Harris from Parks and Recreation's open space program.

Combining their buying power could increase their chances of winning the bid battle.

"We've been trying all over town to partner with a developer," Harris said.

The city is considering two other potential park locations in Morgan Junction too.

One site is where an old house and a tiny store now stand, at 6021 and 6031 California Ave. S.W. That property is owned by a developer with plans to build there, but the developer expressed interest in selling the site to the city, Harris said.

The other possible park site is where the Short Stop drycleaners, grocery and deli are located at 6317 California Ave. S.W.

"This is my urban home," said Chas. Redmond, explaining the need for a park in Morgan Junction. "When I'm there, the best I can do is sit in the Thriftway parking lot."

Numerous people at the meeting spoke in defense of the Eddy Street Ravine. They worry that having a park so close might entice people to enter the ravine, where crime has been a problem in the past, they said.

Parks employees asked the audience to raise their hands to "vote" for their favorite alternatives. Planners hoped to leave the meeting with a "mandate" from Morgan Junction residents. However many people voted more than once.

Forty people supported having the city partner with Gary Sink to acquire the former monorail site.

Thirty-four people raised their hands in favor of pursuing the monorail site, but without the partnership with Sink. One woman questioned the wisdom of having a pub next door to a public park. Drunken patrons could be a nuisance in a park, she said.

If the parks department cannot obtain the monorail station site, 26 people voted to go for the site in the 6000 block of California Avenue and 27 people voted for the Short Stop site in the 6300 block of California Avenue.

"We've already paid for Lincoln Park," said a woman in the audience who objected to buying a new park site. It makes more sense to her to invest money in an established park.

Harris pointed out that voters approved spending $200 million in the Pro Parks levy and some of that money was earmarked for a new park in Morgan Junction because the area is expected to continue growing.

"Neighborhoods like yours are taking all of this multifamily (development)," Harris told the woman. The increased density will make greater the need for parks, he added.

For many years, Morgan Junction residents eyed the Seattle City Light electrical substation as a potential park site. It's located between Fauntleroy Way and Morgan Street by 41st Avenue Southwest.

City Light officials have long planned to deactivate the Morgan substation. Its comparatively low voltage is used to run switches in the city's electrical system, said Sharon Bennett, a City Light spokeswoman.

The Morgan substation was slated to be decommissioned but then voters approved the levy to improve fire stations all over the city. Among the projects is replacement of Fire Station 37 with a new station built a few blocks south of its current location. That will put the new Fire Station 37 next to what City Light calls the Gatewood substation. So now the plan is to deactivate the Gatewood substation to make way for the new fire station, but that means City Light will have to keep the Morgan substation operating, Bennett explained.

Another problem with the Morgan substation site is its size. It measures about 4,000 square feet, which is small for a park, Harris said. Seattle Parks and Recreation prefers sites of at least 10,000 square feet, he said. That's about the size of two small home lots.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.