With or without Mayor Greg Nickels, the Seattle City Council is moving forward with plans to extend the Pro Parks Levy and have appointed a citizen's committee to make recommendations about the likelihood voters would approve another multi-million dollar open space initiative.

The 29-member Parks and Green Spaces Levy Citizen's Advisory Committee is comprised of residents throughout Seattle neighborhoods who are charged with coming up with a plan for a new levy by the end of June. The council will consider placing a measure on the ballot this fall.

The group will also look at specific projects that could be a part of the levy.

Tom Rasmussen, chair of the Parks and Seattle Center Committee, said the citizens of Seattle have made it clear they would support a new levy, based on a poll released in early April. Of those surveyed, 67 percent said they would favor a continuation of the Pro Parks Levy that was approved by voters in 2000.

"The council is responding," Rasmussen said last week.

The $198 million levy, which paid for the acquisition of 15 new neighborhood parks and funded 70 park development projects, expires at the end of the year. Rasmussen said that program has substantially increased Seattle's green space.

"But there is so much more that has to be done," he said. "And it's particularly true because of the growth that is occurring in the city now and the growth that we anticipate will happen in the next several years."

More than 60,000 people have moved to Seattle since 1994 and the city is bracing for another 100,000 in the next two decades.

Council members Rasmussen, Tim Burgess, Bruce Harrell, Jean Godden, Sally Clark and Council President Richard Conlin sponsored the legislation establishing the committee.

"We are asking this group to undergo a thoughtful, careful, intense and brief process," said Conlin. "It's really important to emphasize that we're not making a commitment (to a new levy) by doing this ... We're making a commitment to have this group advise us on what might be the components of a levy and whether this is the right year to go forward."

Nickels announced earlier this year his focus will be on passing a six-year, $75 million levy to make infrastructure improvements to a 100-year-old Seattle icon, the Pike Place Market. He has said it's time for an investment in the market and an open space levy can wait.

But advisory committee member Dave Boyd, president of Ballard-based non-profit Groundswell NW, said there are areas like Ballard and downtown still lacking in public open space. He's helped form the "Green Legacy Coalition," comprised of more than two dozen groups that support renewing a parks levy to invest in Seattle's "green infrastructure."

Groundswell has helped secure more than a dozen parks in northwest Seattle, often with the help of Pro Parks Levy dollars. Boyd said he might suggest possible projects in a new levy include storm water treatment projects and creating "green streets."

"We'd like to build on the good things that came out of the Prop Parks Levy and learn from the mistakes that were made," he said.

Some neighborhoods may feel like they have enough acreage of parks and their priority could be focusing on making improvements to those existing spaces.

"I think it's important that whatever plan we have should respond to individual needs and desires of each neighborhood," said Boyd. "We can't have a one size fits all model."

Pete Spalding, a West Seattle activist and vice chair of the City Neighborhood Council is also serving on the advisory committee. He said rising population and development growth in Seattle's neighborhoods only increases the need for the immediate continuation of a parks levy.

"I don't think a city can ever have enough open space," said Spalding. "If we don't preserve the green space now there's no going back and reclaiming (it). I think we need to do whatever we can to protect as much as possible."

There are also several open spaces in the city that still need money for park development, such as two lidded reservoirs here (West Seattle and Myrtle Street reservoirs).

"We know that parks and open space are a critical part of any community," Conlin said. "In a time of economic uncertainty, it may be even more important for people to have their own local park to go to whenever they want (for free)."

Public outreach meetings will be held on May 12, 14 and 15 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Locations to be announced. Regular advisory committee meetings will be held at City Hall, 600 4th Avenue, on April 30, May 6, 20 and June 3, 17, and 24 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

For more information visit, http://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/parks_levy.htm#names.

Rebekah Schilperoort may be reached at 783.1244 or rebekahs@robinsonnews.com