At the second meeting for the Ninth Avenue Northwest park, more than 30 residents were presented with four designs culled from neighborhood input at the November meeting. Amazingly, everyone seemed to gravitate toward the same design.

The clear winner was concept two, or Urban Farm and Forest, which features a large P-Patch on the north side of the park, open space and sitting areas, a play structure at the south end and curving pathways.

Barbara Hainley, who lives near the park site on Ninth Avenue between Northwest 70th Street and Northwest 73rd Street, said she favored Urban Farm and Forest because of its organic flow and the natural play space.

She said the design may still present concerns with neighbors over safety and sight lines in the park.

The four designs are not final, and the design team from Site Workshop will take neighbors' comments into account before presenting the final design in January, said Clayton Beaudoin and Mark Brands from Site Workshop.

Meeting attendees said they would add elements from concepts three and four, such as a bioswale, which removes pollution from water runoff, along the west edge of the park and additional open space.

There was almost universal distaste for concept one, Formal Garden, for being a bit too formal.

Despite all the agreement, a number of features were contentious.

Neighbors could not agree on the placement or existence of a skate spot in the park. Those that did want it said it should cater to younger skaters, not teenagers.

Whether a formal play structure or informal play area was a better fit and what size it should be also caused dissension in the group.

There was a lot of discussion about the nature of P-Patches and whether the Ninth Avenue park should feature a community garden instead.

In a P-Patch, the plots are owned by individuals, who can keep control of them for life as long as they take care them. In a community garden, anyone is free to add to and take from the space.

Some residents felt the P-Patch would create stability and security for park neighbors, but others felt it would take away from the park's sense of community.

Donna Hartmann-Miller, a Maple Leaf resident, was at the meeting getting ideas for a similar process that will be starting in her neighborhood. Hartmann-Miller said she was impressed with the way the design team interpreted all the comments from residents.

"These are some excellent options to choose from," she said. "I think they listened to neighbors very well."

A final design will be presented by Site Workshop at a meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 28 at Whittier Elementary School.

There are $500,000 available for construction of the park, which is scheduled to take place late next year.

Click the photo above to see the four designs presented or download the full versions with the link at the right.