FOLLOWUP: Long-planned Westcrest Park work starting soon, city says

| Highland Park | Pets | West Seattle news | West Seattle parks

Another long-planned Seattle Parks project is about to get started. Here’s the announcement we received late today:

Seattle Parks and Recreation awarded the construction contract for the Westcrest Park Off-leash Area Drainage Improvements project to OMA Construction Inc. The contractor will mobilize and set up construction fencing the week of October 18.

The main off-leash area and the north parking lot will be fully closed during construction. In response to community input in 2019, SPR will construct a temporary off-leash area to the north of the existing site and west of the small/shy dog area in a space that is currently lawn. It will be set up prior to closure of the existing off-leash area for public use. The existing shy/small dog area will remain open. People interested in accessing the temporary off-leash area can access it through the south parking lot.

We anticipate reopening the parking lot and improved off-leash area in spring 2022. After construction, the contractor will restore the temporary OLA back to lawn.

Over the past few years, the maintenance project has grown from a simple drainage improvement project to a $505,000 project that will address drainage, access, and erosion. Funding is provided by the Seattle Park District Major Maintenance and Asset Management Fund. For more information, please visit seattle.gov/parks/about-us/projects/westcrest-park-drainage-improvements. If you have questions about the project please contact the project manager, Janice Liang at Janice.Liang@seattle.gov.

While not mentioned in the announcement or on the project page, the city told us back in May that the closed play structure would be replaced as part of this project.

Morgan October 6, 2021 (7:23 pm)

Will they ever finish Morgan junction park or restore the play structure in Lincoln? Any timelines?

Leslie October 6, 2021 (7:46 pm)

What’s the staus of the South Lincoln Park Play Area? Long gone swings, climbing structure, and zip line…. How many years? A very sad metaphor to the kids of WS and the Parks Dept. ETA, problems, timeline?

D-Mom October 7, 2021 (6:46 am)

Agree! They took out the structures and left a gaping hole. So disappointing! They should have left the structures in place until they were ready to do the project.
Phil October 7, 2021 (10:01 am)

Construction slated for “Winter 2022”

https://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/projects/lincoln-park-south-play-area-renovation

Mj October 6, 2021 (10:10 pm)

Leslie – hopefully by the time your grandkids have kids of their own!

Wseattleite October 6, 2021 (10:13 pm)

Perhaps they can improve security in the parking areas.

Craig October 7, 2021 (6:45 am)

I’m curious about the large blue area on the visual “Project Area: Off leash area to be closed during construction”. Last I checked none of this area has been part of the existing off leash area. If this area is drawn to indicate, the effected area due to the project, then I’m curious as to what is happening in this space as is seems to be intentionally drawn into the existing natural areas to the east of the p patch. Is this area going to be used for off leash in the short or long term, future access improvements, or ? Also curious about the areas marked in red to the east. I checked the Parks link and don’t see any info relating to the blue and red areas marked on this image. Thanks for any clarification.

WSREZZO October 7, 2021 (11:24 am)

Craig, I think the current dog area is correct when you follow the small blue arrow next to the blue and white text box.

Mike October 7, 2021 (9:53 am)

I agree with Craig, the lines on the map make no sense. Hundreds of people and dogs use the park every day and this needs to be clarified.

Jort October 7, 2021 (2:16 pm)

Somebody screwed up this version of the map. The correct version is on the city’s website. It looks like they flipped the drawing outlines upside down and reversed the colors.