West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
(WSB file photo, 57th/Alki restrooms)
Seattle Parks has started the process of turning off water fountains and closing some park restrooms for the winter. But this year, more of the latter will remain open – Parks says it’s on track “to make all 129 public restrooms available for year-round use by the end of 2028.” As part of that, crews have “winterized” eight more park-restroom facilities, three of which are in West Seattle and marked by asterisks in the list below of all West Seattle park restrooms that SPR says will stay open this winter:
ALKI BEACH 57TH AVE SW RESTROOM
ALKI BEACH 63RD AVE SW RESTROOM
ALKI BEACH BATHHOUSE RESTROOM
ARMENI BOAT RAMP RESTROOM
CAMP LONG WEST RESTROOM
E.C. HUGHES PLAYGROUND*
HIAWATHA COMMUNITY CENTER RESTROOM
LINCOLN PARK BEACH RESTROOM
LINCOLN PARK COLMAN POOL RESTROOM*
LINCOLN PARK WADING POOL SHELTERHOUSE RESTROOM
SEACREST PARK RESTROOM
WESTCREST PARK NORTH*
WEST SEATTLE STADIUM NORTH STANDS (Limited use for events/programs)
WEST SEATTLE STADIUM SOUTH STANDS
Though only three restroom facilities are identified as newly winterized, we note the West Seattle list is almost twice as long as last year’s. Meantime. SPR’s announcement adds, “While we strive to keep these restrooms open for the winter, there may be times when we must close them for repair or due to extreme low temperatures.” If you happen onto a Parks restroom – or other facility – in need of repairs/maintenance, the 24/7 hotline is 206-684-7250. The reopening process will start in March.
Earlier this month, stormy weather canceled most Green Seattle Day volunteering events. But rescheduling has promised, and it’s already begun. First, here’s forest steward Lisa McGinty‘s report from Lincoln Park‘s event last Saturday:
Saturday was a perfect day for planting! I’m still smiling from our Green Seattle Day event at Lincoln Park. After eight months of hard restoration work, 400 native trees, shrubs and groundcovers were given their forever homes.
Big shout-out to local band The Potholes for providing acoustic music for our volunteers while we planted and to the WSHS Earth Club leaders for helping manage the many details that go into an event like this. Truly grateful to our community for showing up and sharing their time, stories, and smiles.
Lisa also shared this link for upcoming volunteer opportunities around the area. One of them is at Westcrest Park with Dirt Corps on Saturday, 10 am-1 pm – here’s their announcement:
THIS SATURDAY all are welcome to join in on filling the forest of Westcrest Park in our rescheduled Green Seattle Partnership-sponsored planting event!
Earlier this month we were unable to host this planting event, but this Saturday is our rescheduled opportunity for all to plant-up the park with us!
Thanks to all of the volunteers that’ve come out this year and helped prepare the space for planting, and now’s the opportunity to enjoy the victory lap! WE HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US!!
Go here to sign up.
(City map showing project location and construction-truck route)
Opponents of the plan for pickleball courts in Lincoln Park have been asking the city for a public meeting, as had City Councilmember Lisa Herbold. It’s just been announced, with other West Seattle projects on the agenda too:
Seattle Parks and Recreation is pleased to announce a virtual community meeting to provide updates on various West Seattle Park projects in response to community inquiries and to provide an opportunity for community awareness and input. Have a question you’d like answered at the meeting? Email pks_info@seattle.gov
West Seattle Park Project Updates Virtual Meeting
Monday, November 27, 6:00PM – 7:00PM
bit.ly/49CxxbBCome learn about courts being resurfaced for pickleball at Lincoln Park, the Hiawatha Community Center Stabilization Work, West Seattle’s off-leash area update, the new park coming to West Seattle Junction, South Park Community Center and site improvements, the playground at Lincoln Park, and other projects.
Back on November 4th, most Green Seattle Day volunteer events were scratched because of wind and rain. But hundreds of trees are still waiting to be planted, and that means they’re waiting for you. Lincoln Park has room for more volunteers this Saturday morning (November 18th):
Green Seattle Day @Lincoln Park is NOVEMBER 18, 9 am-noon, and registration is still OPEN! Event Registration and Details: seattle.greencitypartnerships.org/event/38152
Join hundreds of volunteers across the city planting thousands of native trees, shrubs, and groundcovers that will become the future forests of Seattle. All community members are welcome, and no experience is necessary! The event is family friendly and open to all ages. Coffee and light snacks provided and Green Seattle swag available for all who register. AND local band, The Potholes will be playing their acoustic hearts out for volunteers as they plant!
This is also a fun outdoor opportunity for student service hours! (Video link from last year’s event)Email flip98136@gmail.com with questions.
Received from Joel:
Just wanted to let West Seattleites know that a disgruntled neighbor threw garbage, including glass bottles, into the Delridge skatepark this evening. He was upset about the refuse being left behind on a daily basis.
I cleaned up what glass I could, and notified the police, but I’m sure there are small shards left that could hurt someone if they were to fall.
We suggested also calling the Seattle Parks after-hours maintenance number (206-684-7250).
If you missed your chance to get a free tree at Trick Or Trees in Highland Park, here’s another chance! Just announced:
FREE NATIVE TREE GIVEAWAY Pop-Up at Roxhill Park
Sunday, Nov. 12th, 11 am- 1 pmRoxhill Park, 9234 29th Ave SW
Time: 11:00 – 1:00 by children’s play area
Limit: 2 trees per householdHelp these trees find their forever homes, while beautifying your home and neighborhood! Including trees in your landscaping also provides shade in the summer. helps filter air pollution and reduces storm water runoff during our rainy season – good for the environment too. These native trees are appropriate for neighborhood yards , with information provided for selecting the right tree, how to plant and care for it. Fall is the best time to plant! QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED
This is sponsored by Duwamish Alive Coalition and its partners DIRT Corps and Delridge Neighborhood Development Association.
With Daylight Saving Time ending this weekend, we’re about to enter the months of early sunsets. That’s bad news for some sports programs – newly resurfaced Delridge Playfield is unusable after dark right now, because of wiring theft, and that’s apparently not going to change in time for the time change. When we first asked Seattle Parks about the theft last month, they told us they hoped to fix it within “a couple of weeks.” After hearing from a coach this week that it’s not fixed yet – almost three weeks after our previous report – we checked back. Parks’ reply: “We are still working on reinstalling and securing the new wiring. We don’t have a timeline on when the work will be done.”
A new development late today in the city’s plan to set up six pickleball courts on what used to be tennis courts in Lincoln Park. Previously, Seattle City Councilmember Lisa Herbold had asked Seattle Parks Superintendent AP Diaz last Friday to host a community meeting about the plan, which has drawn opposition from people worried the noise will harm birds and. other wildlife. Early this afternoon, Councilmember Herbold told us she had not yet heard back from Diaz. Then late this afternoon, Parks sent an email to people who had contacted the department about the plan – sent to both supporters and opponents, judging by those who received it and forwarded it to us. Here’s what it says:
Dear community members,
Over the past few weeks, we have heard from many community members about resurfacing the court in Lincoln Park to enable pickleball play. Some comments expressed concern about noise, lack of a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) analysis, assertions of tree removal and disruption to wildlife, while other comments expressed support for the project and excitement for adding more recreational opportunities in West Seattle.
Please be assured that Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) is working hard to cultivate a park system that balances our varying points of view, which includes our mission to build healthy people, a thriving environment and vibrant community throughout the entire Seattle city park system.
At this time, we can respond to some of these concerns:
–SPR reiterates there is no tree removal being done to support this project. Consistent with other court resurfacing projects, SPR is not conducting a SEPA analysis as the existing court is being repurposed with already defined recreational uses.
–SPR will not pursue lighting at this time.
–We will be pausing project construction for two weeks to talk with experts on Seattle’s bird populations on how we can properly study the potential impact pickleball noise may have on wildlife. We welcome this dialogue and will share our plans more widely after that discussion as we strive to find a collective and beneficial approach to the stewardship and management of our parkland.
Thank you for your commitments to our park system. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about this project:
https://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/projects/lincoln-park-tennis-court-conversion.
We also noticed earlier this afternoon that the Parks webpage had been updated, timestamped yesterday, with the schematic plan shown above, mapping the planned courts’ location in the park and the route construction trucks would take to get there.
BACKSTORY: We’ve been reporting on all this since August, when a reader tipped us that the then-imminent (currently on hold until next year) resurfacing of Solstice Park‘s tennis courts would include restriping three for pickleball. Parks then announced a change of plan in September, dropping the Solstice restriping plan and pursuing the Lincoln Park plan. Wildlife advocates subsequently launched a petition drive and opposition campaign. Parks, meantime, launched work at the site more than a week ago, putting up signage and fencing, but with today’s announcement, that’s apparently on hold.
Thanks to Lincoln Park forest steward Lisa McGinty for sending word of Green Seattle Day volunteering opportunities on Saturday – LP is just one of the West Seattle options (in addition to others around the city):
PLANT A FOREST AND GROW COMMUNITY! Green Seattle Day (Nov 4) is part of Seattle Forest Week and one of Seattle’s busiest days for planting native trees and plants in our beautiful parks and green spaces.
We are so grateful for all who registered for the Green Seattle Day at Lincoln Park event and I encourage others to consider joining efforts at another of our city’s beautiful parks and green spaces, like the Daybreak Star Community Planting Event!
There are 21 planting/restoration events happening on Green Seattle Day. You can find the official GSD list and registration links here: 2023 Green Seattle Day Events
The other West Seattle locations on that list are Pigeon Point Park, Puget Park, and Westcrest Park.
4:39 PM: This might be the most unusual trick-or-treating experience in West Seattle this Halloween season … Trail or Treat at Camp Long. Until 8 pm, you’re invited to the park at 5200 35th SW to visit some of the park’s cabins for trick-or-treating in partnership with local businesses/organizations that have “adopted” cabins for the occasion. Nature activities are happening too. Get a map outside the lodge, follow the lighted paths! You can roast marshmallows over a campfire at one shelter to make s’mores:
5:54 PM: More photos! The Washington Native Plant Society offers mask-making at one cabin:
Girl Scouts are greeting trick-or-treaters at another:
Nature activities include the opportunity to learn about owls and spiders:
Camp Long told us earlier this month that this is the first time they’ve had Trail or Treat since 2005!
(Sign installed at project site in Lincoln Park last Monday)
In her weekly newsletter, circulated tonight, our area’s City Councilmember Lisa Herbold comments publicly for the first time on the Lincoln Park pickleball-court project. She notes receiving an “overwhelming” amount of emails from project opponents, and says she sent Parks and Recreation Superintendent AP Diaz a letter today, with questions as well as a request for a public meeting. Here’s the full text of her letter:
Dear Superintendent Diaz,
I am writing today about the installation of the pickleball court at Lincoln Court. I have shared with hundreds of constituents the Seattle Parks and Recreation position that impacts to wildlife will not increase and may be reduced as relates to emissions. I have told my constituents, as you have:
The…”site has been used as a storage facility for the maintenance crews that service all West Seattle’s parks. Meaning that several times a day, vehicles and large trucks are pulling into this site to load and unload equipment and materials. When this site becomes a pickleball court, SPR will consolidate our maintenance facilities into one location in a different part of Lincoln Park. In our view, any disturbance to wildlife the pickleball court will bring will be equivalent, and potentially lessened as we are removing vehicle emissions from this location.”
Similarly, the Associated Recreational Council (ARC) wrote:
“Lincoln Park was considered as a potential location for dedicated courts through work with a consultant and community engagement in SPR’s 2020-2021 Outdoor Pickleball Plan. The plan offsets an additional active use to Lincoln Park by relocating the SPR grounds storage facility to the crew headquarter location. This will remove trucks, along with their emissions and traffic, driving in and out of this actively used part of the park.”
The public response I have received has been overwhelming. I have received about 1,300 emails strenuously objecting to this characterization of this installation as not having wildlife impacts.
I have also received several requests for “an official SPR plan or study.” Seattle Parks and Recreation, similarly to the ARC, has referred to this document, saying: “Through work with a consultant and community engagement, Lincoln Park was considered as a potential location for dedicated courts in SPR’s 2020-2021 Outdoor Pickleball Plan.” Yet, my quick perusal of the documents linked within the above link suggests that Lincoln Park as a location was first discussed at the May 25, 2022 open house. It appears that this was a citywide meeting. Lincoln Park appears to have been identified in a “break out session. I would like to know how many people were in attendance in the Southwest breakout session. Is there a specific “Lincoln Plan” that informed the discussion in the breakout session? Or was Lincoln Park identified in more of a “spit-balling” exercise? No one denies that Lincoln Park was put on a list, but no one seems to understand how it got on the list.
I understand the analysis and position that no SEPA analysis is needed. But meeting with community members who are pleading to be heard is the least we can do. I have joined Bird Connect on birding tours in Lincoln Park. I appreciate how vulnerable wildlife is there. Birds Connect Seattle reports that:
“More than 160 species of birds have been reported at Lincoln Park. That’s approximately 64% of all bird species that occur in Seattle from a park that represents just 0.25% of our land area.”
A constituent also reports that “ sustained, repetitive noise will disrupt this well-established ecosystem function by marginalizing wildlife and pushing them further out to areas that don’t have as much available prey, as well as pushing prey species out.” Why is it that we do not believe that this will occur?
I have also read the concern the plan in in contravention to the Public Involvement Policy for Parks Planning Processes and for Proposals to Acquire Property, Initiate Funded Capital Projects, or Make Changes to a Park or Facility. Can you comment whether you believe that to be the case? Some may remember that this policy was updated in 2022 on the request of former City Councilmember Nick Licata in response to a public outcry related to another Praks project, the Queen Anne Bowl.
Please consider hosting a meeting to hear the concerns. If you do, I will join you. I look forward to your response, as well as answers to these questions:
-How many people were in attendance in the Southwest breakout session?
-Is there a specific “Lincoln Plan” that informed the discussion in the breakout session?
-Why is it that we do not believe that sustained, repetitive work will not impact wildlife (are there studies)?
-Is DPR proceeding in a way that is consistent with the Parks Involvement Policy linked above?
-Will DPD meet with the public to discuss the plan?Thank you for your kind consideration of my request and questions. Thank you as well for all you do to support our precious parks system and all of us who use them.
Best,
Lisa Herbold
District 1 Councilmember, Public Safety and Human Services Committee Chair
We’ll be checking next week to see how Parks responds.
11:28 AM: Workers are putting up fencing this morning at the Lincoln Park site where Seattle Parks plans to convert former tennis courts, long used as storage, into pickleball courts. We went down for a look after getting a tip that police were there too.
No incident was reported as far as we could determine – the officers were apparently there as a precaution, after last week’s report that a project opponent “occupying” the site had “interfered” with workers; the officers were getting ready to leave while we were there. They were heard explaining to a few concerned bystanders what constituted “trespassing.”
We also talked at the site with a Parks manager, Sandi Albertsen. She told us that the informational sign – as noted toward the end of our story about Saturday’s protest at the site – is expected to arrive soon, She also said that in addition to the new overlay for the existing paved pad, Parks plans to make ADA improvements on the west side of the site, improving a trail so the site is more accessible. This view looks toward the northwest, from the south side of the fencing.
If you’re just hearing about this situation, here’s a brief recap: Parks was planning to add pickleball striping to the tennis courts at Solstice Park as part of then-imminent resurfacing (now postponed until next year). Reaction to that led to Parks changing its mind and instead announcing it would use part of a previously received Associated Recreation Council grant to create six pickleball-only courts at this site in Lincoln Park while keeping Solstice tennis-only. The courts might eventually get lighting, depending on additional funding and other factors, Parks said. Opponents who contend that pickleball’s distinctive sound will be bad for wildlife and people have launched a push to at least get Parks to open a public-engagement process about the plan. Parks says it’s not planning to do that and is moving ahead with the project.
ADDED 6:59 PM: We went back before sunset for a look at the fencing and the signage.
That sign was just west of the existing paved area, behind the fencing that stretches out to the west, where Parks told us this morning that “accessbility” work would be done.
Project opponents have attached multiple copies of a flyer to the fence. Meantime, we’ll be asking Parks tomorrow for more specifics on the plan for the extra fenced-off area.
ADDED WEDNESDAY: A police summary from Monday, just released, describes the reason for the response:
On 10-23-2023, at 08:46hrs, officers were dispatched to Lincoln Park for a report of two men with dogs harassing work crews attempting to set up fencing for a proposed pickleball court. Police assisted in resolving the disturbance between both parties.
As they promised last weekend, opponents of Seattle Parks‘ plan to convert Lincoln Park‘s former tennis courts into pickleball courts came back today for a larger protest rally.
Their main concerns remain two-fold: That pickleball is too noisy for an area of the park where birds roost and nest in trees and people come for refuge from urban bustle, that possible lighting of the courts would also disrupt wildlife and that Seattle Parks made the court-conversion decision without environmental review and public input.
To recap – we reported in August, after a reader tip, that Parks planned to add pickleball striping to three of nearby Solstice Park‘s six courts during resurfacing work. At the time, the resurfacing work was considered imminent. But it hadn’t happened by the time Parks announced a change in plan in mid-September – that it would create six pickleball-only courts on the former tennis courts in the north part of the park, long used for storage. Solstice, Parks said, would remain tennis-only. Both these protesters and pickleball players said soon after that they would like to see Parks go back to the previous plan.
We counted about 60 people at the gathering’s peak. The protesters waved signs along Fauntleroy Way for a while before marching and chanting to the planned court site, where they gathered for speeches, by both organizers and by park users who spoke passionately about the solace they take in visiting it.
(Video added below, 7:33 pm)
They acknowledged a youth soccer match happening next to the court and described children’s laughter as a welcome sound, unlike the sound of pickleball, a recording of which was played at one point during the gathering, They also talked strategy, since so far Parks has not granted their request to have a public-comment period on the court-conversion plan. They plan to continue gathering names on an online petition, as well as emailing politicians and political candidates, from the City Council to Congress. Parks, meantime, plans to put an informational sign at the site this week, according to a brief discussion at this past week’s Morgan Community Association meeting, and Parks told us last week – after one activist launched an “occupation” – that a “work zone” will be created at the site.
ORIGINAL SATURDAY REPORT: Thanks for the tips. A person was found dead on the Lincoln Park beach just south of Colman Pool this morning. The 911 dispatch happened just before 8 am. The person was described as an “adult female” whose body was “wet.” Police responded, as did SFD in case there was a chance she could be revived, but she could not. So far there’s no indication of suspicious circumstances that would require a homicide investigation; it’ll be up to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, which sent a crew to the beach to take possession of the woman’s body, to determine what caused her death.
ADDED MONDAY: Police tell us the woman was 61 years old; and, “There were no signs of trauma or foul play at this time.” Again, the Medical Examiner will determine how/why she died.
(West Seattle Monster Dash photo – this is its mascot ‘Monster’)
If you haven’t already seen this year’s West Seattle Monster Dash in the WSB Event Calendar, organizers want to be sure you know you’re invited to this truly fun run! Here’s the reminder they asked us to share with you – still time to get a pre-race-day registration discount:
Join us this year for the 12th annual Monster Dash fundraiser to benefit South Seattle College’s Cooperative Preschool Program! This event is a costumed 5K trail run/walk, Kids Dash, and Kids Zone featuring games, activities, and prizes. Paid registration includes a T-shirt featuring our iconic Monster (all races) and bib with timing chip (5K only). Jogging strollers welcome; please leave pets at home.
Monster Dash 5K and Kids Dash
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Lincoln Park, 8011 Fauntleroy Way SW
9:30 am 5K/10:30 am Kids Dashes$40 Adult 5K Registration ($45 on race day)
$15 Kids Dash Registration ($20 on race day)Register: runsignup.com/Race/WA/Seattle/WestSeattleMonsterDash
Donate: runsignup.com/Race/Donate/WA/Seattle/WestSeattleMonsterDashPacket Pickup Event:
Thursday, October 26, 3-6 pm
West Seattle Runner
2743 California Ave SW, Suite 101All funds raised benefit the SSCC Parent Advisory Council’s program-wide initiatives, including outreach, equity, and tuition assistance.
Opponents of Seattle Parks‘ plan to convert former Lincoln Park tennis courts into six pickleball courts gathered today for what you might call a pre-protest. 16 people met up by the park’s main lot, some with signs, before standing along Fauntleroy Way to wave them.
They were strategizing for what they hope will be a sizable protest at the park at 11 am next Saturday (October 21st). They say they’re not opposed to pickleball, just opposed to this location for courts. Their flyers to publicize the upcoming protest are headlined “We Love Pickleball! But Not at the Expense of Seattle’s Biodiversity and Human Respite.”
The biodiversity reference is in relation to birds in the park, who court-conversion opponents fear will be chased away by the loudness of pickleball and by court lighting (which may or may not be installed following the conversion, Parks has told us). Opposition organizer Kersti Muul says she has an appointment to meet with the City Attorney’s Office to discuss her contention that the court conversion is not exempt from State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review; the city says it is because pickleball is not a change in use from the site’s previous status as tennis courts. This is a photo texted by a reader, showing Parks already has cleared the ex-courts of materials that had been stored there:
The conversion plan announced a month ago surprised people because local pickleball players were expecting Parks to make good on a promise to add pickleball striping to three of the six tennis courts at nearby Solstice Park when it’s resurfaced (which was supposed to have happened by now but is on hold until next year because of weather, Parks told us). Parks says it scrapped Solstice striping and came up with the Lincoln Park plan because both tennis and pickleball players preferred separate facilities.
Earlier this week, at the on-site meeting about the West Seattle Junction “landbanked” park site, we asked about its counterpart in Morgan Junction – the future “addition” site to expand the existing park north of Beveridge Place Pub. Parks’ Kelly Goold, who was at the Tuesday Junction pop-up, also happens to be point person on the Morgan project. He said the next step at that site remains the soil remediation (cleanup) required because a dry cleaner used to be on the site. Newest timeline for that, possibly next spring – he says they’re still struggling through the permit process. The design for that park, unlike the one in The Junction, is expected to evolve beyond its original plan, because of the community interest in adding a skateable area, sparked when community members turned the long-idle site into an unofficial skatepark next year. For a more-detailed update on where the site stands, attend this Wednesday’s Morgan Community Association meeting, 7 pm October 18, online – this is part of what’s on the agenda.
Just back from the future West Seattle Junction park in the 4700 block of 40th SW, where Parks reps spent the past two hours under canopies next to the site, talking with people about the plan. Project manager Kelly Goold told us visitors voiced support for the existing design:
The park was close to construction before the pandemic pause defunded it, but now the money for it will be restored by early next year, and after final reviews, it’ll be sent out to bid. Meantime, it’s still getting interim use as a pet-relief area. (Part of the future park will be set aside for that use.) If you missed today’s meeting, you still have a chance to provide feedback – this online survey remains open until the end of the month.
Updates today in the ongoing issue of Seattle Parks canceling its plan to add pickleball stripes to three Solstice Park tennis courts and instead deciding to turn a former Lincoln Park tennis-court area (photo above) into pickleball courts:
TIMING: The plan to resurface Solstice Park courts – which is what brought up the potential for pickleball – has been delayed. Parks tells us that the resurfacing, recently considered “imminent,” is now not going to happen until spring/summer of next year: “The contractor got delayed because of supplies that did not come in time and now the weather is too wet and temperatures too cool to resurface the courts. This project will be the first one scheduled when the appropriate weather returns.” (Different material than the Lincoln Park plan, which is described as an “asphalt overlay.”)
MONEY: Questions persisted even after Parks clarified that the $140,000 cost of converting the Lincoln Park site is coming from an Associated Recreation Council grant. We asked for more details; Parks says the money was not specifically earmarked for this: “This project is being funded with a portion of a $400,000 grant from the Associated Recreation Council, given to the department last spring. There were no restrictions on where we could spend the funds. SPR decided to spend a portion of them on pickleball expansion, and the rest toward recreation programs and services.”
LINCOLN PARK LIGHTING? Funding may get in the way of that, Parks added: “We are still exploring the possibility of adding lights, but it may end up being cost prohibitive for the time being and may need to be added when future funding can be secured. Funding the lights out of the same grant would mean reducing funding to one of the other promised investments.”
As noted here yesterday, the Lincoln Park pickleball plan now has a page on the Parks website.
(WSB photo, Lincoln Park’s former tennis-court site)
Another Seattle Parks note: When the plan to convert former tennis courts in Lincoln Park to 6 pickleball courts was quietly announced three and a half weeks ago, the city promised project information online. It’s finally added a page (thanks for the tips) – see it here. The page answers one major question some opponents of the plan have had – where Parks found the money for the court conversion. The $140,000 is attributed to the Associated Recreation Council, an independent nonprofit that has long supported Parks programs. It has its own staff and a volunteer Board of Directors. You can see the ARC’s financial documents here; its annual reports (newest one is from 2021) list hundreds of individual and organizational donors. The pickleball-project page on Parks’ site, meantime, says the plan for a “new” dedicated pickleball facility – which a city study suggests would be at Hiawatha – is “long term,” while this kind of conversion is “mid-term.” Parks says this will be built by the end of the year.
Reminder – tomorrow (Tuesday, October 10th) Seattle Parks reps will be at the long-“landbanked” future park in The Junction. It’s been a long time since they developed designs for the two-thirds-of-an-acre site in the 4700 block of 40th SW, and they want to at the very least refresh everyone’s memory of what’s planned, before projected construction next year. You can talk with them about the park plan and your hopes for it at the site tomorrow, and/or answer this survey about potential added park features. They’re scheduled to be at the site 4-6 pm Tuesday.
Thanks to Jay for the photo! The fencing is down at newly resurfaced Delridge Playfield. As reported here earlier this week, the turf work was scheduled to finish today, with official reopening tomorrow. This comes three months after work began – one month faster than the original estimate. (The project had a few non-turf components that readers have noted aren’t quite done yet, though.)
Our photo shows the spot in Lincoln Park where Seattle Parks says it will convert former tennis courts into new pickleball courts, photographed late in the day last Sunday. In the nine days since we last checked in on the controversy, there’ve been a variety of developments.
First, the backstory: We reported in August that Parks planned to add pickleball striping to three of the six tennis courts at nearby Solstice Park during upcoming resurfacing work. After feedback including tennis players’ opposition, Parks changed its mind, announcing – though not widely – that it would keep Solstice tennis-only while creating a pickleball-only site in Lincoln Park.
This did not go over well with the pickleball community, whose leaders say they had no warning the Solstice plans – months in the works – were being reconsidered, nor with a community of Lincoln Park devotees who are worried pickleball will be too noisy and disruptive for wildlife and peace-loving parkgoers. Both of those groups are represented in online petition drives; local wildlife biologist/advocate Kersti Muul started this one voicing opposition to the Lincoln Park pickleball plan (and potential off-leash area), with more than 1,200 signatures as of this morning, while the Seattle Metro Pickleball Association‘s petition, approaching 500 signatures at last check, asks the city to stick to the Solstice-striping plan.
Right now, though, Parks is standing firm. Its decision has been made, and it’s not reopening the discussion, according to what spokesperson Rachel Schulkin told us when we asked. She says the department’s position remains what she wrote in an email response to opponents of pickleball at Lincoln Park, including:
… This is an existing court, and the work is categorically exempt from SEPA [environmental study] requirements as maintenance of an existing facility. A landscape architect has been assigned to the development [of the] Lincoln Park tennis courts, and they have reviewed the site and will be using best management practices to implement courts here.
We plan to offset bringing another active use to Lincoln Park by relocating the SPR grounds storage facility to the crew headquarter location. This will remove trucks, along with their emissions and traffic, driving in and out of this actively used part of Lincoln Park.
We are committed to communicating our plans for pickleball courts in Lincoln Park frequently. While there are no opportunities for public engagement, we can answer any questions you have and share any concerns you may have with Parks and Recreation leadership. In addition, we’ll install a project sign near the site to share project and contact information.
Parks says it expects to complete the grant-funded conversion by “late fall.” Possible lighting is being considered separately; one reader who asked what was being taken into consideration for that was told, “At this point we are assessing the cost, what work would be needed to be done to install lights, and what type of lighting would be most appropriate for this space.”
All the while, the Solstice Park resurfacing hasn’t happened yet: “There isn’t a date set for Solstice resurfacing. We are still awaiting supplies coming in to the contractor, and then will have to plan for a stretch of drier weather.” Pickleball advocates say that project was at one point expected to be complete by the end of summer. The association’s official position:
Seattle Metro Pickleball Association is supportive of SPR’s plan to build dedicated courts for pickleball. We support the Lincoln Park site selected by SPR. We also believe they should put pickleball lines on the Solstice courts. We understand plans can change, but in this case, there was no visibility into the decision-making process, nor was it known that the Solstice plan was even being reconsidered.
Parks has said the Lincoln Park site was at some point considered when the Outdoor Pickleball Study was under development a few years ago, though that plan landed on Hiawatha as a pickleball-only site, and “public engagement” regarding that proposal is still expected.
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