Date: October 12, 2017
Statement from Seattle Parks & Recreation and King County
In the past few weeks, community members have raised questions and concerns about the future of Duwamish Waterway Park. Duwamish Waterway Park is a waterfront park in the South Park neighborhood that runs alongside the Duwamish river. This park space is currently owned by King County, and maintained by Seattle Parks and Recreation. The community has been meeting together with partners to envision future development of this park space, and recently many have been concerned that that future vision may be hindered.
Seattle Parks & Recreation, King County, and Seattle Parks Foundation are all committed to developing Duwamish Waterway Park into a park space for the South Park and greater Seattle community.
Additionally, we are grateful for the support of the Friends of Duwamish Waterway Park and the Seattle Parks Foundation in bringing community and partners together to create a vision for the future of this park. This vision and partnership will be integral to the future development projects of this park.
“This is an exciting step in the right direction,” said King County Councilmember Joe McDermott. “I’m a big fan of the Duwamish Waterway Park, and King County should remain committed to the park as well. I am excited to see what the community, city and county can develop together to ensure a sustainable and accessible park for years to come.”
“Community support and partnership will be integral to future development projects at this park. We look forward to taking the next steps together in realizing this shared vision,” said Jesús Aguirre, Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent.
“We’re all working toward the same goal – to nurture Duwamish Waterway Park into the wonderful public space that the community deserves,” said Christie True, Director of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks. “With Seattle Parks, the Seattle Parks Foundation and community members, we’ve arrived at a near-term agreement that allows progress on the park to continue and are now working together to ensure the long term future of the park.”
King County has granted Seattle Parks and Recreation a special use permit that will allow this space to continue to be a publicly accessible park.
King County and Seattle will continue working together to create a set of shared commitments about the next steps for the Duwamish Waterway Park. These commitments will guide us toward the goal of eventually incorporating this park space into the Seattle Parks and Recreation system.