Parkways Seattle Parks and Recreation

Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) is happy to announce we have awarded the construction contract for the new Lake City park at 12510 33rd Ave. NE to Ohno Construction. We anticipate Ohno Construction mobilizing on site the week of November 29 and the park opening to the public by summer 2022.

SPR purchased the property in 2010 with funding from the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy to provide additional open space for the Lake City community.  SPR demolished the building on the property and worked with the community on the design for the park. The new park will offer a multi-generational appeal with a wide range of activities and green space in this urban neighborhood. The park will include play structures, an accessible pathway, new benches, picnic areas, open lawn, P-Patch garden plots, and bike racks. The park will include public art sculptural work by artist Elizabeth Gahan funded from the 1% For the Arts program.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the public process. This park project is made possible by the voter-approved Seattle Park District, which provides more than $47 million a year in long-term funding for SPR, including maintenance of parklands and facilities, operation of community centers and recreation programs, and development of new neighborhood parks on previously acquired sites.

For more information please visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/projects/lake_city_uv/ . For additional questions please contact Shannon Glass, project manager at Shannon.glass@seattle.gov.

Under normal circumstances Green Lake Community Center staff along with community partners would be preparing for the annual Pathway of Lights as a kickoff to the winter season. Unfortunately this year, because of challenges in enforcing public health vaccine verification requirements, we are unable to host an in-person event. The event typically draws hundreds of Seattle residents and visitors to Green Lake Park for performances and to stroll the glimmering Green Lake circuit, paths, and docks decorated with thousands of twinkling candles. Because the event does not require a ticket or set entry time, and because of the open nature of the park (there are no designated entry and exit points at Green Lake), Seattle Parks and Recreation is unable to enforce Washington State’s vaccine verification requirement for large events at this particular event and location.

We know how important this event is to Seattle, so we have found some safe, alternative ways to celebrate. Seattle Parks and Recreation will be selling a limited number of Pathway of Lights kits so that families can hold their own personal Pathway of Lights at their homes and in their neighborhoods. The kit includes luminary supplies, instructions, and some family friendly surprises. If you purchase a kit, the only supplies you need to provide would be sand or rocks to hold the bag down. Please see below for information on purchasing Pathway of Lights kits.

We will also be highlighting music, videos, and photos from past events on the Green Lake Community Center Facebook page and we encourage the community to post in the comments a photo of their backyard or neighborhood Pathway of Lights celebration.

For further questions, please call the Green Lake Community Center at 206-684-0780 or email Mary Pat Byington at marypat.byington@seattle.gov. We hope to see you in person in 2022!

How to purchase Pathway of Lights kits?

The Pathway of Lights kits are now available for purchase online here or by calling SPR’s Business Service Center at 206-684-5177. You can pick up your kit December 6-10 at Ballard, Delridge, Green Lake, Meadowbrook, Miller or Rainier community centers. Please call the pick-up site before you arrive.

Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) is happy to announce we have awarded the construction contract to LW Sundstrom for the B.F. Day Playground renovation project. The contractor will mobilize on site on Monday, November 22, 2021 and anticipates the play area opening back up by summer 2022. The playground is located in Fremont at 4020 Fremont Ave. N. on the north side of the elementary school.

This play area renovation project will replace the play equipment and improve the adjacent picnic area, including replacing the drinking fountain and making accessibility improvements in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and national safety standards.  The play equipment reflects a “nature play” theme and includes slides, swings, and balancing equipment.

Funding for this park project is provided by the Seattle Park District. Approved by voters in 2014, the Seattle Park District provides more than $47 million a year in long-term funding to tackle the $267-million major maintenance backlog for Seattle Parks and Recreation as well as other facilities including the Aquarium and Zoo. In addition, it provides funding to improve and rehabilitate community centers, preserve the urban forest, perform day-to-day maintenance of parks and facilities, provide more recreation opportunities for people from underserved communities, provide programs for people of all ages and abilities, and acquire and develop new park land.

For more information about the project please visit

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/current-projects/b-f-day-playground-play-area-renovation

For questions about the project please contact Michelle Whitfield at michelle.whitfield@seattle.gov or 206-465-8492.   

An overnight facility maintenance crew. Innovative community-informed recreation programs. Extraordinary emergency responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are just a few of the accomplishments funded over the first six years of the Seattle Park District.

Seattle voters approved the Park District in August 2014, agreeing to collect and spend property taxes to fund parks and recreation services.

A new 20-page report from Seattle Parks and Recreation summarizes the results and lessons learned from the first six-year cycle of the Seattle Park District, from 2015 through 2020.

The Cycle-End Report includes a spotlight on the department’s 2020 response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a map of Park District-funded projects and programs that shows the impressive citywide impact of this funding source. Accompanying the map is a list of projects and programs broken down by City Council District.

The online version of the report includes four appendices that dive deeper into four topics: a full list of projects, initiative by initiative; significant financial changes that occurred during the first cycle; continuous improvement efforts; and planning for the next Park District Cycle.

Click here view and read the report.

Learn more about the Park District and see the Cycle-End Report Appendices here.

Many Seattle Parks and Recreation facilities will be closed for one or more days in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

These facilities and services are CLOSED on both Thursday, Nov. 25 and Friday, Nov. 26:

• Community centers, including registered and drop-in programming
• Teen life centers
• Environmental learning centers
• Indoor swimming pools
• Green Lake Small Craft Center
• Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center

These facilities are OPEN:

• Parks
• Specialty Gardens: Japanese Garden, Kubota Garden, Washington Park Arboretum. The Volunteer Park Conservatory is open from 10am to 3pm on Thanksgiving and Friday, 11/26.
• Boat ramps

These facilities are OPEN on modified schedules:

• Amy Yee Tennis Center is CLOSED on Thanksgiving (Thursday, Nov. 25), but OPEN on Friday, Nov. 26 from 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Golf Courses will close early on Thursday, Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. and are OPEN regular hours on Friday, Nov. 26

Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) is installing new netting on holes 11 and 12 at Jefferson Park Golf Course to reduce golf balls travelling out of the park. The plans for the new poles and netting system have been submitted to the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI). Permitting will require a height variance, which will take nine to twelve months for City Council approval. As such, construction is estimated to begin in fall 2022.

During the Golf Master Plan process the errant ball issue around holes 11 to 12 at Jefferson Park Golf was identified.  SPR worked with Premier Golf and originally planned to reroute holes form a counterclockwise pattern to a clockwise pattern, but as the design and permitting was further developed, we concluded that permitting requirements, loss of trees, extensive course closure to complete this work, loss of revenue and overall project costs outweighed the option of installing netting. 

We are now planning to install new higher netting on poles along a portion of holes 11 and 12 to reduce golf balls travelling out of the park. Netting and poles will be installed along 24^th Ave S. and S. Spokane St. 

For more information about the project, please visit https://www.seattle.gov/parks/about-us/current-projects/jefferson-park-golf-course-holes-10-13-renovation or contact Shannon Glass, Project Manager, at Shannon.glass@seattle.gov or 206-733-3319.

To learn more about Jefferson Park Golf Course or schedule a tee-time please visit http://www.premiergc.com/jefferson.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is offering a variety of drop-in programs at community centers across Seattle. All programs are FREE unless noted otherwise. To participate, participants must register here. Masks must be worn while participating in all community center activities.

Drop-In Programs include the following:

• Basketball
• Hip Hop Spin
• Senior Exercise
• Family Zumba
• Martial Arts
• Pickleball
• Chinese Dance
• Line Dancing
• Fitness Rooms
• Volleyball
• And more!

See all Fall 2021 drop-in offerings here:

• South Seattle: See Fall 2021 Drop-In Programs at South Seattle community centers here.
• North Seattle: See Fall 2021 Drop-In Programs at North Seattle community centers here.

Many Seattle Parks and Recreation facilities will be closed Thursday, Nov. 11 in observance of Veterans Day.

These facilities and services are CLOSED:

• Community centers, including registered and drop-in programming
• Teen life centers
• Environmental learning centers
• Indoor swimming pools
• Green Lake Small Craft Center
• Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center

These facilities are OPEN on regular schedules:

• Parks
• Specialty Gardens (Japanese Garden, Volunteer Park Conservatory, Kubota Garden, Washington Park Arboretum)
• Boat ramps
• Amy Yee Tennis Center
• Interbay, Jackson Park, Jefferson Park and West Seattle golf courses

The Office of Arts & Culture is partnering with Seattle Parks and Recreation to increase arts and community events in parks throughout the city. The Arts in Parks Program is an opportunity for the city to invest in the vibrant cultural work being done in and by diverse communities throughout Seattle.

This grant supports new and established festivals or events that promote arts and cultural participation, celebrate diversity, build community connections, and activate parks through arts and culture while connecting with communities most impacted by systemic oppression including low-income, people with disabilities, immigrant and refugee communities, and communities of color.

Please see the full call for all details

Eligibility

The Applicant must:

• Be an individual artist, neighborhood arts council or local community-based group. Organizations and individual artists representing communities most impacted by systemic oppression including low-income, people with disabilities, immigrant and refugee communities, and communities of color are encouraged to apply.
• Have a Federal Tax ID number and be based in the city of Seattle. Groups applying are not required to be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit nor are they required to use a fiscal agent.

The Project must:

• Have a significant arts and culture component,
• Be free and open to the public,
• Have insurance,
• Provide a platform for under-resourced artists and communities,
• Adhere to Seattle Parks and Recreation’s mission statement (see below),
• And take place in a city of Seattle park between April and November 2022.

See Guidelines for list of preferred parks.

Events taking place in Downtown or City Center Parks or at Playfields and green spaces immediately adjacent to community centers are NOT eligible for this funding. See Guidelines for list of ineligible parks

Funding

Eligible applicants may request up to $7,800 one-year funding to support direct project expenses in 2022.

Deadline

Wednesday, December1, 2021, 5:00pm Pacific.  Please allow ample time to complete and submit your application; applications will not be accepted after the 5:00pm Pacific deadline. 

Virtual Workshops

Learn more about this opportunity and how to turn in your strongest application. We highly encourage first-time applicants to attend:

Program Information Sessions

Get an overview of the program, what types of projects are funded, and how to fill out the application:

Tuesday, October 19, 2021
12 – 1:30pm
RSVP here

Thursday, October 28, 2021
5:30 – 7pm
RSVP here

Drop-In Sessions

A virtual Q&A session about the application and technical assistance with the new grants system:

Wednesday, November 10, 2021
12 – 1pm
RSVP here

Saturday, November 20, 2021
11am – 12pm
RSVP here

Application

Apply on Fluxx, the City of Seattle’s new grant portal

If this is your first time using Fluxx, you will have to create a user profile before you start your application.

Click here for Application Instructions

Info

For questions about the program or for help with the online application, please contact Project Manager, Jenny Crooks. jenny.crooks@seattle.gov; (206) 684-7084.