View from the north entrance to Maple Leaf Reservoir Park. The entrance will be at Northeast 88th Street and 12th Avenue Northeast.
Some – but probably not all – of the new Maple Leaf Reservoir Park will open this fall as expected, according to Seattle Parks and Recreation.
The difficulty appears to be that some of the grass has not taken root firmly enough. That will likely preclude opening the re-seeded sports fields.
Here’s the current plan, in an email today from Kim Baldwin, a parks contact on this project.
We’ll open a portion of the park for use this fall but leave other areas fenced in where the turf isn’t well established. We’ll definitely keep the fields fenced until spring since they were seeded last and will probably get the heaviest use. One thought is to have an opening event this fall with some areas still fenced off and the other is to wait until all the fencing is down and have an event in the spring.
i shake my fist at those geese…shake it madly!
Jojo, you sound like a very respectable citizen. It is nice to know you are amoung us.
As a dog owner, I find it very annoying that people use the park as a place to off leash their dogs. My dogs are shelter dogs, and afraid of the off leash dogs that bombard them at the park. I am unable to take my dogs there for a walk.
If you want to off leash – go to one of the many off leash parks this city has to offer.
Dogs pee all over the playground as it is. Poop is all over. Dog owners are some of the crappiest park visitors.
Theres almost always dog feces piled up somewhere in the grass. I wish that the City of Seattle would DNA dogs so that the poop could be used to ticket the lazy dog owners. People don’t go to the park to pick dog crap out of their shoes.
Its a good park but the dog crap all over the grass and the homeless guys hanging around the bathrooms is getting to be too much.
True, now the geese can`t poop in the water. The only thing you need to be concerned about now is; that you aren`t standing above the enclosed reservoir in the event of an earthquake.
No dog park. No tennis courts. But more than several kid oriented areas. Thanks a lot for listening to public requests and providing adult oriented activities. Yes, that’s sarcasm. And when the heck were the tennis courts scrubbed? They are really more expensive than pickle ball courts? Who the hell plays pickle ball anyway?
What would it take to upgrade the courts to something more useful, like tennis? Can we initiate a local drive to raise funds, donations and volunteer labor? What was the City’s rationale for dropping the tennis courts? Every plan I saw clearly had tennis courts on them.
At least the geese can’t poop in the reservoir.
I am glad we have a larger park, regardless the details. Sixteen acres of open space in any configuration works for me.
http://www.seattle.gov/parks/projects/maple_leaf_reservoir/
I am more concerned about feral humans than I am dogs and geese.
I note that Edmonds has passed an ordinance:
“No cat is allowed to roam freely off their property. Cats must either be fenced in, or taken out on a leash, like dogs.”
Maybe the song birds lobbied for that one.
Pickle-WHAT?!
How do we start the appeal process Dave? I’ve been waiting years to play tennis on the Rez. How good is that grass? Can we line out a court and BYO net while we wait for the pickle expansion?
It would be great if the new park were heavily used! I’m hoping the circular path will make it attractive to younger kids on bikes, people with strollers, etc. As a daily user of the lower park for 20 years I haven’t noted many of the open field activities that J describes.
Aw excellent. So this is what my tax dollars went to. A place where geese, and dogs have a place to crap.
Diane, if you don’t think people will be using the upper park much you’ll be in for a surprise. Kites, frisbees, random soccer… Everyone is waiting for that place to open and it will be heavily used!
those of us who have owned dogs in Maple Leaf for years know that the new upper park will become a dog play zone. It’s a big area with few amenities that will be empty most of the time. Perfect spot for early morning and after work games of fetch. We used the old park that way for years and now won’t be interrupted by soccer and little league practice!
To melody
Do you seriously think that off leash dogs will result in clean grass? Have you ever been to a legal dog park?
THERE IS NO GRASS anywhere in off leash parks.
Dogs off leash tear up the grass and anything in their path. Note the area on the south side of the park at 82nd between 11th and 12th where dogs have been off leash during park construction. There is no grass. It has been torn up by large dogs running around. A legal off leash area would result in hundreds of dogs all day long. Already some people drive to the park to let their dogs off leash. Think about how many additional cars and off leash dogs there would be if it were legal to do so. Also, many dog owners DO NOT clean up. Particularly those who come after dark with their off leash dogs. They cannot see the poop much less clean up.
@David:
I was not aware of the pickle ball versus tennis court situation. Thanks for the update. That seems a bit odd and if they don’t get used for pickle ball much they will be major waste. Unfortunate.
I love pickle ball, but my guess is alot more people own a tennis racket than pickle ball equipment.
Despite community requests, there are no tennis courts. Those are smaller pickle-ball courts. We asked Parks to reconsider, showing them tennis courts were by far the neighborhood’s preference. They refused.
Despite neighborhood requests, there will be no off-leash dog area. SPU refused to allow it anywhere near the reservoir. Parks refused to allow it because they had halted development of new off-leash areas during the design phase of the park and would not reconsider despite our requests.
Off leash areas look like the crap that dogs leave behind and owners expect the dog poop fairy to magically pick up.
I believe the tennis courts will be next to the basketball courts. If you drive or walk by the park on Roosevelt you can see the basketball court is going in around the middle west edge of the park. Basically across from the tile shop on Roosevelt.
I t would be so easy to have a narrow dog run area on one small portion of the park. What gives?
Where are the tennis courts?
Those geese in the picture will be ripping the grass out and pooping all over the place. : ( If they had a put a dog area up there where people CLEAN up after their dogs the geese would be scared away.