As fall begins and the leaves change, we leave behind a summer filled with progress. The official start of fall is Sept. 23, but in reality, we all witness the transition before the actual date arrives.
In addition to the bright yellow and deep red leaves we can see, there is just that feeling in the air that change is underway.
Indeed change is underway. I am sure many readers have seen the construction at Town Square Park. You may have even asked yourselves: “What’s going on there?” or “I thought we just opened Town Square Park?”
Perhaps the most important responsibility a mayor has, is to be responsive to the constituents he serves. With this principle in mind, I would like to update you on the Phase II developments at Town Square Park.
But first, let’s cover the history of the property.
Town Square Park opened July 9, 2014 after the site sat vacant for more than a decade. The property, as many may remember, was once home to a six-screen AMC movie theater. The theater opened in 1983, but closed its doors Sept. 2, 2003, as trends in public preference moved away from older theaters, toward mega theaters, housing many more screens.
Federal Way purchased the property on Jan. 3, 2007. Through the years, several concepts were proposed for the four-acre site, but for varying reasons none came to fruition. The property began to resemble an episode of History Channel’s “Life After People.” A pile of rubble sat with blackberry bushes and weeds tangled throughout.
Downtown Federal Way was experiencing what this paper called “urban blight.”
Years before my election as your mayor, I spoke about the possibilities of a downtown park. In my Mayor’s Memo from July 18, 2014 I said: “Every great city — big or small — has at least one central gathering place where residents can come together for community events, rallies and concerts, or to gather in smaller groups for picnics and recreational activities.”
And gather, we did, holding seven major events at the park drawing nearly 1,000 people per event, including our city’s 25th Anniversary Celebration.
As I discussed in that July 2014 Mayor’s Memo, we intended Town Square Park to “evolve” to meet the needs of our community. All of the furnishings from Phase I will be repurposed into the Phase II development.
Those include items like the park benches and umbrellas, as well as two of the basketball hoops. The other hoops will move to the 312th Sport Court replacing the existing older basketball hoops already there.
A Park for All of Us
When Town Square Park reopens next summer, it will do so as an environmentally sensitive Low Impact Development (LID) in an urban setting. This “green” park sits atop the head waters of the Hylebos watershed making how we manage surface water a crucial component to the development.
Site topography and the park’s design features multiple types of LID installations. These include permeable pavers and concrete, vegetated green roofs (on the covered picnic area and permanent restroom), a rain garden, depressed landscaping and room for educational signage, as well as interactive storm water education elements for recreational park users and students of all ages.
For families wanting to escape the warm summer months, Town Square Park will feature a state of the art spray park with large basalt columns and a center fountain.
At night, the fountain can be lit up with vivid colors. Children will play on a big playground, and secure, permanent restrooms will also be installed.
There will be a permeable concrete trail surrounding the park featuring more than 130 trees around the perimeter.
The trail will have distance markers for joggers and will be lit in the evening hours. We will have beautiful blooming cherry trees in the spring and colorful foliage in the fall. The large maple trees will provide shade for those wanting to spend a summer day enjoying their lunch or reading a new book.
Our popular Movies in the Park will return, thanks to the natural slope of the lawn, it will feel like sitting in an amphitheater. We will also have a permanent holiday tree for tree lightings and will feature concerts in the park throughout the year.
Many of the concepts implemented in the Phase II improvements came directly from public input. It is important to note, every household in Federal Way received an invitation to participate in a survey last fall.
The survey asked for ideas on how to improve Town Square Park. We received over 400 responses from that survey with a wide range of suggestions on how to upgrade Phase I. We also sought suggestions at a public meeting held at the Community Center last October, continuing with a detailed public process at the City Council retreat in January 2015.
Equipped with some really great ideas, we began the process of developing Phase II.
This new iteration of your Town Square Park is the cornerstone of a new Federal Way that is just beginning to take shape. I would like to thank the City Council for their partnership and unanimous support for the lasting new design features discussed in this memo.
Our park is not only the product from your input, it is a bold statement of what we can achieve when we work together to build Federal Way’s future!
Jim Ferrell is the mayor of Federal Way.
