On April 27, 2020, Governor Jay Inslee amended his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order which will partially re-open parks, trails and other recreation activities in the state, including in the City of SeaTac (to learn more about the Governor’s order click here.)
The SeaTac Parks, Community Programs and Services (Parks) Department will be following the Governor’s guidelines and will be re-opening limited parks and trails.
Starting, Tuesday, May 5, the Parks Department will make the following changes to allow for limited outdoor activities:
All parks will be open from dawn to dusk:
- Grandview Dog Park – Open. Parking lot open.
- Des Moines Creek Park – Trail and trailhead open. Parking lot is open.
- Sunset Park – Park and parking lot open. Restroom closed.
- Angle Lake Park – Gates, parking lot, and fishing dock open. Restroom, shelters, playgrounds remain closed.
- Valley Ridge Park –Main gate, parking lot and fields are open to small groups (not scheduled activities); Playground, restrooms, Community Center remain closed.
- North SeaTac Park – Small parking lot open (off Des Moines Memorial Drive); Large parking closed. Restroom, playground and basketball court closed.
- Highline/SeaTac Botanical and Community Gardens- Open. Enter through gate off of 24th Avenue S. Gate on S. 136 Street is closed. Skate park and playground remain closed.
- McMicken Park – Active recreation and playground remain closed. Parking lot closed.
- Riverton Park – Gate open. Parking lot closed. Basketball, playground remain closed.
From an infection mitigation perspective what is happening at Valley Ridge Park is out of control. Every evening there are dozens of young men playing multiple pickup games of soccer on most of the ballfields. There is no social distancing. No one is wearing a mask. The city has made no effort to enforce social distancing or small group limits. So ‘opening’ the park is not going to make any change in behavior. From an infection mitigation perspective it would make more sense to open the fields to scheduled groups, eg teams that want to practice under the supervision of coaches, rather than continuing the chaos that the City has been permitting. And if you are going to allow large gatherings at the fields, then it makes no sense to lock the bathrooms. That just encourages other unwanted behaviors.