Twelve years after being bought by the city of Kent, the ball is beginning to roll on a new 33-acre park off 132nd Avenue SE and SE 216th Street, referred to as the East Hill North Community Park.

“This is mostly about preservation and we’re not going to see a lot of development,” said Terry Jungman, Kent’s Parks Planning and Development Manager. “We’re hoping for a parking lot, a rest area, walking trails, whatever would be appropriate.”

The purpose of the pop-up event on July 10 was to get feedback and opinions from those who would be frequenting the park, as part of the public engagement phase of the project. Once the parks department gets adequate feedback from the public, they will move on to planning in fall 2022, design in 2023 and then construction in 2024, if everything goes according to plan.

The former Huse property, where the park will be located, was purchased in 2010 by the city. According to Jungman, the location has been in the city’s long-ranging planning documents for some time and that a large state grant has allowed the project to move forward.

At the public engagement pop-up, free snacks and water were available to the public, as well as a scavenger hunt with a map of the property to better give residents an idea of the space that could be used. There was also a larger stationary map where citizens could give a three-dimensional example of what they want the park to look like.

A wide array of people showed up to the event, including families with children, people with dogs, neighbors to the property, and local equestrians who use the adjacent horse trail that’s part of the Soos Creek Trail, which runs along the east side of the property. The former Huse property had been used for horse-boarding and equestrian activities for decades, including horse-riding lessons.

People who attended the event were also encouraged to write their input and comments on a large piece of display paper. Some comments included “monkey bars,” “places to relax and watch birds” and “don’t take out the trees.”

“I use the Soos Creek Trail so I would like a connection between that trail and this park,” Kent resident Amir Fakharzadeh said. Fakharzadeh also talked about wanting covered and uncovered picnic areas, benches, a smaller parking lot, and many entry points into the future park.

Other comments made throughout the event, both in writing and to Jungman and his parks employees, were from local equestrians and “horse people” who were concerned with no longer being able to bring their horses onto the land because it is right next to the horse trail provided by King County. Kent’s city code does not allow horses or ponies to be ridden through city parks.

For equestrians who still want to use the park to access the neighboring trail, Jungman offered a possible solution.

“They could park in a designated spot and hitch their horses there in order to get to the horse trail,” he said.

The city code does give exception to horses being ridden “within, along, and upon the park drives, parkways, or park boulevards” of city parks, which means that parking spots specifically for horse trailers – which require quite a bit of space – could be possible. As Laura Clenna of Maple Valley puts it, there’s no adequate horse trailer parking in the area and “horse riders are losing land to park on.”

Kathy Doubt is a Kent resident who lives near the future park and is a dedicated trail-rider.

“They should at least provide horse parking spots. Between e-bikes and cyclists, we keep getting squeezed out,” said Doubt.

The project is still in the public engagement phase. Kent residents are encouraged to take an online survey and to subscribe to the parks department’s newsletter for updates.

Article Source: Kent Reporter