MUKILTEO — The city is asking the public for ideas on how to turn 144-acre Japanese Gulch into a park.
One of the questions is how a building should be incorporated, said Jennifer Berner, the city’s recreation and cultural services director. If a building is included, the city would like to know if the public thinks it should be a senior center or a multi-use center, and whether they think it’s the right place for a building, she said.
“We’ve had a lot of seniors say they really need a place,” she said. The survey will help determine “how the community sees the building being utilized,” Berner said.
Until recent years, the mature forest, steep ravines and wetlands have been mostly privately owned. Last year, the city celebrated the acquisition of 98 acres for a park, the single biggest addition to nearby land the city previously had acquired.
The next step in development is what uses should be allowed and what amenities should be added.
An online survey about Japanese Gulch is available at www.surveymonkey.com/s/JapaneseGulchPark and will remain online through May 12. The online survey is not limited to Mukilteo residents. An open house is also scheduled for 10:30 a.m. May 30 at Mukilteo City Hall.
Whether dogs should be allowed off leashes in the park is another issue that needs to be decided, Berner said. “Prior to coming into the city as a park, a lot of people used to take their dogs in there and they were allowed to go off-leash,” she said.
There’s a designated off-leash site nearby. The city has heard from people advocating that the park’s trails should remain an off-leash area and from those who think that dogs should be leashed in the park, she said. In the city’s other parks, dogs are required to be leashed.
The survey gives people a number of options for what could be added. Most are near the 76th Street trailhead. They include a parking and drop off area, a picnic shelter, an off-road bicycle dirt jump track and a nature viewing trail.
Survey results are expected to be available by early June. Once the survey is completed, the city will be able to develop a design plan for the park and will ask for more comments from the public, Berner said.
A formal plan for the park’s development could be completed by September and might be sent to the City Council for consideration by October or November, she said.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
Japanese Gulch survey
A survey on what amenities the public would like in Japanese Gulch is available at www.surveymonkey.com/s/JapaneseGulchPark. The survey will be online through May 12. An open house is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. May 30 at the Mukilteo City Hall.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
