MUKILTEO — Parkleteo is open.
Just look for the bright circles painted on the pavement that can be seen coming down Highway 525.
The pocket space is a bright $500,000 smidgen of asphalt at the Mukilteo waterfront. It officially opened Memorial Day weekend, after a few false starts and stops last summer due to city permit hurdles.
Who’d a thunk a 60-foot-wide plot could be so complicated or costly?
The site is the former ferry approach ramp, used by millions of feet and wheels during its 63 years of service at the old terminal on the busy Mukilteo-Clinton route.
It lost its purpose when the new terminal opened one-third of a mile away in December 2020.
There it was, no longer of use to the state’s transportation department, which paved it and put up railings so people wouldn’t topple into the sea. The space was too small for the city of Mukilteo to mess with making into a park.
The parklet, as these pocket lots are called, was the Port of Everett’s problem turned blessing.
For a year, it was a blank overlook for people to lean on the railing and soak in the view of Puget Sound and Whidbey Island.
Now they can also play tag around the circles or down some suds on the Ivar’s side. Over the weekend, the parklet was a popular spot for kids burning off energy, walkers and diners.
This is big considering that much of the undeveloped 26-acre waterfront remains blighted and entangled in planning.
Those bright circles are just a start. The bubble-like pattern will carry through in decorative metal panels to dress up the concrete block wall and as a divider between Ivar’s outdoor dining and the public space. Installation is set for mid-July, along with planters, benches and permanent tables.
The parklet is mostly funded by the Port of Everett. As a trade-off for private space for full service diners, Ivar’s is the steward to maintain the property.
Bob Donegan, Ivar’s president, is happy as a clam.
“The first visitor was a woman from Texas and she picked the table at the tip. She got a bottle of wine and appetizers and sat there for hours and was just as pleased as can be,” he said.
Customers of nearby Diamond Knot can take to-go orders, but not alcohol, to the picnic tables on the public side of the parklet.
You can’t park on the parklet.
Meanwhile, waterfront parking remains an ongoing saga of running around in circles.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.
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