A new neighborhood park in Everett will take shape in April

EVERETT — Work on Everett’s newest park, in the Glacier View neighborhood, is to begin next month.

Emma Yule Park, at 4817 Rucker Ave., is named for the first teacher at Everett’s schoolhouse in 1891. It could open as early as fall.

“She was a leader for women before it was popular,” said Everett City Councilman Jeff Moore, who also is the Everett School District’s chief financial officer.

On Wednesday night, the Everett City Council awarded the park contract to RRJ Co., a family-run contractor based in Monroe that submitted the lowest qualified bid at $1,064,181. The company’s bid was the lowest of 10 received and came in $285,000 under the engineer’s estimate.

Mark Harrison, Everett parks planning manager, designed Emma Yule Park. It is to have benches, a bike rack, grassy open space, paved pedestrian paths, playground equipment, a rain garden, solar-powered trash compactors and tables. A tricycle track, with signs and solar-powered traffic signals, will encircle the playground.

RRJ worked on Byers Family Park/Peace Park in Mukilteo and Snohomish County’s Esperance Park near Edmonds. Park construction is one of the simpler jobs the company takes on, said Tiffany Martin, who works in accounting for RRJ. With an average of 10 employees, Emma Yule Park’s fall completion target is reasonable “as long as everything gets approved” and materials are available, she said.

The YMCA of Snohomish County developed the lot just north of the park for its Everett facility, which opened in December 2019. The family and fitness organization gave the park property, just over 1 acre, to the city in July 2018. The Everett School District had owned both parcels but sold the land for $3.32 million to the YMCA in 2015.

Everett has $2.05 million in a fund for the project to pay for the equipment and features.

The playground equipment, much of which is designed to be accessible for children with disabilities, will cost about $600,000 and will be installed under a separate contract, Harrison said.

There won’t be a dedicated parking lot, but street parking is available on Colby and Rucker avenues. It also won’t have drinking fountains or restrooms because the park is designed without those utilities running through it.

“There’s not a lot of structural and infrastructure work associated with it,” Harrison said.

“We now get a neighborhood park in the Glacier View Neighborhood, which has needed one,” Everett City Councilman Scott Bader said.

Ben Watanabe: bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3037; Twitter @benwatanabe.