MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Chris Yates lives in Lynnwood but he’s been dreaming about Mountlake Terrace.
A Terrace native, he’s a member of the city’s Arts Advisory Commission. What he envisions involves parks and music.
Yates wants to bring an amphitheater to the city and he has a place in mind, some renderings of what it could look like and a tentative plan for parking.
Yates said he’s not the only one who’s interested in the idea. He organized music for July’s Tour de Terrace festival and took some time there to gather more than 300 signatures from city residents who support bringing an amphitheater to Mountlake Terrace.
“I’ve been trying to do this for three years now,” he said, walking next to the proposed site: a grass covered slope just east of the city’s recreation center, The Recreation Pavillion, at 5303 228th St. SW.
The curved slope would make a natural site for an amphitheater, Yates said.
One person who supports the idea is Mayor Jerry Smith.
“I think it would be a real asset to have that,” Smith said. “If it was brought up right, the city would probably come up with the money.”
Some well known contemporary amphitheaters are located at The Gorge in Eastern Washington and The Hollywood Bowl. By design, they’re used most often for outdoor musical performances because of the favorable acoustics.
If an amphitheater is built, it could be just one of many changes residents will see take shape at city parks over the next three to five years.
The city has just begun updating its Recreation, Parks and Open Space Master Plan, which was last updated in 2003.
“We’re getting a head start because it’s about a year-long process,” Parks and Recreation Director Don Sarcletti said. “This is kind of a larger project than we’ve done in the past.”
As part of that planning process, the city hired a consulting firm to help Sarcletti and the city’s Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee come up with ideas and ways to put those ideas into action.
At an Oct. 3 committee meeting, consultant Laren Schmitt led a brainstorming session to get the idea ball rolling.
Schmitt said planning for Mountlake Terrace’s 11 parks should be a community-wide effort and she urged committee members to “dream big” while being realistic.
“One of the things we’re going to do is compare you to other cities your size,” she said. “You’ve got a lot of young families here. That will really impact the kinds of programs you offer.”
To gather information, Schmitt’s company, MIG, plans to survey residents.
“One of the things we want to do is look at how people are accessing your parks,” she said.
Committee members told Schmitt and MIG planner Ryan Mottau there’s a need to offer more recreation and parks services for middle and high school-age kids.
Arts Advisory Commission president Judy Ryan said the city badly needs a cultural arts center or a building that combines a community center and cultural arts center.
Mountlake Terrace Youth Association leaders, who organize many youth sports events in the city, said the city needs a northwest park. Other committee members said more and better restrooms are needed, as are group picnic sites.
City Manager John Caulfield said part of the parks master plan process includes considering whether to acquire land that could be used as a park in the Melody Hill neighborhood or open space next to Terrace Creek Park.
“Later this year, or in early 2008, I want to get in front of the City Council an inventory of available capital facilities needs defined by Town Center, the Transportation Master Plan and the 2006 budget amendments,” he said, adding that park and recreation needs will be included with that list.
The city’s financial forecast includes plans to set aside $1.7 million for parks, recreation and open space from 2009-2013; $2.4 million for street improvements, and $8.5 million for Town Center.
“The expenditures from that $1.7 million will be based on what comes forward from the Recreation Parks and Open Space Master Plan,” Sarcletti said.
The council is expected to approve the parks plan by early fall 2008.
Sarcletti agreed that an amphitheater could work next to The Recreation Pavillion but said environmental and building reviews would be necessary first.
“We actually used to use that years ago for concerts,” he said. “I think it has potential.”
Yates remembers those concerts and says that’s part of the reason he’s so excited about the amphitheater idea and the site he’s selected.
“I think it’s the greatest hidden treasure in Terrace,” he said.
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