Mercer Island parks staff report big youth input on Jean’s Children’s Park; court, field and event updates outlined

The Mercer Island Parks and Recreation Commission on Thursday received a staff update describing robust youth engagement for the Jean’s Children’s Park design, progress on several capital projects and plans for court and athletic-field policy work ahead of fall public review.

Recreation Manager Ryan Daley told the commission staff held multiple community events and school visits as part of the Jean’s Children’s Park outreach. “We visited 54 Mercer Island classes, engaging with more than 1,200 students from K through grade,” Daley said, and staff collected about 102 online survey responses and roughly 175 student-submitted park layouts.

The outreach, Daley said, produced recurring themes — swings, climbers and spinners, plus imaginative-play concepts the team summarized as a “fairy tale kingdom” or “treehouse adventure.” He said design concepts will be returned to the commission at the September meeting.

Staff reported construction progress on other projects. Roanoke Park’s new 18-foot Neptune climber is in place and crews are finishing curbing and poured-in-place surfacing. First Hill Park is moving toward construction under a contract with Landscape Structures Inc. procured through the Sourcewell cooperative. Luther Burbank Park’s courts were closed for resurfacing; Daley said the courts are expected to reopen about June 15, then close again for additional touch-up work and mural restoration before reopening to the public.

Daley flagged ongoing work on athletic fields and field maintenance demands during a busy season: “Our park maintenance team is actually doing midseason turf and infield rehab because of the volume of usage,” he said, and noted staff cross-training to support heavier field use.

On the issue of pickleball and court allocation, Daley said staff are preparing an athletic court allocation and use policy for discussion this fall. He described staff’s intent to balance family access, open play and potential rentals: “When pickleball will come back to the commission will be sometime next fall, and we'll be talking about some court usage policies that will relate to facility rentals,” he said.

Daley listed upcoming community events the parks team will run or support: a Juneteenth celebration June 19 at Mercerdale Park (noon–3 p.m., partnered with the Mercer Island High School Black Student Union); Summer Celebration and fireworks at Luther Burbank Park on July 12; the Mostly Music series beginning July 17; and Pride in the Park on Aug. 7 (activities starting at 4:30 p.m., music through dusk).

Commissioners and staff also discussed communications and reporting: Daley said the Jean’s design concepts and project schedules will be posted on the city’s “Let’s Talk” site and mailed to neighbors, and he recommended outreach to field user groups before the commission’s September discussion of the athletic-field allocation policy.

The commission approved minutes and then voted to postpone officer elections to a later meeting; staff will continue to preside until elections are scheduled. The commission’s next regular meeting is July 3, 2025.

Details on donations and volunteer support were raised during commissioner reports: a Mercer Island Rotary $3,000 contribution toward Dragon Park updates and hundreds of volunteer hours reported by staff during last year’s volunteer program were noted by commissioners.

The commission’s staff liaison said some items — including a combined parks report with recreation metrics and a bike-skills-area update tied to capital and levy funding — will be folded into future capital-project updates for the commission.