Tag: Kirkland

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Advise on the Future of Kirkland’s Parks System

The Kirkland City Council is seeking community volunteers to serve on a Parks Funding Exploratory Committee (PFEC).

Community feedback over the past few years has shown a strong desire to add an aquatic center and additional indoor recreation space in Kirkland. Community members also want year-round access to restrooms, a strengthened trail network, better lighting and parking at facilities, increased maintenance of parks, pickleball courts, diverse and inclusive recreation programming, and more.

The purpose of the PFEC is to make recommendations to the City Council in Spring 2023 regarding potential parks ballot measure(s) for placement on the November 2023 ballot.

PFEC will meet twice a month on Thursday evenings from September 2022 through February 2023. Interested community members are invited to apply to join the PFEC. The online application will be open until August 25, 2022. Committee members will be announced the first week of September.

For more information and to apply, visit www.kirklandwa.gov/parks2023ballot

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Alert News

No New Courts in Kirkland?

You have been heard

Kirkland has been gathering community input for over a year, asking us what we would like to see in their upcoming Parks plan. Those of you who were invited to the Focus Group Meetings were heard. The same is true for those of you who participated in the Community Conversations and in the Everest neighborhood online survey.

Consider this

The plan has about 20 pages of goals and objectives. one of those is to consider adding pickleball at Juanita Beach Park.

Level of Service

The plan suggests that Kirkland should have 1 tennis court per 3,000 people and estimates it has a current surplus of 3 tennis courts, which will be go down to no surplus tennis courts by 2026.

Unfortunately, the plan does not propose a similar analysis for pickleball courts. Why should the planning process be different for pickleball than for tennis?

You have not been funded

The plan draft concludes with Capital Improvement Projects divided into two lists.

The first list contains several funded projects that will cost $19,758,400.

The second, much larger, list of unfunded project contains an item titled “Construct New Pickleball Courts” with a price tag of $97,500.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to convince the Kirkland Parks Department to move the construction of new pickleball courts from the unfunded list to the funded list.

What should I do?

Ask that the Parks Department fund the construction of new pickleball courts. It’s in their plan. It’s cheap. They will not fund it unless enough people ask for it.

Ask that the Parks Department define “Level of Services” for pickleball. Why predict the need for tennis courts but not for pickleball courts?

How should I do it?

Email PlayItForward@kirklandwa.gov today.

Attend the virtual Public Hearing on May 25, 2022 at 7:00PM

Where can I find more information?

Here

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Alert

Action Alert: Help Determine the Priorities for Kirkland’s Parks and Recreational Facilities

The City of Kirkland is developing a comprehensive parks, recreation, and open space master plan to see where their parks can grow, how their programs can expand, what improvements their facilities need and ways to better serve their community. 

Many of you have already asked for more (lighted, covered, outdoor) pickleball courts in Kirkland. It’s important that we ask again, so they know that the demand for more pickleball courts still exists.

Kirkland Parks will need to hear from pickleball players at their online public meeting on December 15, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. Register for this meeting.

A nationally known parks and recreation management consulting firm will present the results of a needs assessment survey, a detailed analysis of park conditions and park amenities, and demographics and trends used in the planning process. In addition to providing up-to-date status on the master plan, there will also be opportunities to confirm the findings and provide additional input.

The meeting will be held virtually and it should last approximately 90 minutes. You will have the opportunity to take part in polls, ask questions in the chat room and participate in a question-and-answer period. This community conversation meeting will help determine the priorities for Kirkland’s parks and recreational facilities.

They want to hear from community members of all ages and from all neighborhoods.

Register now for this meeting to be held on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.

If you live, work or play pickleball in Kirkland, this meeting is for you.

Pass it on! Let all your pickleball friends know.

Got Questions? Call (425) 587-3315 or email playitforward@kirklandwa.gov. Visit the Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan website for additional updates.

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Alert

Tell Kirkland Parks: “More Pickleball Please”

The Kirkland Parks Department will be visiting Kirkland Parks to collect your parks and recreation stories in July and August. Look for a large blue human-sized butterfly. Tell it you would like to see more outdoor and indoor pickleball facilities in Kirkland.

Here is where you can find it next:

July 29 – 2 PM to 4 PM Lee Johnson FieldSprinkler Park
July 31 – 1 PM to 3 PM Marina Park SummerFest (KidZone)  
August 3 – 11 AM to 12 PM Juanita Beach Park Kids Concert (After)  
August 6 – 6 PM to 8 PM Lee Johnson Field Cornhole Tournament
August 7 – 11 AM to 1 PM Downtown Kirkland Kirkland Car Show
August 13 – 1 PM to 3 PM Totem Lake Park
August 18 – 3 PM to 5 PM Marina Park Wednesday Market

It is important that the Parks department hear from pickleball players at these events.

Please tell your friends.

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Alert

Action Alert: Find Kirkland’s Blue Human-sized Butterfly and Tell it Kirkland Needs More Indoor and Outdoor Pickleball Facilities

What you already did

In June, we asked you to participate in a public forum about Kirkland’s Parks Department upcoming Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces (PROS) plan update.

The results are in and you did an amazing job. Check out the results here: https://www.kirklandwa.gov/files/sharedassets/public/parks-amp-comm-services/park-planning/pdfs/pros-plan-1st-public-forum-presentation.pdf

Some of you also participated in focus groups. We haven’t heard any official results from these, but we do know that at most focus groups had multiple pickleball advocates.

What we need to do now

A large blue human-sized butterfly will be visiting Kirkland Parks to collect your stories and feedback. The butterfly will make her first appearance out of the cocoon at the Juanita Friday Market from 3 to 5pm on July 9, 2021. Find the butterfly and tell it that Kirkland needs more indoor and outdoor pickleball facilities.

More opportunities to catch the butterfly will be posted in the future on Kirkland’s PROS web page.

Please tell your friends.

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Alert

ACTION ALERT: Register Today to Ask for More Indoor and Outdoor Pickleball in Kirkland on June 17, 6:30-8:00PM

This year, the City of Kirkland is updating its Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan which is a six-year guide and strategic plan for managing and enhancing park and recreation services. The PROS Plan establishes a path forward for providing high quality, community-driven parks, trails, open spaces and recreational opportunities to benefit Kirkland community members and visitors. This planning process provides a vision for where the parks can grow, how programs can expand, what improvements facilities need and ways to better serve the community. Let’s make sure the plan includes pickleball.

Kirkland has hired Greenplay to ask for your input regarding this plan. Greenplay will host a Public Forum on June 17th from 6:30 to 8:00pm.

At the public forum, you will have the opportunity to take part in polls, ask questions in the chat room and participate in a question-and-answer period. The input received during this public forum as well as through focus groups, interviews and survey opportunities will be used to determine the priorities for Kirkland’s recreational facilities and activities, what funding sources may be available, potential partnerships, and how best to support the recreational needs of the community. Let’s seize this opportunity to ask for more indoor and outdoor pickleball facilities.

Register today at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pVX3kMQYTgm6Yg28hqXeyg and tell all your pickleball friends who live, work or play in Kirkland to register and attend as well.

See you online on June17th!

Categories
Alert

Time to Ask Kirkland Parks for More Pickleball

What is going on

Kirkland Parks Department has started work on its next comprehensive “Park, Recreation, and Open Spaces Plan“.  This 6-year plan will provide a vision for the continuation of high-quality recreation opportunities to benefit the residents of and visitors to Kirkland.

We need to make sure the Parks Department knows that pickleball players are grateful for the wonderful courts it created in 2019 at Everest Park and that we would love to see even more pickleball courts in Kirkland.

What you need to do NOW

Please email Mary Gardocki mgardocki@kirklandwa.gov and cc: eParks@kirklandwa.gov and let her know:

  • How grateful you are for the gorgeous outdoor dedicated pickleball courts that the Kirkland Parks department installed at Everest Park in 2019
  • How grateful you are that Parks updated their signage to embrace the pickleball culture of drop-ins where people take turns playing one game to 11
  • How busy these courts are and how grateful you would be if they could add 3 more courts next to the 3 original ones  
  • How wonderful it would be if they could expand indoor and/or outdoor pickleball support even further by [insert your idea here]

Make the message your own:

  • Talk about what you would like to see
  • If you live, work, shop or play in Kirkland, be sure you mention it

If email is not your thing, you can call Mary Gardocki and leave her a voicemail at (425) 587-3311.

What we will need to do later

In the next few months, expect the Kirkland Parks department to conduct an extensive community involvement effort including focus groups, meetings with key stakeholders, neighborhood and community-wide public meetings, surveys, website, and so on.

We will need to make sure we participate in those as well. If you spot one of those, please report it to info@seattlemetropickleball.com so we can spread the word around.

Let’s not wait for community involvement effort to start. Start emailing the Kirkland Parks Department now.