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Celebration Park10-01-03 | News
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Celebration Park

The master plan for Celebration Park in Federal Way, Wash. is the product of successful community involvement. The landscape contractor for the project was Pacific Earth Works, Inc., which has constructed many projects in the region over the past two decades. Bruce Dees & Associates, the landscape architect, had a challenging job to meet the needs and concerns of the city's diverse interest groups.


The completed Celebration Park features a batting sports complex with four lighted fields, spectator seating, a central plaza, a restroom/concession building and a playground.

Many Federal Way residents, particularly the members of the Korean community, estimated at more than a tenth of the city's population, hope that the new park will be a symbol of the city's growing ethnic diversity.

One Korean resident who attended a planning meeting suggested that a Korean flag should be installed near one of the new athletic fields. Today, there is a flag pavilion that stands between the four baseball fields.

Mayor Ron Gintz said during the meeting, "I'd like to see many Asians involved in designing the park to create something unique."

Pacific Earth Works, Inc., had worked on many projects prior to this with the same landscape architecture firm. Bruce Dees & Associates worked closely with a citizen advisory committee, as well as with key city staff members, to create a centerpiece for the Federal Way park system that has broad-based community and political support.

Following a groundbreaking ceremony in December of 1997, construction began on Celebration Park in April 1998, with project completion in November 1998. In 1999, Celebration Park received the Design of the Year award from the International Northwest Parks and Recreation Association. Pacific Earth Works, Inc., also won a state landscaping award for this project.


Many of the nearly 180,000 plants used on this job were used for wetlands mitigation, including red twig dogwood, poplars and emergents.

The Park

Celebration Park includes four lighted soccer fields with a nearby tot lot and restroom/concession building, as well as a batting sports complex with four lighted fields, spectator seating, a central plaza, a restroom/concession building, and another tot lot. Parking for up to 500 vehicles is provided. Of Celebration Park's 83.5 acres, approximately 35 acres of high-quality habitat is preserved as woodlands and enhanced wetlands, with walking trails that link to an existing city trail system. The park also offers picnic and informal use areas, including a sand volleyball court, and vistas of Mt. Rainier. Five acres have been reserved for a future Performing Arts and Civic Center near the park's south entry.


Some of the nearly 35 acres of wetlands prior to planting. Some of the emergents are planted in specific groups and in the bare dirt.

Located in south King County, Wash., between Seattle and Tacoma, Federal Way is a city of 84,000 residents. The community boasts a wooded setting, punctuated by numerous lakes, streams and wetlands, as well as over five miles of Puget Sound shoreline. Mt. Rainier towers in the distance and can be seen throughout the city. Celebration Park is a recreational amenity, with four tournament softball fields and four tournament soccer fields, walking trails and a children's playground that attract visitors from throughout the Northwest. The new athletic fields host sports tournaments and provide activity opportunities, attracting many visitors who will utilize the local businesses, such as hotels, restaurants and malls. The city estimates an annual economic benefit of as much as $8 million.


Workers plant upland mitigation plants such as red twig dogwood and poplars on the slope of a detention pond. In the winter months these areas will be flooded. When water rises too high it will flow to a wetland outlet stream.

In addition to sports activities, the park will be available for festivals, open-air concerts and, with its picnic tables and benches, everyday park and leisure activities. Jun-Sung Kim, president of the Washington State Soccer Association, said in a statement there is always a need for more sports fields. "Soccer is increasingly becoming internationally popular among sports," Kim said. "I think it's great that Federal Way is constructing such a beneficial park for soccer practices."


Workers lay out under-field drainage work and outflow pipes in one of the soccer fields.

The Role of the Contractor

Pacific Earth Works, Inc., the subcontractor on the job began work on this nearly 84-acre park in May 1998. Almost half the park was preserved as woodlands and enhanced wetlands. The company was responsible for the irrigation installation, which required eight miles of irrigation pipe; about four miles of under-field drainage; along with all the landscaping which included the planting of approximately 180,000 trees, shrubs, and mitigation plants.


Red sunset trees line the asphalt seating area surrounding one of the four lighted sports fields.

According to Jay Curcio, owner of Pacific Earthworks, the wetland mitigation work is required when the contractor or developer wants to reposition or lay out the project, buildings, fields, etc., in a specific way, which involves removing or filling an existing wetland. When this happens, the Army Corps of Engineers requires the developer to create additional wetlands at a three-to-one ratio. This mitigation work involves clearing, grading and building ponds and lowlands, along with uplands. Sometimes the soils are removed and replaced with better materials or the wetland area soils are scrapped up and stockpiled, then reinstalled in the new wetland areas. After all the grades, drainage work and outflow pipes are approved, and then the specified wetland plants are installed at their proper elevations, some will be under water most of the year other plants will be on the side slopes of the ponds, while others will be in the meadow areas. Usually a temporary irrigation system is required to keep all the new plantings alive until the natural rains start up again.


Mt. Rainier overlooks Celebration Park's nearly 84 acres. A parking lot near the fields can hold 500 vehicles.

The wetlands near Celebration Park are part the city's wooded and naturalistic setting and support important wildlife such as great blue herons, bald eagles, and salmon. Preservation of the wetland and woodlands areas was essential. Wetlands were marked for three-to-one ratio for replacement. The city of Federal Way could fill no more than .78 acres of wetlands. Five conditions were listed for wetland mitigation: 1) five-year monitoring plan as per the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; 2) native ground cover substitution (grass accepted); 3) use of BPA Trail for mitigation plantings; 4) required site fencing for buffers; and 5) preservation of the 48-acre native woodlands. Pacific Earthworks handled all of the wetland mitigation.


Red sunset trees line the pathways of Celebration Park.

The wetlands are connected to the Hylebos system, which comes under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Hylebos Creek was one of the most productive small salmon streams in the Central Puget Sound region, hosting annual runs of thousands of coho and chum salmon and hundreds of Chinook salmon and cutthroat trout. As population and development increased in the Hylebos watershed, people filled in and paved over wetlands, rerouted and culverted stream channels, and logged forests. Asphalt and other impervious surfaces replaced the watershed's natural drainage functions, causing channel-scouring floods during heavy rains and contributing pollutants from roadway runoff and reducing streamflows during dry months.


An aerial view of the nearly 84-acre park with protected wetlands area to the right.

Now the diverse natural habitat has been protected and the diverse community of Federal Way has a terrific recreational area where people can enjoy the wetland area and team sports at the same time.


Columnar red maples border the outside of Celebration Park.
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