Woodlands Park

The joint development of the Woodlands Park and the North Rose Hill Fire Station & Training Facility provides the North Rose Hill community with a totally integrated public facility. What used to be a conglomeration of various pieces of property, each with a different use became a unified facility, fully integrated with its natural environment and community context.

Prior to annexation of the neighborhoods of North and South Rose Hill and South Juanita to the city of Kirkland, Washington in 1988, the former Primeau property on the corner of NE 100th Street and 124th Avenue NE was acquired by King County Fire District Number 41 for a future fire station. Following annexation, the property was transferred to the city for the same purpose. As the surrounding character of the project site changed from a rural environment to an urban, single family residential community with an elementary school; the need for a centrally located community park arose.

Commitment to Open Space

The forest ecology becomes an educational opportunity for the neighboring elementary school.

Between 1989 and 1990 the city acquired over thirteen additional acres of property adjacent to the Fire Department site for park and open space use. Some properties were vacant lots, some had been used for various agricultural purposes, and other sites were forested with fingers of wetlands running throughout. In 1989, Kirkland voters approved a $5.76 million park bond which included funding for development of a portion of this site as a neighborhood park. In 1992, Kirkland voters again approved $4.85 million of bonds to support construction of two new city fire stations, including one at this site. Combining innovative environmental techniques, a safe and accessible play area, and incorporating the fire station into the life of the community, the design of Woodlands Park exhibits a commitment to the future open space heritage of the North Rose Hill Neighborhood.

On February 20, 1992, Hough Beck & Baird began work with the city of Kirkland on both the Woodlands Park project and on the adjacent North Rose Hill Fire Station & Training Facility to allow for a coordinated effort in the planning, design, and construction of a multifunctional park that responded to the objectives and needs of the city, Park Board, neighborhood, and environmental conditions. The city of Kirkland Parks Department had a hands-on, public involvement approach to project development. The Park Board, Department of Parks & Recreation, Department of Public Works, Fire/Building Department and Department of Planning & Community Development reached out to the neighborhood by conducting a tour of the site, meeting with neighbors who lived next to the site, and talking with local community residents to review design opportunities and constraints. In addition, to minimize design and construction conflicts, the design of the park was closely coordinated with the neighborhood and adjacent fire station through public workshops.

Names and labels on the structures further strengthen the link between the fire station and park. Kids visiting the play area can sit on a grass berm and watch the City of Kirkwood fire fighters during training exercises.

The neighborhood workshop was hosted by the city of Kirkland Park Board at Mark Twain Elementary School. During this public process, proposals for the fire station and the park project were combined into the same workshop to develop project goals based on the needs of the neighborhood and discuss proposed improvements.

The Goals

Three main goals emerged from the public process. The first goal involved the provision of a play area for preschool aged children. The Mark Twain Elementary School exists approximately one block to the southeast of the Woodlands Park. However, its play structure was developed for elementary school children. Therefore, a need existed from the adjacent neighborhood for a play area with play structures appropriate for younger children.

A second goal emerged from the neighborhood’s desire to maintain the natural character of the existing site. An undeveloped park site, Forbes Lake Park, is located approximately one-half block to the southwest of the park and contributes to the "natural" feel of the neighborhood. Maintaining this character involved preserving the forest and wetland areas and developing the site with minimum impact on existing ecological conditions. Finally, concern was raised regarding the effect of development on the neighborhood’s character resulting in our third goal: the fire station, training facility, and play structures should have a low physical impact, blending into, and maintaining the character of the residential neighborhood.

To meet all of the desired goals, the park’s site development had to integrate the Fire Station & Training Facility with the forests and wetlands, and the requirement to provide public access and a play area.

The play area was developed on the southeast corner of the site, closest to the adjacent elementary school. For the safety and security of the children and simultaneous protection of the wetland buffer area, the play area is surrounded by a custom designed chain-link fence. The silhouette of the fence resembles the rooflines of the neighboring houses. The fencing is hot-dipped, galvanized, and vinyl coated allowing for the use of color to compliment the colorful play structures. The mesh of the black, red and blue chain-link fencing was specified at 1" and 1-3/4" to vary the perceived intensity of the colors. Kompan® assisted in the creative design of the custom-made play structures. Their flexibility in manufacturing allowed the structures to resemble fire trucks and other emergency service themes to relate to the nearby fire station and its associated activities. Further site amenities include a drinking fountain and trash receptacles.

Due to the increased play activity, the main travel path into the play area was specified as poured-in-place, Safe-T-Turf "seamless surfacing," while the remaining surface treatment consists of lightly compacted Fibar System surfacing. To maintain accessibility throughout the site, the trails and play equipment are ADA accessible and all site furnishings met the required safety standards of the Consumer Product Commission Safety Guidelines.

The eastern edge of the forest edge of the forest before development of the project showing informal path entering the site . Naturally occurring forest plants, like salal, huckleberry, and ferns, were preserved and remain as features of the final project development .

Additional security was provided through selective tree thinning and selective underbrush removal to improve visual access into and within the Park and play area especially from the adjacent picnic areas and streets.

The meandering path system through the park followed the informal trails created by children playing on the property and taking the paths of least resistance where possible. The majority of the trails are now asphalt concrete surfacing with an eight foot width to allow access for maintenance and emergency vehicles. A six foot wide crushed rock trail provides access to the Roselane II residential neighborhood. As much as possible, all trail improvements are barrier free.

The Wetlands

Public Outreach for the fire department is easier with the close link between the fire station, neighborhood and park. The play area has fire and emergency themed structures, right. The fencing surrounding the play area resembles the roof line of the surrounding houses.

Since wetlands exist on the southern and northeastern portions of the site and separate the play area and the fire station, a series of elevated, six foot wide boardwalks were used to connect the two activities with minimum intrusion on the wetland system. Also, groundwater exists at a two foot depth within the wetland areas, therefore any trail system at grade would contribute significant disturbance to the wetland. Given these constraints, an elevated boardwalk was used to preserve the sensitive soils and groundwater.

The elevated boardwalk used a pinned pile structural system for the footings produced by Pinned Foundations Inc.; this system does not require excavation work and leaves the sensitive wetland soils as undisturbed as possible. Signage installed along the boardwalk explains the importance and environmental function of wetlands. The trails pass through sections of typical Puget Sound Lowland forest (Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, Hemlock, Big Leaf Maple, and Red Alder). The typical understory vegetation in this area of the park consists of Salal, Sword Fern, Huckleberry, Oregon Grape, and Willow. Adjacent to the play area along the main trail, two picnic areas were added as extensions of the park’s boardwalk system.

Since the majority of the park site is natural, these picnic areas provided an ideal outdoor educational resource for the neighborhood and school children. In addition to an outdoor eating area, these platforms became informal outdoor classrooms and wetland observation stations. Individual picnic sites are also located throughout the park. The trails continue through the wetlands and into the western portion of the site, where an opportunity presented itself for the creation of a meadow.

An overhead (150 foot wide) electrical transmission line easement runs through the western portion of the site. This area had previously been colonized by blackberry brambles and scotch broom. In the Pacific Northwest, blackberries and scotch broom are invasive species due to their aggressive growth pattern, lack of natural enemies, and rapid spread into native plant communities. Their removal provided us with an open space area in which we created a meadow for general recreation. The soils in this portion of the park showed evidence of filling. The fill material included sandy silt soil, pieces of wood and metal, broken concrete, pieces of asphalt, and other construction debris. After clearing the large debris and amending the soil with a balanced planting mix, the open area was planted with a "water-wise" conservation mix of vegetation which only required minimum irrigation to help establish the plantings. The meadow is connected by the trails to the Fire Station and acts as a halfway point between the play area and the Fire Station Facility.

Seamless Integration

The Park Board, Department of Parks & Recreation and Department of Planning and Community Development toured the project site. Kirkland voters approved a $5.76 million park bond which included funding for development of a portion of this site as a neighborhood park. In 1992, voters approved another bond to build two new fire stations.

To further integrate the Fire Station & Training Facility into the site design and neighborhood context, a grassy, observation berm was constructed for neighbors and children to sit upon and watch the fire-fighter training activities. In addition, the Fire Station shares its restroom facilities with the park and playground, and since the station has personnel there at all times, the restrooms are safe and easily accessible to the public. The observation berm and the restroom facilities are connected to the meadow, forests, wetlands, and play area through the trail system, allowing easy access throughout the site’s main features and services.

The site design and overall combination of features suggest to the neighborhood that Landscape Architects not only design and develop with sensitivity to the environment, but can blend site design features seamlessly into their context and provide for the needs of the neighborhood. In the end, of the 26.8 acres of Woodlands Park, only 8 acres were developed with infrastructure and features, providing a play area and meadow for the neighborhood that blend into the residential context and preserves the sensitive habitat and forest character of the original site.

Signage provides detailed information about the forest and wetland habitat of the area. Before development, Scotch Broom, and Blackberry brambles covered the open space area.

Dean W. Koonts is a Landscape Designer at Hough Beck & Baird Inc., Landscape Architecture, Planning, & Urban Design located in Seattle, Washington. Marc Connelly, Past Administrative Assistant for city of Kirkland and Present Director of Parks & Recreation for city of Port Angeles contributed to this article.