ARLINGTON — City staff have picked out the equipment they want to install at a planned spray park here.
The list includes the sneaky soaker, spin splasher, twist ’n’ spill, spray tunnel, bubble-trouble and funbrella, all designed with different ways to drench and delight children.
It’ll cost between $350,000 and $450,000 to build a splash pad at Haller Park, and construction likely won’t start until 2017, said Marc Hayes of the city’s Community and Economic Development Department.
Fundraising already is beginning.
This year’s Great Stilly Duck Dash, an annual rubber duck derby hosted by the Arlington Rotary Club, is collecting money for the spray park. The club already paid for a new playground at Haller Park, on West Avenue in downtown Arlington where the north and south forks of the Stillaguamish River meet. The work is part of an ongoing effort to overhaul the park, which has had problems with flooding, vandalism, drug use and loitering. Higher ground, more usage and better visibility are part of the strategy for solving those problems.
A three-dimensional model of the proposed spray park should be ready for people to see at the Duck Dash on July 4, Hayes said.
Staff and volunteers have been working on plans for Haller Park for about three years, according to city documents. Some goals have been checked off their list, namely the new playground and a new parking lot that went in this month. The next big ticket items are a new restroom facility, designed to include a sheltered picnic area and a small meeting room, and the spray park. They would be located near the playground.
Preliminary designs also call for an outdoor performance stage that backs up again the Centennial Trail, and a new boat launch and picnic area near the river.
“We’re pretty busy down at the park right now,” Hayes said. “There’s a lot of things going on.”
The new equipment is being put in at one of the park’s highest points, theoretically out of the reach of floods. More lighting and security cameras are being added to make people feel safe.
The new restrooms are scheduled to be finished before the spray park, though the spray park has been a more popular talking point. City staff hope to find a contractor this summer to build the restrooms, an estimated $245,000 project. The facility should be done by the end of the year, Hayes said.
Money raised from the Great Stilly Duck Dash will be used for the spray park and as matching dollars to apply for grants to fix up other areas of Haller Park, Hayes said. Grant money could go toward the stage or new picnic shelters.
The city also is looking at options to let people donate spray park equipment or to let businesses sponsor a piece of equipment, Hayes said. Once the splash pad itself is built, compatible water toys can be installed. The pad is a 100-foot-by-75-foot area plumbed to use recycled water. It would be open to the public for free in the summer, and turned off during the winter.
The Great Stilly Duck Dash is part of Arlington’s Frontier Days on July 4, according to the city website. Tickets should be available soon at www.greatstillyduckdash.com.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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