Expansion work to begin at Willis Tucker park near Mill Creek

MILL CREEK — Willis Tucker Community Park is due for its largest expansion since it opened more than a decade ago.

Construction is expected to start in late June at this park east of Mill Creek. The county in April awarded a $3.1 million bid to Ohno Construction of Seattle.

“It’s really become one of our premier parks,” Snohomish County parks director Tom Teigen said. “This is the final big phase.”

Today, the 84-acre grounds include ballfields, a spray park, off-leash dog areas, an outdoor amphitheater and administration buildings.

The new phase will take shape on the east side of the park. It includes:

Two-hundred additional paved parking stalls

Four sand volleyball courts

A dog-washing pad and a water-bottle refilling station near the entrance to the off-leash dog park

Two covered picnic shelters

Upgrading two existing athletic fields

Money for the additions is coming from tax collected on real-estate transactions and from impact fees on new construction.

The upcoming work is expected to last for 180 days. It could finish by the end of the year, but more likely will carry over into spring 2016.

Access to the off-leash dog area from nearby parking stalls for disabled patrons could be cut off during some periods of construction.

“The big disruption, unfortunately, is all for the off-leash dog people,” parks engineer Logan Daniels said.

The park, located at 6705 Puget Park Drive, was dedicated to Willis D. Tucker, the county’s first executive, in May 2000, one month before he died of cancer. The first phase of construction started four years later. Another major phase was completed in 2012 at a cost of about $1.3 million.

More info: visit www.snoco.parks.org and look for Willis Tucker Park under the “current projects” tab on the left. Or contact parks engineer Logan Daniels at 425-388-6619 or logan.daniels@snoco.org.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @NWhaglund.

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