Olmsted Parks and Boulevards Restoration Project

Spring 2020

Seattle Parks and Recreation is happy to announce the three selected Olmsted sites to receive funding for improvement projects from the current Seattle Park District funding cycle.

Three project sites
   1. Lake Washington Boulevard parks
        • Colman Park
   2. Magnolia Boulevard
   3. Schmitz Boulevard

These three projects were prioritized for construction due to their ability to provide maximum relief to several maintenance concerns. The three sites have suffered from deferred major maintenance due to budget constraints over an extended period of time. Resulting problems have caused health safety and welfare concerns. These concerns include invasive plant species, hazardous large trees, erosive slopes, and poor drainage, among other concerns.

Hiawatha Park - North Parking Lot and Queen Anne Boulevard project sites were also prioritized for near-term future improvement, but have been delayed for 2020.

The prioritization of the five sites was based upon community feedback received in early 2019. Thank you to the over 1300 people who participated in the online survey and helped us prioritize the funding allocation. View the prioritization document and survey results below.

Seattle's Olmsted Parks and Boulevards began as a dream the City of Seattle had in the late 1800's for a beautiful system of landscapes among urban growth. This vision was implemented in the form of parks throughout the city designed by the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm. The basis of design for these parks was to allow access to attractive open spaces and provide peace and respite for people from all walks of life.