Jennings Park parking lot to be paved

The city of Marysville is paving the upper parking lot at Jennings Park at 55th Avenue and 70th Street to create the third paved lot available for people using the park.

The parking lot near the ballfields has traditionally been a gravel lot.

The estimated cost for the project is $60,000, although the actual cost may be less as a lot of in-house city employee labor is planned for the project.

City funds are being used for the paving which was planned for in the 2020 Marysville budget.

While Jennings Park is still open, visitors will have to access the park through the other two parking lots until around Nov. 1.

"This parking lot has always gotten a lot of complaints," said Jesse Perrault, Public Works Streets Division supervisor with the city of Marysville.

"Several times in the summer it will get pronounced potholes," which can be difficult to drive through, he said.

"There has been a call to pave this parking lot because of that," he said.

The poor drainage on the site also makes it a problem during the rainy season.

"In the winter there would be a lot of puddles and mud," said Perrault.

The project was already budgeted for 2020.

"We were going to do this earlier in the year, but then COVID hit," said Perrault.

Recently, the Department of Health has eased some guidelines for construction, as long as workers are wearing masks, which will allow Marysville's team to proceed with this paving.

"It's a bit late in the year to do a project like this," said Perrault, "so we're praying for dry weather."

The construction began on Sept. 28 and is expected to last through October, and Perrault said they will meet that schedule if the weather permits.

The team is in the first phase of construction right now in which they are creating a low spot for drainage.

Soon after, the city's storm water team will install the drainage.

By mid-October city staff hope to begin paving and by Oct. 20 they hope to paint the parking lot lines.

If no delays occur the construction could be done by Oct. 26, said Perrault.

The site has been a gravel parking lot for many years and the paving project is expected to improve visitor experience and the surrounding nature.

"We're actually improving the site in terms of environmental impact," said Perrault.

The current gravel lot lets a good amount of rainwater into the surrounding environment without cleaning it.

City staff are planning to install rain gardens to help purify the water, similar to those that were put in on Marysville's First and Third streets which help remove pollutants from rain water before it heads into the slough.

"That will clean the water before it is released into the substrata [the earth under the parking lot]," said Perrault.

Originally there was more work planned for that area of Jennings Park, however because the project got delayed the city is focused on the paving first.

"There is discussion about putting two pickleball courts in the adjacent playfield," said Perrault.

That project is still in the works and could come next spring, he said.