New design, including trike track, revealed for ‘pocket park’ in Tacoma’s South End
A years-long plan to renovate one of Tacoma’s smallest parks recently reached a new milestone.
Gas Station Park, a “pocket park” on about .2 acres in Tacoma’s South End, recently changed ownership and now has a new design.
The City of Tacoma declared the property at 4801 S. Park Ave. surplus and transferred ownership and management to Metro Parks Tacoma at the end of October.
New design of the park, created by development consultant MacKay Sposito, shows new play equipment, swings and a climbing dome. There will be open lawn space and two picnic tables under a shade canopy.
A trike track will wind around the park and there will be a play gas station, a nod to the property’s history.
Fourteen trees will be planted, replacing in part existing parking spots on the site. An ADA parking spot will remain and provide access for wheelchairs, bikes and strollers.
The design was created following input from the community at various public meetings last year.
“People wanted a safe place to come play with their kids, to have some trees and green space,” Kristi Evans, Metro Parks capital projects manager, said in a statement last week.
Metro Parks is using $320,000 from the city, $50,000 in bond funding, $504,700 from a Washington state Commerce Grant, and $2,224 in open space fees for the renovation. About $5,000 will be put into a public art fund, per Metro Parks’ public art policy.
Metro Parks expects the design to be completed in detail by early 2022, with bidding in summer 2022 and construction completed by early 2023.
Now, Metro Parks is conducting more outreach and seeking interest in possible alternative names for the park.
The park’s current name was derived from the gas station that existed on the property as early as the 1920s. It was abandoned and demolished in the early 2000s, leaving toxic soil behind.
The city has owned the park since 2004 when the site was acquired involuntarily by Pierce County through tax forfeiture and sold to the city for $13,320.
The city spent $100,000 from an Environmental Protection Agency grant and $35,000 from Exxon Mobil to clean it up, and the South End Neighborhood Council agreed to develop and maintain it.
Over time, playground equipment aged and was in need of renovation. Metro Parks agreed to take on renovation of the site in 2019, but work was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story was originally published November 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
