Ballinger Park boardwalk project ‘on hold’; west side to become a meadow

Mountlake Terrace’s Ballinger Park Viewing Platform and Trails Project is currently “on hold,” Recreation and Parks Director Jeff Betz said during the City’s Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee (RPAC) meeting Tuesday. In a follow-up email to My MLT News, he said that the contractor – Sunset Grill Construction – is having “issues on their end” that aren’t related to the City of Mountlake Terrace.

City Manager Jeff Niten said Thursday that due to the contractor’s unreliable work schedule, the City is no longer having Sunset Grill Construction do the work and is seeking a new contractor.

During Tuesday’s RPAC meeting, Betz said several components of the boardwalk project remain unfinished or are located offsite. These include the viewing platform, signage and prefabricated boardwalk sections, which have been completed but not yet delivered to the park.

When the golf course that used to be on the north side of Lake Ballinger ceased operations in 2012, the City gained an extra 42 acres of passive park space and in 2013 adopted a three-phase park master plan to guide future development.

In 2023, the Edmonds City Council approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Mountlake Terrace and allocated $200,000 to phase 3 of the $5.5 million project to improve access on the Edmonds side of the park.

Phase 3 includes building pathways connecting the Interurban Trail – which runs along the lake’s west side between Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace – to the viewing platform. 

The current pedestrian entryway from the Edmonds side is located toward the park’s north end, but the proposed new access point would be at the midpoint – further south – where there is now vehicle access with two large gates.

Despite the boardwalk project’s delay, there is another major initiative planned for the park. Betz said that the City is planning to convert the west side into a meadow.

“We will be working to assess our installation of meadow seed throughout the west side,” he said. “This area would have a different maintenance plan and level of service than the east side, which is as designed in the Ballinger Park Master Plan. This has many benefits environmentally. The plantings can create biodiversity to the site, which helps pollinators, birds and wildlife.”

Betz added that the meadow will help prevent plants from dying off and keep the ground moist since meadows can hold water better than grass.

“[Meadows] can also trap carbon and filter stormwater much more effectively,” he said. “We are still analyzing this and fitting this conversion into our budget.”

Betz said the golf course concessionaire used to maintain the course, but the City once did the maintenance for decades before the golf course was leased out. He added the City will not mow weekly like it did when the area was considered a passive park. Instead, the city staff will mow seasonally.

Regarding the potential fire hazards that the tall vegetation could pose on the west side of Ballinger Park, Betz said the City remains committed to maintaining fire breaks and mowing along fence lines and pathways. He added that recent mowing delays were partly caused by equipment problems.

“We have had about three mowers break,” he said, adding that staff intend to return to the area to continue maintenance.

“The City wants to finish the [boardwalk] project and plans to do so,” Betz told RPAC. “We will be releasing a statement soon, so more to follow.”