With the arrival of summer, construction season at the Bainbridge Island Metro Parks and Recreation District has begun, and commissioners reviewed progress on six different projects at its June 5 meeting.
Facility improvements are underway at the BI Aquatic Center, Owen’s Playground, and Fay Bainbridge, Strawberry Hill, Sakai and Battle Point Parks. Games like pickleball and tennis, as well as sports like swimming, mountain biking and skating, will all see improvements like fresh paving, fencing around fields and installation of new structures.
Improvements to the Ray Williamson Pool at the BIAC are among the most high-profile facility improvements in the parks district, having interrupted pool use for about six months and shifting a packed programming schedule to the adjacent Don Nakata pool. But in between construction phases, the Ray Williamson will reopen for a few months starting in July, and users will be able to enjoy full use of the facility until Phase 2 begins.
At Battle Point and Sakai Park, upgrades are coming to both the tennis courts and the soccer field. One tennis court at Battle Point is set to be converted to a pickleball court, but improvements are contingent on whether the pickleball community can muster the funding.
District commissioners approved a bid from company Puget Fence to install sport fencing around both the existing tennis courts and the soccer field and a bid from Agate Asphalt to add a two-inch asphalt overlay cap on the tennis court that is scheduled to be converted. At Sakai, contractors are adding the finishing touches to the new tennis court, said park services superintendent David Harry.
Park leadership approved both awards, adding that district staff will work with the pickleball community to decide on the unique features of the fence, but noted that it’s up to the pickleball community to secure additional funding needed to complete the jobs.
The park district has been weighing ADA accessibility at Fay Bainbridge Park, explained executive director Dan Hamlin, but environmental and civic restraints limit the park district’s ability to add infrastructure. The logs on the north end of the beach at Fay Bainbridge are protected by the city’s Shoreline Master Plan, and the south end of the beach is a “less favorable grade,” explained Hamlin, so the district is at an impasse; though it will consult the city’s ADA transition plan once it’s complete for additional input.
At Strawberry Hill Park, construction on the new mountain bike track adjacent to the dog park is well underway. Construction partners have begun building the wooden structures that make up the overpasses, elevated trails and some of the trail edging, said Harry, and completion is nearer every day. That project will cap off the construction at public park facilities for the rest of the summer — it follows the completion of batting cages at the baseball field.
Harry added that fall-safe ground surfacing at Owen’s Playground will also see some maintenance this summer.
