Loyal Heights Playfield has been a place for a unique blend of activities for 70 years. Athletes and non-
athletes alike have shared the field with good cheer and a spirit of community. Plastering the whole park with
plastic grass will change forever the versatile nature of the park, and will say, "get lost" to non-athlete users.

Removing the grass at Loyal Heights betrays the efforts of neighborhood children who went door-to-door
seventy years ago, collecting spare change to allow the neighborhood to create a place where the kids and
families could play.

No other park in Seattle that is slated for conversion has the small dimensions of Loyal Heights. There are no
adjacent arterials, there is little surrounding buffer, and the park is nestled in among houses. Other parks
that have or are getting synthetic turf (such as Genessee, Lower Woodland, and Interbay) are much bigger,
and have synthetic turf as only a small component of the entire park. The plan at Loyal Heights would instead
cover most of the park.

Ballard already has the lowest amount of open space in the city except for downtown. Taking three acres of
what little open space we have left and covering them with plastic is wrong.





For the same money already allocated for this project, the baseball and softball infields and both soccer goal
areas could be replaced with synthetic turf, the rest of the field could get a new regraded and resodded
natural grass surface, AND the aging outdated lights could be replaced. (CLICK HERE TO SEE ATTACHED
PROPOSAL MADE TO PROJECT ADVISORY TEAM AT JUNE 13 MEETING.)

Such a compromise could serve the needs of organized sports teams, while respecting and honoring the
traditions of this unique park, and the efforts of the neighbors who got it built 70 years ago.






PROPOSAL:

The Loyal Heights Pro Parks Levy Parks Advisory Team requests that Parks Superintendent Ken Bounds
consider modification of the Loyal Heights Pro Parks Levy Project, in accordance with the JAFDP, in the
following manner.

1. REPLACE THE CURRENT GRASS SURFACED WITH A COMBINATION OF SYNTHETIC TURF AND
NATURAL GRASS

Synthetic surface would be used to replace grass in around both soccer goal areas, as was done at
Magnolia Park. Synthetic turf would also be used to replace the infield areas on both the baseball and soccer
fields. The remainder of the playfield would be replaced and resided with natural grass.

2. REPLACE THE CURRENT FIELD LIGHTS
The JAFDP (Joint Athletic Facilities Development Program), which guides the planning and implementation of
the Loyal Heights Pro Parks project, focused on both lights and surface as primary concerns. The addition of
lights to this to the project would place the project more clearly in compliance with the specific proposals of
the JAFDP.

RATIONALE:

1. Replacing the current sub-par surface with a combination of both natural and synthetic surface
serves several constituencies:

a. The replacement of both the softball and baseball infields with synthetic turf would allow for less labor  by
Parks and by teams, and more all-weather opportunity to play for teams already pinched by increasing
demand for field space.

b. The replacement of the areas around both soccer goals with synthetic turf would allow more soccer play
for teams in need of all weather surfaces. Youth soccer is characterized by heavy use around both goals,
which often turn into muddy quagmires. Such a plan has been implemented previously by Parks at Magnolia
Park.

c. Replacing the remaining surface with natural grass would allow all users more even surface and improved
surface than the current worn natural grass. It would also address concerns of neighbors who value the
current grass surface and all of the benefits it bestows on the community.

2. Replacing the field lights would allow the project to better address the goals of the JAFDP. The
lights at the Loyal Heights Playfield are outdated, inefficient, and expensive to maintain and
operate.

COMPROMISE:

This proposal attempts to address the concerns of various parties in a fair and collaborative manner. One of
the truly unique aspects of the Loyal Heights Playfield has been the park’s historic ability to provide benefits
for citizens from all walks of life. Two key factors drive this proposed compromise:  

1) organized sports groups need more opportunity to participate in games and practices
2) neighbors and citizens of Ballard and Seattle need and desire to maintain the unique and historic mixed-
use character of this small and one-of-a-kind park.

By implementing the compromises suggested in this proposal, all citizens involved in this issue can reach out
to each other, and work together to find a creative solution to the current debate about the park project.

Please find attached budgetary numbers regarding this proposal (click here), which would operate on a
budget almost identical to the initial proposed project budget.















































































(CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO HOME PAGE)


CONVERTING LOYAL HEIGHTS PLAYFIELD  TO AN ALL-SYNTHETIC
SURFACE IS A BAD IDEA
THE SOLUTION
THE PROPOSAL (MADE AT LOYAL HEIGHTS PLAYFIELD PROJECT
ADVISORY TEAM MEETING ON JUNE 13)