City of Kent receives two state grants for park projects

Published 4:24 pm Tuesday, July 8, 2025

The state Recreation and Conservation Funding Board awarded grants to the city of Kent of $939,600 and $500,000 for two park projects.

Kent will use the $939,600 grant to buy 1.3 acres for park land from Union Pacific Railroad that sits between the tracks and the James Street Park and Ride lot. The city has leased the land for many years and built a small skate on the property. The remainder of the land is open space.

The city had a long-term goal to buy the land for future active use development, which could include an expanded skate park and a bike pump track, which is a circular loop consisting of rollers and berms that when ridden correctly requires no pedaling or pushing.

The grant, from the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, requires the city to kick in $104,000 for the $1.04 million cost.

Kent will use the $500,000 grant toward renovating Uplands Playfield Park, which is downtown at 836 W. Smith St., just east of Highway 167 and south of King County’s Maleng Regional Justice Center. The park also is just south of the railroad property the city is purchasing.

The city plans to install its first spray park, add a restroom, children’s play area, entry plaza, picnic shelter, shade structure, lighting, pathways, connections to the adjacent regional trail, site furnishings, utilities, and irrigation and landscaping.

The grant also is from the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program.

The total cost of the project is $6.3 million, according to city and state documents. Kent last fall received a $3 million grant to help renovate Uplands Playfield Park from the state Recreation and Conservation Office. Work is expected to start in 2027, according to city and state documents.

“These grants are critical to keeping Washington a premiere destination for outdoor adventure as well as a great place for Washingtonians to live,” said Megan Duffy, director of the Recreation and Conservation Office, which supports the board, in a July 7 press release. “These grants are key to building great communities. The grants help communities light ball fields, make parks accessible to people with disabilities, connect gaps in trail systems, refurbish pools and resurface pickleball courts.”

In total, the board awarded 242 grants to projects in 35 of the state’s 39 counties. The board received 411 applications requesting more than $266 million in funding, meaning just more than half (59%) of the projects received funding with the awarding of more than $148 million.