Kent City Council approves 3 park improvement projects

Published 2:20 pm Monday, April 13, 2026

Improvements are coming to three city of Kent parks.

The changes include new lights at Wilson Playfields, climbing wall repairs at Arbor Heights 360 Skate Park and a design contract for the renovation of Campus Park. The Kent City Council recently approved all three projects.

The popular Wilson Playfields, 13028 SE 251st St., which features soccer, baseball and softball fields, will convert to LED lights.

“The lighting system was installed in 2002 (when the park opened),” said Garin Lee, parks operations superintendent, in an April 7 report to the council’s Committee of the Whole. “We’ve done the basic things to replace bulbs and fixtures. Now we will replace all fixtures and update to LED.”

The cost to purchase the needed ballfield lighting equipment and installation services is $365,436, according to city documents. Iowa-based Musco Sports Lighting will install the new lights.

“We will get energy savings from these fixtures and the new design can minimize light pollution to neighbors,” Lee said. “Some parts of the field are a little bit darker, so we worked with consulting services to minimize those and have more even lighting once the lights are installed.”

With city programs, rentals, and drop-ins, Wilson Playfields had 347 days of scheduled use in 2025, Lee said. There were 1,797 reservations representing almost 6,000 hours of use.

“It’s been a very busy complex since it opened,” Lee said.

The lights are scheduled to be installed this summer and have a lifespan of 20 years or more, Lee said. The current light bulbs are replaced every three or four years.

The Parks Department converted Kent Memorial Park’s Field No. 1 to LED lighting last year, part of what’s been an ongoing process to eventually convert all parks to the longer-lasting and more energy efficient lights.

Arbor Heights repairs

Repairs are coming to the climbing pinnacle at the Arbor Heights 360 park, 11525 SE 240th St. Staff closed the pinnacle last summer as the structure began to wear out. The park opened in 2007.

“It’s unique in our system and the region,” Leel said about the feature. “There are very few climbing structures like this that are available in a (public) park.”

Lee said an inspection last year revealed ongoing issues with the structure that staff had been treating.

“We closed the pinnacle to the public last summer,” he said. “We met with a consultant and construction engineer for our next steps.”

The council approved a $120,542 contract with EP Climbing, of Bend, Oregon, for repairs to the support structures and surface of the existing climbing wall. A reset of the climbing routes on the wall is also included.

“We didn’t do the work sooner because it’s very weather sensitive,” Lee said.

Crews plan to fix the structure this summer and it should add another 10 years to the lifespan of the pinnacle.

Campus Park

The council approved a $227,157 consulting services agreement with AHBL, a landscape architecture company, with offices in Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane and Tri-Cities, to prepare Campus Park redevelopment final design documents, along with bid and construction documentation, including drawings and specifications.

The small park, 9890 S. 252nd St., just west of French Field and Kent-Meridian High School, will get a redevelopment of the trail system, a playground area, ADA parking and reconfiguration of the parking lot, according to city documents. The park opened in 1982.

City staff came up with the project through public engagement and input from the Kent School District.

The park is a mostly wooded natural area crisscrossed with steep walking paths throughout the natural area and parking at the end of South 252nd Street, according to the city website. The park presents a significant opportunity to expand recreation value to those living nearby.

Final design will be done by January 2027 with construction estimated to start in April 2027 and the project finished in 2028, said Kerry O’Connor, city park planner, in her report to the council.

The council will be asked to approve a construction contract next year after the project goes out to bid.