An Olympia parks project that was approved in the ’90s may begin construction in 2022

A project for Grass Lake Park that was started in the 1990s may finally begin construction in 2022.

Grass Lake Park, known for its wetlands and being a popular field trip destination for west Olympia students, could get a new trail, trailhead, and parking lot in 2022, thanks to a grant from the state. The trail would be 1.1 miles long, 10 feet wide and accessible for those with disabilities when completed. The project would cost the city $2.9 million.

The new trail would connect two new entrances to the park: one on the corner of Kaiser Road and Sixth Avenue and another on Harrison Avenue. A parking lot also would be built at the Kaiser Road entrance. The trail would connect the east and west sides of the park and be paved with asphalt to let people walk or roll on the trail.

Laura Keehan, the parks planning and design manager for the Parks and Recreations Department, said this will be the first time the park has a trail accessible to all people.

“Right now, that park is only soft surface trails,” she said. “It’s very much forest and some wood chip-type trails. So, this will be the first time we have trails accessible to all people.”

The park’s current trail is accessed from a small gravel parking lot on the side of Kaiser Road. The parking lot can hold only three or four vehicles at a time. The park and its parking lot have very little signage signaling there is a park behind its chain-link fence.

The trail itself is wide and covered in gravel for the first segment. Then, as it inclines and narrows, the gravel turns into dirt. The trail then splits into a loop tht lets park visitors see the North and East Grass Lakes. The new trail will let people walk across the East lake on a boardwalk the length of a football field.

Keehan told The Olympian the new trail had to be carefully designed so as not to disrupt the wetland’s fragile ecosystem.

“We really worked hard to minimize the environmental impacts the trail would have,” she said. She said a forester advised the designers on how to minimize tree removal when drafting their plans.

The new trail will stretch from Kaiser Road on the park’s east side and end on Harrison Avenue where there will be a new 11-space parking lot and bus stop area for visitors.

Plans for a third trail were shared by the Parks and Recreation Department. This trail would lead into the park’s northern section, connect the other two trails and create an entrance to the park on Cooper Point Road.

The park was first acquired by the city of Olympia in 1989, and by 1997 the city had a master plan to turn the delicate 171-acre wetland into a park. However, the city didn’t have enough funds to fund the plan, so the project was shelved.

Then in 2019, a roughly $500,000 grant from the State Recreation & Conservation Office provided the funding the city needed. “Now the project is actually going to happen! So, very exciting,” Keehan said.

The project isn’t yet ready for workers to start laying down gravel, Keehan said. The project is currently in the permitting process and is awaiting a public hearing. After the hearing, the Parks and Recreation department will put the work out for bid and the City Council will be asked to choose a contractor.

This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.