“We are making some adjustments to Beacon Mountain spraypark and have shut down the spraypark today, Mon. June 10th and Tues., June 11th. We anticipate it opening back up on Wednesday, June 12th.”
If you must play before midweek, Georgetown Spraypark is open and not too far away at Georgetown Playfield, 750 S. Homer St.
Andy Sheffer at Seattle Parks and Recreation says:
I have the fencing scheduled to be removed next Tuesday, May 14th. At that point the entire park will be open and the spray park will be in operation starting Memorial Day, 5/27/13 (Date when all spray parks open). The following work has been performed:
- Slope fortification
- Installation of curbs along pathways to prevent mulch from entering spray park system.
- Replacement of portions of concrete surfacing to enhance amt. of water re-circulated in the spray park.
- Mechanical enhancements to ensure smooth operation of spray park.
- Replacement of long open slide with a tubular slide.
- Installation of additional site furnishings.
- Installation of additional stepping stones in areas where desire paths appeared.
The following work is getting wrapped up this week.
- Installation of replacement safety surfacing associated with the installation of the new slide.
- Planting.
- General clean-up.
Please feel free to call me anytime at 206.423.1917 with any additional questions or concerns.
You may have noticed the slides at Jefferson Park’s Beacon Mountain Playground have been closed. Have no fear — they are only closed so that Seattle Parks and Recreation can make the final revisions and tweaks to the new playground that opened in July. The work is being done in conjunction with the contractor and manufacturer of equipment, before the warranty expires. The work should be done by year’s end.
The work will include additions and alterations to the playground including revisions to the surfacing in the spraypark and additions to the mechanical system for spray features; plant replacement and hillside fortification to prevent erosion; revisions to hillside slides; and additions to site furnishings such as picnic tables, benches, bike racks, and trash receptacles. New interpretive panels describing solar energy production in the park will also be installed.
The slides will be closed through December.
For more information (or if you want to suggest additional improvements), contact project manager Andy Sheffer, 206-684-7041 or andy.sheffer@seattle.gov.
by Rose Egge, KOMO Communities
(Beacon Hill news partners)
In recent years, Seattle Parks and Recreation has converted several summer wading pool sites to sprayparks. Currently, there are nine sprayparks in Seattle, with a tenth scheduled to open in 2013.
According to the city, sprayparks use less water and appeal to a wider range of ages of kids than the wading pools intended for toddlers.
While parks staff claim the parks have been a success, they have also created a challenge for staff. The three newest sprayparks—at Northacres Park, Georgetown Playfield and Beacon Hill’s Beacon Mountain playground in Jefferson Park—have been shut off multiple times this past weekend because of very high usage.
Sprayparks operate similarly to swimming pools. The water is filtered, re-circulated, and chemically balanced to meet public health agency standards. If the balance varies from these standards, the system shuts off until the water is automatically rebalanced. The rebalance process generally takes between 10 and 20 minutes.
Over this past weekend with its very warm weather and heavy use of the sprayparks, the tanks at the new sprayparks became clogged; the filters could not keep up with the decreased flow and shut off the systems. Bulbs in the ultraviolet (UV) system, which helps sterilize and disinfect the water, overheated and turned off the spray features.
Parks technical staff who maintain the sprayparks are changing operating procedures to solve the problem, working with the contractor to eliminate shutdowns, and working with the UV manufacturer to find out how to solve the bulb problem.
The city has released this statement:
Parks appreciates the public’s patience while we work to eliminate system shut downs. Spraypark users can help by wearing swim attire and no street clothes or shoes on the splashpad and by keeping dogs off the splashpad.
We received an e-mail from Andy Scheffer of Seattle Parks and Recreation with some news about the spray park at Beacon Mountain. Here’s what he said:
The spray pad at Beacon Mtn. – Jefferson Park is temporarily closed because the water is not draining quick enough. The engineer is researching a fix and the contractor is going to make the necessary changes as soon as he is given direction (early this week). The system was tested on multiple occasions prior to the opening on July 14th. However, the issue was not readily apparent until the spray park experienced, continual, high usage.
I sincerely regret this inconvenience and can promise you that we are doing everything possible to get the system up and running again. Please don’t hesitate to e-mail or call me with additional questions or concerns.
Thank you, kindly
Andy Sheffer