By Zoe C. Branch | February 21, 2018 | Courtesy of 425magazine.com
Juanita Heights Park, located in Kirkland’s Finn Hill neighborhood, is getting a major upgrade: city council members voted last week to nearly double the size of the 6-acre park by adding 4.1 acres of undeveloped and forested land. The project will be a great addition to the neighborhood, which prioritizes the preservation of green spaces.
“As the city faces the challenges associated with a thousand new people moving to the Puget Sound every week, we continue to strategically expand our parks and preserve our remaining forested open spaces so our growing population has more places to recreate, gather, or seek solitude,” said Council Member Jon Pascal, chair of the Public Works, Parks and Human Services Committee. “This purchase will not only expand Juanita Heights Park and preserve crucial wildlife habitat, it will also enable the city to explore the possibility of building a walking trail to better connect the Finn Hill and Juanita neighborhoods.”
Funded by King County’s Conservation Futures Tax program, the addition was strongly supported by the Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance and is in line with the recently implemented Finn Hill Neighborhood Plan.
The acquisition of the land will help the area stay on track with its efforts to protect the woodlands and open spaces that remain in Finn Hill. The new acreage will also allow for the extension of the existing trail system within the park.