6. Parks and Open Space

The City’s Park Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan is a six-year guide and strategic plan for managing and enhancing park and recreation service in Kirkland. The importance of both public and private park facilities and open spaces to meet the community’s needs is discussed in the plan. The PROS Plan includes neighborhood based recommendations for acquisition of park land and improvements to the park facilities.

132nd Square Park

The Kingsgate neighborhood has four public parks: two community parks and two neighborhood parks. Two of the parks are undeveloped and one park is not owned by the City. The parks include 132nd Square Park, a developed park; Kingsgate Park and South Norway Park, undeveloped parks; and East Norway Hill Park, owned by the City of Bothell. The PROS Plan has identified needed improvements to those parks owned by the City.

The neighborhood also has six private parks that are owned by the underlying homeowner’s association. These parks offer a mix of important recreational space, including pools, tennis courts and playgrounds, and ball fields for the residents of those homeowners associations. These parks include Kingsgate 1 and 2, Kingsgate 3 and 4, Kingsgate 5, High Woodlands, Hazen Hills and Upland Green Neighborhood Associations.

Kingsgate Pool

In addition, the Kingsgate neighborhood also has a variety of open space tracts, some of which are not suitable for construction or are located within streams and/or on steep slopes.

To meet the City’s level of service standards for overall distribution and equity, the PROS Plan has identified a need for park acquisition in the northeastern and central portions of Kingsgate.

Policy K-9: Implement the projects identified in the PROS Plan as funding and City resources become available.

The recreational needs of the neighborhood will be more fully met when the projects in the PROS Plan identified for Kingsgate are completed. See the PROS Plan for more detail and the goals and policies in the Park Element chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.