The busy Miller Playfield and its popular basketball court will be fenced off through the summer as Seattle Parks undertakes an overhaul of the artificial turf.
Parks says the project at the field along 19th Ave E involves the replacement of 89,740 square feet of the plastic turf in a project expected to be completed by fall and the start of the year at Meany Middle School which is part of the Miller campus and utilizes the field.
Parks says pedestrian traffic through the Miller campus will be re-routed and the basketball court will be closed throughout the construction
A crew from Coast to Coast Turf will remove the old turf “and address any structural repairs to curbing, sub-subsurface, and drainage,” the parks announcement says. For the new turf setup, CHS reported here on the transition to more environmentally friendly solutions than the old crumb rubber previously used on the fields after a successful experiment at Cal Anderson.
(Images: CHS)
Like many of Capitol Hill’s park spaces, Miller Playfield became a busy encampment during the pandemic as shelters were closed and federal guidelines recommended allowing people facing homelessness to shelter outdoors to slow the spread of COVID-19.
With Meany preparing to welcome students back to in-person classes and growing calls from neighbors and sports organizations for the city to sweep the camp, tents and belongings were cleared from Miller in April of 2021.
Once it is completed, the new Miller turf field will be marked for Unified Lacrosse and will retain the same soccer and little league baseball markings except for the removal of the 65-foot pitching distance previously part of the field.
UPDATE: As for why do the work during the summer, a parks rep says: “This work depends on dry warm temperatures. Construction is never convenient, and we appreciate your patience.”
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What an absolute joke! What is going on at the parks department! This really bothers me.
Bothers you why?
Sounds good- that’s a great space, but the turf was looking due for an upgrade.
Are they also going to do the same thing at Wash Park? There is a sign up that says they are starting in June, but clearly that has passed. Would love to know if and when.
They can’t do this during November? No, the Seattle government way is doing things as stupid as possible. So we must close it during the summer when people would be using it. And if anyone really cared about the environment in this town we’d have real grass fields, not plastic.
Real grass playfields would be mud bowls nine months of the year and dirt bowls for the remaining three. The timing might also be related to Meany Middle School’s use of the field during the school year. There is no convenient time to do this as the field is in use year round. Let’s hope they get it done quickly and correctly so all can regain access by September.
Consider that they may need dry weather for much of the work. And grass does not hold up well with constant use. I do wonder why the basketball court needs to be fenced off, but perhaps they need that space for staging the work.
Yep, a complete joke. And closing the basketball court for no good reason. Densest neighborhood in the city getting the shaft again with our park space. It’s mind boggling they can’t do it in late summer or early fall but no, we’ll do it in the MIDDLE OF SUMMER.
Nobody really questioning why junkies were allowed to ruin the turf either. Just sweep it under the rug. And people wonder why otherwise liberal voters are sick and tired of some of our “progressive” leaders.
What’s progressive about less green space in the middle of summer? Nothing.
It’s next to a school – might have something to do with school being out.