MONROE — The new-and-improved Lake Tye Park will be a symbol of a united effort on the local, county, and state levels. Construction of synthetic fields and a LED lighting system is currently underway and the public can expect to be able to enjoy this area of the park again in the fall.
The fields will be painted with lines for soccer, baseball and lacrosse. The synthetic field will require less resources to maintain and will be more durable during the rainy winter months.
The large LED lights will effectively double the amount of time the community will be able to make use of the public space. The park is currently only open from dawn to dusk, which comes much earlier than most would like in the winter.
“We’re going to be able to extend play with the lighting, but then also by converting them from natural grass to synthetic turf we’re going to be able to do more year-round play because, as you know, during the winters things get pretty muddy,” said Mike Farrell, city parks and recreation director.
Mayor Geoffrey Thomas has experience with the difficulties of traditional fields from his time as a lacrosse coach.
“I know that there were youth players that experienced injuries in part because of muddy fields,” Thomas said. “Even in the dry season, you know that mud doesn’t always flatten out correctly (which can lead to) more sprained ankles and things like that.”
The improvements to the part were also due in part to overwhelming community support.
“This has been a project that has been a high priority for our community for many years,” Farrell said. “We received strong public support in this project. We had 10 different letters of support for the grant application that represented a broad range of sports and recreation providers in our community.”
The park project is $4 million total, and has $1.3 million allocated from state and county grants. This represents a joint effort of the City of Monroe, Snohomish County, and Washington State. Community members were also crucial in raising the funds, including Monroe Sky Valley Little League who donated $10,000 in 2019.
“I’m really thankful they were there,” Thomas said. “As a community member, I’m really thankful to the state Legislature for allocating funds toward the project. I’m really thankful to the Snohomish County Council and Executive for allocating funds toward the project. It’s just going to be a really great resource.”
