Park District Planning

Park District Financial Plan for Cycle 2

The City Council adopted this resolution in November 2022 that includes the final Financial Plan, which provides a list and funding levels for projects and programs over the next six years.

Mayor Bruce Harrell's Proposal for Park District Renewal

On September 6, 2022, after months of engagement with community members, parks stakeholders, staff and the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners, Mayor Harrell transmitted to the Park District Board (the Seattle City Council) his proposal for the renewal of the Seattle Park District. 

Information on the process leading up to this proposal can be found below.

2023-2028 Seattle Park District Cycle Planning

Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) launched a public prioritization process for the next cycle of the Seattle Park District (2023-2028) in early spring 2022. This public process was led by the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.

Six-year cycle delay and community engagement activities

The next six-year cycle of the Seattle Park District was originally planned to span 2021-2026. In March of 2020, however, as SPR pivoted operations to participate in the citywide pandemic response, the department, the Mayor's Office, and the Park District Board decided to delay the Park District planning process by at least one year. In January 2021, SPR determined that another one-year delay was necessary, considering the ongoing uncertainty associated with the trajectory of the pandemic and related economic impacts. The Park District Board approved annual Park District budgets in 2021 and 2022, and the next six-year cycle was delayed to 2023-2028.  

In preparation for the next cycle, throughout 2021, SPR revisited our 2020-2032 Strategic Plan to identify near-term actions SPR can take to support pandemic and economic recovery. SPR also conducted additional focused outreach to better understand how community needs have shifted during the pandemic to focus short-term operational and financial priorities. SPR published regular updates on this engagement work on our Strategic Plan webpage. In early 2022 SPR published a short-term Action Plan that articulated priorities for 2022-2024 and laid the groundwork for investments in the 2023-2028 Park District cycle.Check out the online open house SPR hosted in the summer of 2021 with more information about work conducted in 2021. 

Park District Background

In 2014, Seattle voters approved the Seattle Park District, which provides SPR with funds to more rigorously invest in maintenance, recreation affordability, park development, and supporting community events and programs. 

The first six-year cycle of the Seattle Park District spanned 2015-2020. For more information about how we invested these dollars back into parks and communities, check out our annual reports from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. For a deeper dive into some of the lessons learned from first six-year cycle, take a look at the Park District Cycle-End Report and its detailed Appendices and the Park District Mid-Cycle Report.