After years of putting the project on hold, the city of Maple Valley is moving forward with the master plan for Summit Park.

At the March 26 council meeting, council members decided what aspects of the park they wanted to be included in the base bid and what were to be considered add-ons.

Summit Park is located at the northwest corner of Southeast 276th Street and state Route 169.

According to the city of Maple Valley’s website, the Summit Park and Ballfields were purchased from the Tahoma School District in 2006 for development as a community park.

In November 2017 the master plan was drafted and the city council received community responses about what they wanted the park to include. That plan was approved on Dec. 4, 2017.

According to Dave Johnson, director of parks and recreation, funding for the Summit Park master plan comes from multiple sources — park impact fees, tax money and King County.

On March 7 the city received $330,000 from the Washington state Legislature.

A more detailed financial outline will be presented to council at future council meetings, Johnson said. The overall cost for Summit Park is estimated to be $9 million, according to a slideshow that was presented during the council meeting.

During the March 26 meeting, the council decided on what items will be included in the base bid for the project and what will be considered add-ons (items that may or may not be added, dependent on project costs).

The council decided to include a pavilion (restroom building), skate park, playground, ball field and other features.

Alternate items the council decided could be implemented into the park later include a dog park and sports court.

“At the time of the bid award, council will have the opportunity to determine whether or not they want to include any alternates into the project,” Johnson said.

During the meeting, there was a discussion whether a dog park would be too costly and whether costs could be mitigated.

“We’re going back to look at some options for the dog park to possibly scale that back a little bit and so we’ve listened to council and we’re working through that right now. I believe that we may have some updated information for council at the (a future) meeting,” Johnson said.

The original cost for the dog park was about $250,000 and the council wants to spend less, according to council member comments.

There is not a final date set to start construction on Summit Park since the bidding process has not been finalized, but Johnson said they are hopeful it will begin in late May or early June.

“It would be all dependent on when it goes to bid, when the bid opening is when the contract gets awarded and so forth,” he said.

Johnson said he is excited to move forward with the Summit Park project.

“I would just say that Summit Park has been in the plans for quite a while and we’re very excited to carry this project forward and to bring it to the community in terms of some new amenities with the skate park and the inclusive playground and certainly the three ballfields,” he said. “We need more ballfields so we’re excited to get this project going and to be able to provide these facilities for the community.”

Contact reporter Kayse Angel at kangel@soundpublishing.com or by phone at 425-358-3259.