Construction begins on new, inclusive playground at Hillcrest Park in Mount Vernon

MOUNT VERNON - The Mount Vernon Parks and Recreation Department has begun construction on a new inclusive, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant playground at Hillcrest Park.

It will be the first of its kind at a Mount Vernon park.

The playground is expected to be open to the public by early July, said Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Berner.

The new playground will have accessibility features such as a tiled surface, and ramps leading onto the playground equipment, allowing access for wheelchairs, Berner said.

The park will have playground equipment such as a Slide-A-Side. For children who might need more time to get off of the slide, the Slide-A-Side allows them to stay seated without preventing another child from using the slide.

Berner said the Parks and Recreation Department began planning an inclusive playground in late 2024. A committee was put together to offer guidance to the city.

The committee was made up of parents of children with developmental disabilities, and other community members invested in accessibility and inclusivity.

With the help of the committee, the city finished the planning of the playground last year, but funding was the limiting factor.

When Mount Vernon residents voted in November to increase city property taxes for public safety and parks, Berner said the new Hillcrest Park playground was the first parks project she suggested to the City Council.

The new playground will cost about $1.17 million. It is fully funded by the property tax increase.

Seanna Herring-Jensen, a member of the Hillcrest Park playground committee, said committee members had been holding their breath waiting to see whether voters would approve the tax increase. They were relieved when voters did.

"I don't know if people realize when they voted for that, that they were impacting so many families," Herring-Jensen said.

She said funding for projects such as this is so important, whether the voters knew it or not. Inclusive projects allow for so many more people to utilize community spaces.

Herring-Jensen is also the executive director of {span}Cascadia Clubhouse{span}, a nonprofit that works to build an equitable community for adults with developmental disabilities by offering inclusive programs and activities.

Cascadia Clubhouse holds a program at the Hillcrest Park playground, but not everybody can participate because the equipment at the old playground wasn't fully accessible, or was sized for only children, Herring-Jensen said.

The new playground will have more accessible and inclusive equipment, such as wider slides that can be used by everyone, including adults. It will also be enclosed by a fence, which was important to parents on the committee, she said.

Herring-Jensen said the piece of playground equipment she's most excited for is the ship that glides back and forth. The ship has space for adults and is wheelchair accessible.

At the first playground committee meeting, Herring-Jensen and several other members became emotional, she said. For parents of children with developmental disabilities, getting to plan an inclusive playground was powerful.

Herring-Jensen praised Berner and the parks department for including community members from the beginning of the project, and allowing them to help shape it.

"When you build something from scratch, it is so easy to (build) it so that everybody can enjoy it and everyone has access," Herring-Jensen said. "So from the very beginning, they can build a space where everyone can be together, and that just kind of normalizes diversity."

Berner thanked the committee, the community, Cascadia Clubhouse, and the {span}Skagit Preschool and Resource Center {span}for their help during the project.

Herring-Jensen said she hopes that the Hillcrest Park playground will lead to more inclusive projects, and that it will serve as the new standard for parks in Skagit County.

"Now that we know we can do it, every playground should be built like this," she said.

Herring-Jensen said that as standards for accessibility have changed over time, awareness has increased, and she hopes it continues to do so. She believes it will.

With experience working in other counties, she said that the people of Skagit County are especially supportive of inclusivity and accessibility.

"It is not your typical county, because I've worked in other counties. This particular county, I don't know what it is, but they're very supportive," Herring-Jensen said. "So I think we can do things that other counties haven't seen done before, and really lead the way. This playground is definitely one of those things."

While the new playground is being constructed, the city of Mount Vernon encourages residents to visit other parks in the city. The small playground at Hillcrest Park for children ages 2 to 5 will remain open during construction.

{span id="docs-internal-guid-e42c0945-7fff-3149-5063-59a6de20d649"}{span}A full list of Mount Vernon parks can be viewed at {span}mountvernonwa.gov/250/City-Parks{span}.

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