Welcome to the new Maplewood Park playground

On Saturday, February 7, the Parks & Recreation Department braved the rain and celebrated the newly renovated Maplewood Park playground with a ribbon-cutting alongside Mayor Armondo Pavone, Renton City Council, department staff, and community members!

Maplewood Park’s playground has served children for nearly 20 years and needed upgrades to replace aging equipment. Upgrades included safety surfacing, enlarging the playbox area, and introducing new features to enhance fun and safety. Since 2018, the city has replaced five playgrounds, making Maplewood Park playground the sixth playground replacement project.

Now that it is officially complete, we’re so excited to see this vibrant new space come to life for kids, families, and everyone to enjoy.

What’s new at Maplewood Park

The upgrades are truly made for everyone! Here’s what’s new at Maplewood Park:

• Updated play equipment: The playground now features brand-new play equipment for children of all ages, including slides, swings, monkey bars, and climbing structures
• New fitness equipment: including stations for pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups
• ADA accessibility: New pathways to make the park fully accessible, ensuring everyone can enjoy the space.
• Future improvements: Tree plantings this spring to add more shade

Community input and engagement process

The Parks & Recreation Department began community outreach in the summer of 2024 to hear directly from the neighborhood and community members on what they wanted for this playground. Community engagement was crucial and took place in two phases.

Phase 1: In August 2024, the team held an engagement event to introduce the project and provide site constraints. The public then submitted their ideas for what equipment, themes, and designs they would like to see.

Phase 2: In June 2025, the team let residents vote on playground designs through the online project page and an in-person event.

Thinking bigger: How this plays into the PROS Plan

On Monday, January 26, the Renton City Council adopted the 2026 Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) Plan. The PROS Plan is a comprehensive, community-informed roadmap that will guide how the city plans, invests in, and cares for its parks and open spaces over the next 20 years.

In the last plan, we heard from many residents that investment in our existing infrastructure was a top priority. A major focus of this plan is to complete projects. Residents can continue to see both new parks and upgrades to existing parks and facilities over the next several years. A project like Maplewood Park playground is a great example of maintaining our existing assets and completing projects.

Later this year, the department will celebrate another playground reopening at Highlands Park and Neighborhood Center.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all the residents who shared their feedback, and a special thanks to the Maplewood Neighborhood and Maplewood Glen Neighborhood for your patience, input, and involvement throughout the project.

Many thanks go to the Parks and Recreation Department for facilitating the project.

The project was funded through the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), specifically Property Tax/B&O Tax and Real Estate Excise Tax Funds.