Date Posted: 09.09.2025
The City of Shoreline welcomed neighbors and the community back to Richmond Highlands Park with a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 6, 2025.
The renovated space offers a welcoming park experience for all ages and abilities. By reusing earth from the excavation, the design creates subtle slopes and embankment slides that are fully accessible via a looped path that gently brings users to the high side of the playground. Accessible surfacing throughout connects a variety of play features including swings, spinners and net play meant to provide diverse stimulation for both fun and growth.
The park includes a sensory garden designed to provide engagement and escape for neurodiverse individuals through touch, sounds and natural forms. The design is inspired by native flora and the poetic movement of “wind strewn seeds” drifting from maple trees. Musical equipment and diverse plantings invite haptic engagement. Sensory “rooms” provide discrete outdoor spaces with varied themes and activities, as well as seating to invite lingering and respite from overstimulation. A shade structure creates shadows that transform throughout the day, further grounding and connecting visitors to nature.
“What is so magical about this transformation is that it goes beyond providing access to being a fully inclusive experience, allowing users of all physical, sensory and cognitive abilities the opportunity to play and recreate together,” shared Mithun partner Dorothy Faris. “Parks are places families and children should be able to enjoy together, regardless of their abilities, and our hope here is that we have taken away the physical and social barriers to allow for an inclusive experience.”
Photography by Jim Swensen
In 2022, Shoreline voters approved a parks bond that funded, among other things, improvements to eight local parks using the progressive design-build delivery model. The team of Forma Construction and Mithun, along with KPFF engineering, were selected for integrated park design and construction. Across eight public park sites, six include elements specifically designed for inclusive and neurodiverse play. Each of the parks introduces unique features that interplay with the other parks to create a cohesive narrative across sites.
The first project, Ridgecrest Park, re-opened to the public in June 2024. New amenities include an off-leash dog park, all ages play area and a fully accessible path that circumnavigates the park. The playground design utilizes the grade change from the parking level into the park to provide an accessible embankment slide and hillside of planting, new trees and boulders that evoke the nearby mountains.
Completed in September 2024, the Kruckeberg Botanic Garden Boardwalk addresses accessibility challenges across the site stemming from over 25-feet of grade change between the upper and lower gardens. A raised walking surface implemented by the design-build team allows visitors of all abilities to experience the unique plant collection while preserving the natural character of the garden. The path sensitively weaves through the tree canopy, offering varied vantage points and new opportunities for engagement with the garden for all users. The boardwalk demonstrates how thoughtful design can improve accessibility without compromising environmental preservation, enhancing the visitor experience and ensuring that the Kruckeberg Garden remains a welcoming and immersive destination for all.
James Keough Park will reach completion this fall. Improvements include walkways dotted with skate features, a new playground, a small picnic shelter and picnic tables, a bike rack, plantings and an off-leash dog area. The park uses significant fill generated from the project to provide buffers from adjacent I-5 and create an exciting topography for users and planting alike.
Visit the Shoreline Parks, Recreation & Community Services website to learn more about programs, park improvements or temporary closures during construction.
