Parks Commission Advances $9 Million Plan To Council
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A Vision for the Woods: The Future of Dragon Park
For over half a century, Deane’s Children’s Park—affectionately known to generations of Mercer Island residents as "Dragon Park"—has served as a sanctuary of imagination. Nestled within a dense canopy of Douglas firs and western red cedars, it is a place where the line between play and nature blurs. Last year, the City Council allocated $1,500,000 in the 2025-2026 Biennial Budget and Capital Improvement Program for the planning, design, and construction of improvements at the park, including the development of a new overall site plan. On March 5, 2026, the Mercer Island Parks and Recreation Commission convened for a marathon four-hour session to write a memo to advance the plan to the City Council for consideration. The centerpiece of the meeting was Dragon Park site plan—a vision that seeks to modernize the park through the lens of Inclusive Design, ensuring that the magical, forested sanctuary of the Island's youth is accessible to every child, regardless of ability.
Image: Deane's Children's Park Site Plan Report Draft
The Vision: Woodsy Wonders and Inclusive Design
The "Woodsy Wonders" concept, which emerged as the community favorite during outreach, is built on the principle of "Inclusive Design". Unlike traditional playgrounds that may offer a single ADA-compliant ramp as an afterthought, this plan integrates accessibility into the fabric of the landscape. The goal of the Woodsy Wonder concept is to prioritize a "nature-play" aesthetic, using materials and equipment that harmonize with the existing canopy while removing the physical barriers—such as bark dust and uneven trails—that currently sideline many visitors.
The goal is a park that is "equitable, not just accessible," where children with mobility or sensory challenges can play alongside their peers rather than on the periphery.
Key features of the site plan include:
Renovated Play Areas: Updated structures that maintain the "Dragon" theme while introducing more varied play experiences.
The Forest Loop: A primary accessible pathway connecting different zones of the park.
Nature Play Zones: Areas designed for "forest surprises," such as hidden Sasquatch carvings, educational signage about the local ecosystem, and sensory gardens.
Infrastructure Upgrades: Modernized restroom facilities and improved parking to accommodate the park's high regional popularity.
The Proposal: By the Numbers
The commission reviewed a detailed proposal that outlines new equipment, additional parking capacity, and changes to surfacing.
Resurfacing: Approximately 20,000 square feet of natural, pervious surface in the existing play area will be replaced with other impervious materials that afford greater accessibility. The plan also adds about 1,300 square feet of new "pollution generating" impervious surface, primarily for the parking lot increase. The amount total amount of impervious surface area will increase by about 40%.
The Budget: The total project cost is estimated at over $7 million plus an additional 25% in “soft costs” (e.g. design, engineering, and permitting) for a total of over $9 million in 2027 dollars. This budget covers the specialized inclusive equipment, the conversion of surfacing, and critical infrastructure like modernized, accessible restrooms. The amount currently budgeted for the park modernization is $1.5 million. Also not included in estimates are increased future maintenance costs of the expanded park.
Images: Deane's Children's Park Site Plan Report Draft
Voices of the Community
The meeting’s public appearances section featured five speakers who delivered endorsements of the plan.
John Hamer (Friends of Dragon Park): Hamer emphasized that the disabled are the nation’s largest minority group and that failing to provide an inclusive park is a form of discrimination.
Olivia Lippens (Co-chair, Friends of Dragon Park): Lippens praised the "unprecedented" outreach to the community and stressed the importance of maintaining the "magical woodland forest" as the cornerstone of the design.
Julie Day (Co-chair, Friends of Dragon Park): A 25-year resident, Day highlighted the alignment between the site plan and the priorities identified by over 1,200 elementary school students.
Courtney Hampson (Mercer Island Preschool Association President): Hamson, a mom who grew up on the Island and participated in repainting the dragon, indicated the Preschool Association is fully behind the project.
Eve Hampton: Hampton also grew up on Mercer Island and uses a wheelchair. She shared a personal challenge: she currently cannot walk her son through the park to his school because the trails are not wheelchair friendly. She described the frustration of being excluded from a vital community thoroughfare and voiced her strong support for the "Forest Loop" pathway but hopes that the project could come in under the proposed budget.
Tensions and Deliberations
While the support for the vision was unanimous, the commissioners spent hours debating the nuances of its execution.
The Age-Appropriate Mix A primary concern raised was the "age mix" of the proposed equipment. The commission noted that the current draft seems to favor toddlers (ages 2–5) with sensory and imaginative play elements, while potentially "underserving" elementary-aged children (ages 5–12) who require more challenging physical activities like climbing and high-intensity sliding. The commission requested that staff look for ways to increase the "play value" for older students without compromising the inclusive nature of the equipment.
Natural Setting vs. Accessibility The most complex debate centered on the tradeoff between the park's "forested character" and the infrastructure needed for accessibility. Community surveys showed a "near-universal" desire to keep the park feeling like a wild forest rather than a manicured city playground. Commissioners expressed concern that adding too much rubber surfacing or wide paved paths could "degrade" the very natural beauty people love. The compromise proposed in the site plan involves using "earth-toned" accessible surfacing and keeping the "Forest Loop" on the perimeter of the densest tree clusters to minimize root damage.
Budget Concerns Commissioner Struck led a discussion on the budget, noting that while the vision is aspirational, the proposed budget exceeds the current allocation. The commission voted to add clarifying language to the report to manage public expectations regarding the final list of features.
Accessibility Priorities Ensuring the restrooms are fully ADA-compliant and welcoming to families was the highest ranked priority in the community survey but this component is not planned until phase 3 of the project.
Next Steps
The commission concluded the evening with a unanimous vote to send the handoff memo for the site plan to City Council. Previously, two Commissioners voted against approving the plan itself. The City Council will review and vote on the plan at its April 7th, 2026 meeting.
Get Involved
Learn more about the project at the City’s Let’s Talk site.
Comments or concerns: Send them to council@mercerisland.gov in advance of the April 7th meeting.
Correction
A previous version of this article had incorrect numbers for the area of the park that would be disturbed in the renovations. It previously detailed only 13,000 square feet of existing play area surface rennovation and an additional 2,500 square feet of new impervious surface. The correct numbers have been replaced in the article.