Photo Credit: Bruce Dees & Associates
Wenberg County Park (formerly Wenberg State Park) in Washington is on a 46-acre site located on the shores of Lake Goodwin in northwest Snohomish County, serving 65,000 visitors this past year. The park includes 1,140 feet of shoreline for swimming, sunning, boat-launching, and now fishing. The park also includes picnic shelters and campgrounds. Providing accessible recreation facilities for all of its citizens has been an ongoing process for Snohomish County Parks. This is especially true for its older parks. Wenberg has always been popular; previously, it was not accessible to all park visitors, but it is now.
Needs Addressed
Providing accessible waterfront facilities was needed long before the county took over Wenberg Park from Washington State Parks. The need to provide ADA-accessible activities and facilities was the primary goal of the project.
At the same time, there was a need to improve the small and dilapidated boat launch. The swim area was defined by logs chained together. The half-submerged and slippery logs were both a danger to boaters but also the reason for frequent injuries to swimmers attempting to stand on the logs. There was no fishing opportunity for those without boats and no ADA-compliant access to any of the shoreline. All of these needs have been addressed by the new improvements.