On the Wednesday of August 19, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Morgantown Park on Long Street held a ribbon-cutting and community barbecue. Firefighters from Snohomish Fire District 4 grilled hot dogs, handed out freeze pops and parked a fire truck where families could climb around it. A guest named Captain Fantastic, by the city's account, "was a hit with visitors of all ages."
The celebration was for new playground equipment at a 2.5-acre neighborhood park at 200 Long St. The city's planning documents show where the money came from. The funds were first set aside for a new playground at Ferguson Park, and that project is now the one Snohomish most needs and has not yet paid for.
How Morgantown got its turn
The City of Snohomish's Parks team put the Morgantown playground in themselves. To do it, staff earned certifications as playground installers and inspectors. The project was budgeted at $118,425 and the final cost was $81,223.20, about $37,000 under budget. The city credits the savings to keeping the work in-house. The city's opening story credits the Parks team's "dedication, expertise, and hard work."
The groundwork came earlier. New wood-chip surfacing went into the Morgantown play area in 2025, one year before the equipment arrived. By the time the Park & Forestry Board met on April 22, 2026, staff had labeled the playground replacement a "high priority to address safety concerns," paid for with "funding re-allocated from other projects."
One of those other projects is named in the same packet. The Ferguson Park entry says plainly that "replacing the play equipment was planned for 2025, but the funds were allocated to Morgantown Park."
Why playgrounds jumped the queue
Snohomish plans its park spending under the 2024–2044 Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan. That plan's capital schedule set out improvements for each park from 2025 through 2028. In the April update, staff explained why the order changed. At several parks they had found "failing or obsolete playground equipment, where replacement parts are no longer available," and they wrote that those conditions "elevated certain projects to a higher priority due to safety and liability concerns." That meant moving projects around and reallocating money.
So the order is set by safety, and it has run like this so far:
- Fischer Park, 1214 Madrona Dr. This 0.11-acre neighborhood park got a new play structure in 2025, along with new surfacing, fencing and landscaping.
- Morgantown Park, 200 Long St. Surfacing came in 2025 and new equipment in 2026, with the opening on August 19.
- Ferguson Park, 1330 Ferguson Park Rd. It is now ranked Tier 1 for safety and listed for 2027.
Over the same stretch, the city also improved the Centennial Trail, repaired the Hill Park fishing dock and added pedestrian safety improvements on Avenue A at the Interurban Trail crossing. The Hill Park dock repairs ended up as a nearly full replacement because of deterioration.
Ferguson Park, first in line and unfunded
Ferguson is a 6.7-acre community park. Some of its other work has already been done. The access road to the boat launch was repaired in 2024, and the parking lot was resurfaced in 2025. The playground is next, and it is the most expensive item.
In the 2027–2028 Park Improvement Program the Park & Forestry Board discussed on August 26, 2026, Ferguson's 2027 list reads like this:
| Ferguson Park project, 2027 | Estimated cost | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Playground equipment | $800,000 | 1 |
| Add ADA access to play area | $40,000 | 3 |
| Urban forestry | $15,000 | 3 |
| Total | $855,000 |
The note above the table hasn't changed since April. The Ferguson playground "is now a Tier 1 Priority due to safety concerns but is not currently funded." In the April analysis, staff wrote that the work "requires funding to complete in FY27" and that they "will pursue grant funding."
The Ferguson estimate is nearly ten times what Morgantown actually cost, and Ferguson's 6.7 acres compare with Morgantown's 2.5.
What waited so the playgrounds could go first
Moving money toward playgrounds pushed other work later, and a few of those delays will be easy to spot on a walk around town. The improvement program puts its own caveat near the top:
The project list should be viewed as a goal rather than a guarantee; completion of many improvements will depend on the availability of funding, including potential state or federal grants.
With that caveat in mind, here is how the rest of the city's parks line up:
| Park | What moved or waits | Year listed |
|---|---|---|
| Claytown Park, 329 Avenue I | Sidewalk panel repair $80,000, irrigation repair $40,000, dog fountain $20,000, all moved from 2026 | 2027 |
| Cady Park, 40 Maple Ave | Asphalt, fixtures and furnishings deferred to the First Street Master Plan; master plan design | 2028 |
| Kla Ha Ya Park, 1117 First St | Lighting, wayfinding and gateway signs, and resurfacing deferred to the First Street Master Plan; master plan design | 2028 |
| Averill Field, 409 Third St | Public restrooms, $500,000 | 2028 |
| Hill Park, 1610 Park Ave | ADA improvements, $50,000 | 2028 |
| Homestead Park, 2000 Ludwig Rd | Frontage improvements $1,000,000, parking and paving $600,000; playground in a later phase | 2028 |
| Morgantown Park | Sport court resurfacing, $20,000 | 2028 |
Claytown shows the tradeoff most directly. The program says its 2026 projects were moved to the 2027–2028 cycle "due to funds being reallocated to more urgent projects in other parks."
The First Street parks are waiting for a different reason. Staff tied Cady Park, Kla Ha Ya Park and the Riverfront Trail to the First Street Master Plan, which is still in progress. Bundling them into one larger bid package is expected to lower mobilization and staging costs, improve construction sequencing and cause less disruption to the public. The money first earmarked for those three was moved to safety-driven projects in the 2025–2028 window.
Homestead Park is a 10-acre regional park on Ludwig Road. The City Council adopted its master plan in April 2025 after a long public engagement process. Carrying out that plan is on hold while the city focuses on Tier 1 priorities, and work is expected to begin in 2028. Phase one covers frontage improvements, and the playground and other amenities come later.
The Heirman Family Nature Park is a 3.5-acre property at 1402 20th St. It came to the city from Snohomish County in 2024, after the Heirman family donated it to the county in 2018. It carries a conservation easement and a deed restriction requiring tree preservation, and no improvements are listed for it in 2027 or 2028.
November 17 at the Carnegie
Whether Ferguson's playground gets funded depends on two things: the grants staff are seeking and the city's budget for the next two years. On November 6, the city filed its preliminary 2027–2028 Biennial Budget with the City Clerk and posted it online as a digital budget book. The City Council will hear public comment on it the following week.
- When: Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at 6 p.m.
- Where: Snohomish Carnegie, 105 Cedar Ave., with an option to join online
- Written comments: Email [email protected] or mail the City Clerk's Office at 116 Union Avenue, Snohomish, WA 98290. Comments received by 3 p.m. that day go into the hearing record.
- Same evening: a separate public hearing on the proposed 2027 property tax levy, which includes a 0.00% increase
The city's hearing notice invites comments "in support of or opposition to any part of the proposed budget," and both written and spoken testimony are accepted. The full Park Improvement Program, park by park, is in the August 26 Park & Forestry Board packet. The staff explanation of why playgrounds moved up is in the April 22 packet.
Meanwhile, Morgantown's new equipment is open on Long Street, and Fischer's 2025 structure is open on Madrona Drive. Ferguson is the next playground in Snohomish's safety order.
At Tanya Mock, we follow the small civic decisions that shape everyday life in Snohomish, from a new playground on Long Street to what comes next for Ferguson Park. If you'd like to talk about how these parks fit into your own corner of town, let's connect.
