Opening day at Renton Skate Park, April 24, 2001; Spirit of Washington Dinner Train in the background. Photo by Randy CormanPhoto from this Sunday’s 25th birthday celebration; Cynthia Burns was and is on Parks Commission and I was on City Council when we authorized and funded Renton Skate Park in the late 1990s.
On Sunday the City of Renton and Gravity Sports hosted a 25th birthday celebration for Renton Skate Park. It was a great skate party with a band and perfect weather, and I caught up with some old friends.
I vividly remember the opening of the skate park in 2001. We located it at the site of the former Henry Moses Pool after determining we would build the new Henry Moses Aquatic Center on the other side of the freeway. Residents had petitioned the Council to build a skate park, and I thought is was a great idea. In time, all of Renton’s officials were on board, and we created one of the best skate parks in the Northwest at that time. In 2000, when I was Council President, we held workshops using clay modeling to enlist public involvement in the design (see the document at the end of the photos). The Skate Park has received steady use ever since.
Residents are asking Council to consider expanding it and potentially building a second park in a covered area under the freeway, and I think these are great ideas.
I posted a few pictures from Sunday’s Skate Park birthday party, and some fun never-before-seen historic photos of the opening of the Skate Park
An amphibious airplane lands at Renton Field at 2:30 on Sunday, thirty minutes after what had originally been announced as a planned 2:00 PM to midnight closure. The closure had been cancelled with a few hours notice. Saturday’s closure had been similarly cancelled the day before.
Renton airport businesses and pilots had been making new plans after learning that the runway at Renton Airport would be closed for ten hours a day, every day from 2:00 PM until midnight. A runway closure is a big deal, and requires rescheduling of everything from flight lessons, to flight-club use rosters, to weekend getaway schedules.
But in the final hours on Saturday, and then again on Sunday, the runway closures were cancelled.
While this could have been good news for anyone suddenly able to adjust their schedule, it’s bad news if they will now be asked to plan for replacement closure days in the future.
It raises doubts about how coordinated the runway closure planning is with the contractors doing the work at the airport.
This excerpt from the FAA NOTAM list last Friday showed runway closures planned though the weekend. On Saturday morning the Saturday closure notice was rescinded but not the Sunday notice. Then on Sunday morning, the Sunday notice was rescinded. It leaves airport operators wondering what will happen in the future.
An anonymous commenter on my blog brought this uncoordinated scheduling to my attention (Thank you Anonymous). After pointing out the on-again off-again closure, the commenter added:
“Business owners are losing revenue at very tough time due to the mismanagement of the contract schedule and poor communication with the airport tenants. Renton Airport management is making it impossible for business owners to operate successfully at Renton Airport. The unreasonable lease terms and cost prohibitive rate increases coupled with mistaken and mismanaged closure schedules make it impossible for Renton Airport tenants including small flight training organizations preparing the next generation of commercial pilots to succeed in business at Renton Airport.”
Renton resident Nancy Quinn is disappointed that a City of Renton contractor covered so much of her front yard with concrete when updating the sidewalks in her neighborhood. She feels that this oversized driveway apron “makes her cute house look unbalanced and out of character with the street. “Unfortunately, the large expanse of concrete appears to slope toward Ms. Quinn’s home, potentially creating a drainage issue where the new concrete intersects her driveway.Prior to the Maplewood Sidewalk rehabilitation project, Ms. Quinn’s home looked like this. She misses the grass and the right-sized driveway that matched her one-car garage on her 90-year old home.
Renton’s Maplewood Glen neighborhood brims with charming mid-century homes populated by many long-time Renton residents. The well-loved and historic neighborhood is near the Cedar River, just off of Maple Valley Highway. Many of its residents are avid gardeners and nature lovers. They were looking forward to getting new sidewalks, but some residents feel they got far too much concrete.
About twenty years ago the City of Renton determined the sidewalks were getting too old in this neighborhood. The City began a multi-phase project to design and build all-new sidewalks.
In 2018 as some of the sidewalks were being updated on the east end of the project, the city received complaints about the unnecessarily wide curb cuts and driveway stubs that were being installed. At least one resident felt the driveways were a mismatch for their homes and took out too much planting space. This resident expressed dismay at the unnecessarily wide “wings” on the oversized driveways that consumed even more planting area. She appealed to the city to make her driveway right-sized. I was still on Renton Council at the time, and I encouraged our then Public Works director to take the resident’s concerns seriously. He did, and the engineers downsized her driveway curb cut while still meeting all ADA sidewalk codes. They saved money on concrete as well.
In 2020, the pandemic put the project on a years-long hold. The project has recently come back, and I and the former Public Works Director have both retired. This time, when residents voiced concerns about unnecessarily oversized driveway cuts, they say the City has dismissed their concerns.
Engineering drawing prepared in September 2025 show the new driveway aprons at Ms. Quinn’s home (Center, designated by circle number 6). Unfortunately she says she was never shown these drawings. The drawings can be viewed here.
One of the residents, Nancy Quinn, filled me in on what she characterized as “very frustrating” exchanges with Renton’s current Public Works leadership, and she provided me with email records on the topic. She’s disappointed with the unnecessarily wide curb cuts and driveway stubs, the oversized driveway wings that cut into the planting strips, and worrisome drainage issues raised by the new design.
Two doors west of Ms. Quinn’s home, a home was given a continuous driveway apron that covers much of the front yard and eliminates the planting strip entirely
The homes at the intersection two doors east of Ms. Quinn’s have a very wide sidewalk. Residents have expressed some concerns about drainage at this location.
I placed a level across the street, sidewalk and gutter to see which way the water would flow. It was very gently sloped off the street onto the driveway, with just a quarter inch deep gutter in between.
This home in Kennydale features a permeable driveway with a right-size curb cut and triangular wings, minimizing runoff. Ms. Quinn said she was told by City Staff that she was not allowed to have a driveway like this. But permeable driveways are specifically encouraged by Renton Municipal Code 4-4-080: “Surfacing treatments that provide increased infiltration opportunities, such as permeable pavements, shall be used where feasible and to the extent required by the Surface Water Design Manual.”
Sidewalks are very desirable for safety but it’s not unusual for a sidewalk project to create concerns for impacted residents. Sidewalk slopes and ramp widths must be carefully engineered to meet ADA accessibility requirements. Achieving these standards can require significant re-grading, particularly in hilly areas. Past sidewalk projects in other parts of town have raised resident concerns about high-centered driveways, loss of auxiliary RV and trailer parking, destruction of prized landscapes, drainage concerns, and other issues. Public Works typically works collaboratively with residents to work through as many of these issues as possible, preferably during the design stage of the project. Lately, it seems that Public Works is not listening to residents.
About 20-30% of the extra concrete poured at Ms. Quinn’s home is due to an apparent change in standards regarding the driveway “wings” that provide turning radius into the driveway. These wings were historically triangular, but the Renton standard appears to have changed in 2014 and the wings became square. The square wings can significantly reduce the planting area on both sides of the driveway, especially if the planting strip is extra wide. I don’t know of an engineering reason for the change, and it seems to me it should be reviewed. I don’t remember being asked to approve this change, and for all I know the change could have been a scrivener’s error in a diagram.
This legacy Renton residential driveway standard shows triangular shaped wings between the curb and the driveway.This 2014 Renton driveway diagram entrance shows square wings between the curb and driveway; this appears to be the standard that was used in the Maplewood Glen neighborhood.Street view looking west with Ms. Quinn’s home on the right, before the sidewalk project (photo from Google Maps)
Street view after the sidewalk project (taken this morning)
I like new sidewalks but this project could have been done with less concrete, better drainage, and more communication with the residents.
Renton Airport users have been making new plans this month as Renton’s only runway is shut down for ten hours every day. Considering we’re at peak summer flying season, and World Cup travelers are already swarming nearby Boeing Field and Seatac Airport, this will undoubtedly be a disruptive closure for many pilots and airport businesses. There will be similar closures August 3-16, and September 8-21.
The closures are scheduled to facilitate repavement of Taxiway Alpha.
I’ve heard that some airport users were not given advance notice about this closure. Notably, it was NOT mentioned in the 38-page airport status presented to Renton City Council on March 9 even though it has a major impact on the 2026 operation of our airport. Below is the notification on the City website. Similar notifications can be found on the FAA website (which recieves inputs from airport managers).
This notification of runway closure posted on the FAA webpage was issued four days before the closure takes effect. Some airport users may not have received any earlier notice. This closure is especially burdensome for operators scheduling activities weeks in advance, as when running flight schools, selling tours, or scheduling flight club airplanes. (Note that 2100 in UTC time shown in the notice is 2:00 PM in Pacific Daylight Time)
My wife Cathy enters the new home of Renton Historical Society and Genealogy Center at 1025 South Third Street, Renton, WA
Renton Historical Society and Genealogy Center has completed their move from Renton Technical College to the historic Snoqualmie Power building they purchased in downtown Renton, across the street from the Renton History Museum. I wrote about their new building purchase in this April blog entry here. My wife and I dropped into their new office for a visit yesterday and were given an update by their friendly and informative Office Manager, Jennifer Douwes.
The Society’s artifacts, photographs and historical documents have been moved into their new location, and are being unpacked and organized. In the near term these are available for research and study. Longer term, the Historical Society will put many of these back on public display, either in the Renton History Museum, their own building, and/or other secure locations that will benefit Renton residents..
Office Manager Jennifer Douwes, right, visits with us in the entry lobby of the new Renton Historical Society headquarters.
Anyone interested in learning more about Renton’s history can visit the Historical Society from 1:00-4:00 PM Tuesday-Friday, or by studying their growing online content and reaching out to them through the contact information on their website at RentonHistory.org.
