Lake access for all. Pierce County city turns street ends into public parks

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Lake access for all. Pierce County city turns street ends into public parks

The city of Lakewood has approved a $500,000 project to renovate a street end into a new public access point to Lake Steilacoom. It’s part of an effort to improve more than a dozen street ends in the city to increase access to bodies of water like American Lake and Gravelly Lake.

On Wednesday, a couple of plastic chairs sat along the edge of Lake Steilacoom at the end of a winding, overgrown path with blue-flowered weeds off the ****-de-sac of Westlake Avenue Southwest.

On Tuesday the City Council approved $85,000 for the design and permitting of the street end. Once complete in 2026, it will have additional parking (including one ADA stall), a path to the water, benches and a picnic table. Mary Dodsworth, the parks director, said invasive species would be removed and replaced with native plants that support local habitat. There might be additional fencing, trees and landscaping added as well, she said.

Design and permitting at the site will take place this year, and development is expected to begin in 2026, Dodsworth said.

“It’s really for passive recreation,” she said. “It’s so that folks that live in the area or might not have the ability to get near the shoreline can have a way to take a walk or read a book or maybe launch a kayak or paddle board or something.”

An artist rendering depicts possible upgrades to a street end on Westlake Avenue Southwest in Lakewood, including an enhanced beach, parking, trail and native plants. City of Lakewood

Dodsworth said the city has had conversations about renovating street ends since Lakewood was incorporated nearly 30 years ago. A

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examined which sites would be best to renovate. It includes 13 street ends in the public right-of-way: six on Lake Steilacoom, two on American Lake, two on Louise Lake and two on Gravelly Lake.

“In a community named Lakewood … we do have beautiful lakes and we have beautiful parks, but there’s very, very limited public access to the water in our community,” she said. “So doing these street ends, it does provide community access to the water and that is highly desired. We hear it all the time.”

The Westlake Avenue street end was selected as the first renovation site in the pilot program because the site is gently sloped with a sandy, gravelly beach. It has little neighbor encroachment and a good view of the lake, according to the 2023 report.

Other sites that will be considered are: Mt. Tahoma Drive (Lake Steilacoom), Beach Lane (Lake Steilacoom), Lake Avenue (Lake Steilacoom), 100th Street (Lake Steilacoom), Holly Hedge Lane (Lake Steilacoom), Lake City Boulevard (American Lake), Wadsworth Street (American Lake), 104th Street/Melody Lane (Lake Louise), Holden Street (Lake Louise), Hilltop Lane (Gravelly Lake) and Linwood Lane (Gravelly Lake).

Dodsworth said the street ends project addresses an equity issue.

“Not everybody has the opportunity to live on waterfront property. Lakes are actually managed and owned by the state,” she said. “So we’re just doing our part to help make that happen, equitable access to all.”

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The end of Westlake Avenue Southwest, where the city of Lakewood approved a $86,000 design contract to get better public access to Lake Steilacoom, on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Lakewood. Brian Hayes/*****@*****.tld

Issues of encroachment?

The issue of encroachment on public right-of-ways isn’t new. Last September the

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after the city determined there was significant encroachment. On May 9 a Pierce County jury found that the

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last April to make way for

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.

Dodsworth said in any case where the city discovers encroachment it will work with the property owners to either vacate or sell the land.

“It’s really kind of an individual negotiation every time, depending on what you need and where it is and what the impact is,” she said. “The city always tries to be fair and equitable to everyone, but public property is public property, and so the public has the right to utilize that and we don’t have the right to give away public property.”

In the future the city’s Parks and Recreation department likely would maintain the street-end sites, Dodsworth said. The department will likely recommend the next street end to renovate in early fall and permitting and design work on that site should begin in 2026, she said.

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#Lake #access #Pierce #County #city #turns #street #ends #public #parks

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