New playground officially opens at Maplewood Park
Published 5:30 am Friday, March 6, 2026
Children can now enjoy a new playground open at Maplewood Park in Renton.
On Feb. 7, the Renton Parks and Recreation Department opened the new playground at the park, 3400 SE Sixth St. The previous playground was approximately 20 years old and needed to be replaced.
“A lot of the plastisol covering on some of the platforms is just eaten away at this point and is starting to rust. There could be some failure of the equipment itself,” Renton Capital Projects Manager Betsy Severtsen said previously.
The upgrades to the park include safety surfacing, enlarging the playbox area and new play equipment such as slides, swings, monkey bars and climbing structures. There are also new fitness stations with equipment for pull-ups, sit-ups and push-ups. New ADA accessible pathways make the park fully accessible for people of all abilities to enjoy the space.
Since 2018, the city parks department has replaced six playgrounds and hope the new equipment will deter vandalism. Severtsen said when they let their park infrastructure go, they notice more graffiti and abuse of the equipment itself.
“We need to invest in things and show that we are caring for them and replacing them as needed,” Severtsen said.
The city will be planting trees in the spring to add more shade to the park.
Last summer, the Renton City Council approved a contract with Allplay Systems LLC to build the playground for $331,808.43. The project was funded through the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), specifically property tax/B&O tax and real estate excise tax funds.
The Parks and Recreation Department began community outreach in summer 2024 to hear directly from the neighborhood and community members on what they wanted for this playground. This included an engagement event to introduce the project and site restraints in August 2024 and a resident vote on playground designs in June 2025. Some of the additions the community wanted were a larger playground area, more trees for shade and separate areas for younger and older kids.
“We prefer to split out age groups a little bit. We’ll have a play structure that is meant mostly for kids ages two to five and then another larger one for kids that are over age five,” Severtsen said.
The city said they will celebrate another playground opening at Highlands Park and Neighborhood Center later this year. These efforts are a part of the 2026 Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) Plan update, which has a focus on upgrading and updating the city’s parks.
