crik

 Introduction: Cricket is the world’s second-largest sport, with over 2.5 Billion followers across the globe. 1 The Puget Sound region is one of the largest cricket markets along the West Coast and in the United States. The Cricket Academy of Puget Sound has approximately 200 youth, 450 adults, and over 2000 recreational cricketers in the Puget Sound.2 In the 2016 PARCC (Parks, Arts, Recreation, Culture and Conservation) plan community engagement, when asked if building new sports fields was a priority, 26% of those interested in prioritizing new fields were in favor of cricket sports fields. Redmond’s recent growth has resulted in the community becoming increasingly diverse. This demographic directly influences changes in the types of needs for recreation programming, such as cricket. The Redmond Parks and Recreation Department has received multiple requests, reaching back to at least 2004, to provide opportunities for cricket. The City’s PARCC plan, adopted in 2017, includes 13 references to cricket with a goal to provide “fields flexible enough to support a wide variety of sports such as lacrosse and cricket…” Cricket in Redmond Redmond does not currently have dedicated Cricket fields or any permanent cricket pitches. We allow a modified version of cricket to take place on our turf sports fields. Without a permanent pitch installed on these fields, user groups must move the pitch to various locations to limit wear and tear on the turf. Cricket in Redmond mostly takes place on soccer and baseball fields at Grass Lawn Park, Perrigo Park, and occasionally on fields at Hartman Park. Redmond Parks & Recreation does not currently provide any recreation programming related to Cricket but is considering contracting with local youth Cricket groups to provide classes and camps for the community. Community groups have expressed interest in expanding cricket opportunities. Major League Cricket Academy of Seattle, for example, has a goal to have a facility for Minor League Cricket in the Redmond area. This facility would allow youth to advance their skills and generate local exposure and enthusiasm for the sport.

Reflecting the City’s diversity, cricket in Bellevue has continued to grow and the city is looking at additional sites, including one in the SW portion of Marymoor Park. King County Parks (Marymoor) has one formal cricket pitch and youth markings on two synthetic soccer fields. These are generally booked to capacity during the spring-summer season. The City of Kirkland does not currently have any cricket fields and has not received inquiries to date. The need will be evaluated as part of the City’s PROS (Parks, Recreation and Open Space) plan updates in 2021. Microsoft Expansion (Redmond Campus) will have one athletic sized (non-regulation) cricket pitch installed as part of the Microsoft Campus refresh project that is currently underway. Use of the fields is for MS employees and additional uses, if any, have not been decided at this point. The City of Renton offers cricket at Ron Regis park. The City worked with the American Cricket Club to upgrade the pitch to the desired specifications and it is used all day Saturday and Sunday, between mid-March through November. The City of Sammamish has one cricket pitch at Klahanie Park that is slightly undersized, and one practice cricket pitch. The pitch is constructed between two existing soccer fields and both must be rented at once for cricket. Nearly 60% of the reservation times at the two fields was for cricket. To help reduce scheduling conflicts, the City’s crew installed an 11 feet wide x 110 feet long practice cricket pitch to the west of the existing cricket field in April 2019. The Sammamish Cricket Club purchased a portable netting structure to enclose the pitch during practice. In doing this, they were able to open up more reservation times during the week for both soccer fields. The Sammamish Cricket Club has been growing over the past few years. The City of Sammamish is currently completing a master plan for Klahanie Park and one of the requests from the cricket group is to expand the field space at Klahanie in order to allow for a full-size cricket field. The City of Woodinville does not currently have space for cricket and has not received community requests. 

In addition to finding permanent places for cricket, the City of Redmond has also looked for interim opportunities. Juel Park is identified as a potential interim location. There are challenges given the current nature of the park. Juel Park lies in King County, outside the Urban Growth Area, so the City is unable to extend sewer to the park for permanent restrooms and would need to permit through the County. Additional requirements include relocating the disc golf and potentially the garden plots, possible parking improvements, stormwater management, drainage for an interim field to be playable, and servicing portable restrooms. In addition, there is no potable water on-site. Major League Cricket Academy of Seattle has expressed interest in two fields at Juel park, but initial evaluation shows this most likely will not be feasible given setbacks from Bear creek and wetlands on the eastern portion of the 38-acre park.