Livable City Year

Lynnwood 2020–2021

2020–2021 Projects – City of Lynnwood

The following two projects were conducted in 2020–2021 for the City of Lynnwood Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department. In response to a single research question provided by the city, the Livable City Year program engaged students from two different disciplines on two campuses to study the question from different academic perspectives.

Park and Trail Usage Analysis

Department: Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department (PRCA)
City Project Lead: Sarah Olson
Faculty: Haluk Demirkan and Michael Helser
UW Department: Business Analytics
Course: TBANLT 592,593,594; Digital Lab II, III, IV
Quarters: Autumn 2020, Winter and Spring 2021

Lynnwood is interested in partnering with the University of Washington Livable City Year
program to provide research, analysis, and recommendations regarding level of service
methodologies for the City to consider when updating its Parks, Arts, Recreation and Conservation comprehensive plan.

Lynnwood has an adopted park level of service that uses acres of parkland per 1,000 residents.
Lynnwood reduced its LOS from 10 acres/1,000 residents to 3.5 acres/1,000 in 2016 due to rising land values, limited buildable lands, and cost of development.

Lynnwood is seeking to adopt an alternative LOS methodology that helps our community improve access to quality parks for all residents and that is financially sustainable within the City Budget.

This project proposes using multiple data sources to analyze level of service alternatives and
make recommendations for the City of Lynnwood’s update to the PARC Plan. Specifically, to
complete a park usage study of all Lynnwood parks and trails to determine overall use, use patterns, and demographics of park users.

View Final Presentation

A Policy Analysis: Evaluating the Level of Service Standard for Lynnwood’s Park System

Department: Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department (PRCA)
City Project Lead: Sarah Olson
Faculty: Stephen Kosack
UW Department: Public Policy
Course: PUBPOL 608, Capstone Project Seminar
Quarters: Winter and Spring 2021

The purpose of this project is to use data to conduct a policy alternative analysis and make recommendations for the City of Lynnwood’s Parks, Arts, Recreation, and Conservation (PARC) Plan. The consultants will offer an analysis of level-of-service (LOS) policy alternatives and recommendations for the City’s update to the PARC Plan by conducting data analysis, policy alternative analysis, the formation of recommendations, mid-term and final presentations to municipal clients via zoom, and report writing.

Read Final Report

View Final Presentation