The City of Lake Stevens is forming a Parks and Recreation Department to better serve residents and the growing popularity of its parks, trails, and community spaces. 

The City has been working to provide residents with the recreational opportunities they said were important to them in a recent community survey. Through its park plan, the City has been maintaining, updating, and building new facilities and community recreational spaces for residents to play, relax or connect with others.

The City will be reassigning three staff members from the Planning and Community Development and six staff from the Public Works departments to create the new Parks and Recreation Department. 

The Parks Department will be led by the City’s first-ever dedicated Parks director, Sarah Garceau, who comes from Grants Pass, Oregon, where she was the director of county parks for eight years.