Wenatchee City Parks Modify Hours of Operation

Wenatchee Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services was okayed by Wenatchee City Council to adjust hours of operation to be only daylight hours at city parks. Daylight hours are defined as 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunrise.

The parks within the city are currently open 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. and the Foothills properties are set for daylight hours only.

"Now that we're moving into fall, it's apparent its dark in the morning and pretty soon it'll be dark [at] 3 or 4 in the afternoon ," said Dave Erickson, director. "That gives people a lot of time in the dark to do stuff they maybe shouldn't be doing in those park areas.

The Parks department contacted multiple cities around the state and conducted a survey to gauge other municipalities' park hours. According to Erickson, a majority of the cities had dawn to dusk hours of operation in place.

"If the parks are dark, you shouldn't be in there unless you shouldn't be in there unless have an approved permit," said Erickson.

The replacement of signage to reflect the new hours of operation would cost less than $2,000 and would come out of Parks' operations budget.