City looking to transform ‘beach’ to park

If you’re heading south along 104th Avenue Southeast toward 8th Street most summer days and glance to the right toward the sharp bend in the Green River a quarter-mile below Porter’s Bridge, you’ll likely see a dozen or so people lazing on a bit of bank.

While that postage stamp of earth doesn’t have a real name, to Auburnites who may swung into the water from a bit of rope there or cooled dry throats with liquids they may not have been of age to guzzle, the place is Beer Bottle Beach.

But in the future, when the City of Auburn develops the 14-acre parcel that encompasses that bank, it’ll be part of a city park, as Daryl Faber, director of Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation told City leaders Monday at Auburn City Hall.

Key word: in the future.

“Just don’t look for it next weekend, there’s no money for it yet,” said Faber, whose department is doing the master planning for the park.

The site, bordered by the river to the north and 104th Avenue Southeast to the east, is thick with trees and plants. To get there today, one must pass from 104th Avenue Southeast through a fence or via 102nd Avenue South.

King County transferred the western parcel to the City through an intergovernmental land transfer agreement almost 10 years ago, and the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission later transferred the eastern portion.