After 17 years, City of Lynnwood Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Director Lynn Sordel is retiring – but he doesn’t plan to let any grass grow under his feet. As he prepares to leave the city March 15, Sordel says he is proud of the work he and his staff have accomplished – with a focus on community engagement and maintaining Lynnwood’s many green spaces. 

Sordel’s interest in parks and recreation was sparked by his upbringing in picturesque Riverside, Illinois. Despite being located a mere eight miles from Chicago, Riverside is a small community planned by the “Father of Landscape Architecture,” Frederick Law Olmsted. Trees line each pathway and surround the ornate, well-maintained village that Sordel says he was “lucky” to have grown up in. 

“My aunt was professor and chair of the home economics department at Western [Washington University] in Bellingham,” Sordel said. “So growing up in the Midwest in the Chicago area, I loved to visit her. I fell in love with the Northwest.”

Sordel’s love for that beauty brought him to Bellingham and to Western, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies. After graduation, he spent three years working at Bellingham’s parks department. Knowing he had to obtain additional schooling to advance his career, Sordel returned to Illinois and earned a master’s degree in parks and recreation administration.

His first job in parks management brought him to Largo, Florida, where he met his wife Linda. Within a year, he’d gone from Largo’s assistant parks director to director. Nine years and two daughters later, an opportunity called from Orange County, Florida. Home to Disney World and “everything else that’s in Orlando,” the area was booming, Sordel said. 

He spent about a decade at that “big job” before briefly working in the private sector. While serving as the sales director at Champions Gate Golf Resort, Sordel said he gained valuable insight into the business world. 

Time passed and their daughters graduated from college, giving the Sordels some time to contemplate the future. The City of Lynnwood hired a recruiter to find a new parks director, and the headhunter contacted Sordel, who agreed to put his name in for consideration. 

“I’ll never forget this interview I had with the recruiter. He said to me, ‘You’ve got a great background for this job. But my only concern is you Southerners…You Southerners don’t do well in the Northwest with the climate, and all the different kinds of environments. And I said, ‘Well, OK, maybe. But have you looked at my resume?’”

So in 2006, Lynn and Linda moved to Lynnwood. 

Sordel immediately got to work on a project to revitalize the Lynnwood Recreation Center. The center, built in the mid ‘70s, was falling apart and needed some attention. 

Then-Mayor Don Gough told Sordel he wanted community outreach and a financial plan detailing how the city would remodel and expand the center. Sordel and his new team delivered. 

Water slides. An expanded exercise area. A lazy river. Locker room enhancements, including a family locker room. Technical improvements to maintain the lap pool’s structure and its dramatic indoor-outdoor character long term.

 

Going from 28,568 to 44,8000 square feet, the Lynnwood Recreation Center upgrade was massive – so much so that the center is now the largest aquatic safety instructional provider in Snohomish County. 

As a whole, the $25 million project was a massive success: Over 48,000 community members enjoy being active at the center each month, and the center brings $3.5 million in revenue to Lynnwood annually. Sordel considers it one of his biggest accomplishments in the 17 years he’s been working for the city.

Another area Sordel takes pride in is the Lynnwood Golf Course, which was struggling to be self-sufficient until management rights were given to Premier Golf Centers. Taking the business private allowed many immediate benefits to passed on to the course’s golfers, such as technology upgrades, which allowed users to book a tee time in advance. 

He’s also proud of the parks department’s work to continually maintain the city’s 17 parks and 14 miles of trails along with the Meadowdale Playfields. 

The playfields were once a pair of sand soccer fields and three softball fields that were underutilized due to aging facilities and limited use during adverse weather. In collaboration with the Edmonds School District, the fields were transformed into synthetic-turf, multi-purpose fields with LED lighting and improved accessibility, making full use of the 24-acre area. The project garnered significant financial support – $1 million from the school district and more from the state. More recently, an inclusive playground was added. 

The Meadowdale Playfields are now the city’s most-used fields, bringing in people from around the state during tournaments and other large-scale events.

All of this, Sordel stressed, would not have been possible without his team. He spares no compliments when extolling his employees’  work ethic, ownership and pride in their work or the personal bonds they’ve made over years of working together. He attributes his successes to teamwork, community outreach and the benefits of diversity.

“That’s what I’m really proud of in my 17 years; Leading a team of professionals who are so committed to our mission and our purpose, and to this community,” he said. “It’s there every day. And I’m really grateful that they take their work seriously and really love what they do. It makes me feel good. They motivate me. They incentivize me.”

Adversity

That invaluable connection comes with a cost during tough times. While the city had been able to save big on construction costs during the 2008 recession, it also lost big as the city — like so many other municipalities — had to layoff employees. In Lynnwood, the parks department had to let a dozen employees go.

“I had never had to sit face to face, like I’m sitting with you, and provide you a letter from the city explaining that your position was being terminated,” he said. “It made me sick. It was very, very stressful. For all of us, even those that were remaining to see, you know, valued employees, people that were like family. We are. That’s one thing. I really take pride in my team. My team and I are like a family. Really.”

It took a decade before the department reached its pre-recession size, gradually hiring new employees as the budget allowed. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, the parks team was needed more than ever. Sordel says they tackled the challenges head-on, offering fitness classes over Zoom or in large outdoor spaces. They reached out to seniors who were unable to go out and listened to find solutions that fit. According to Sordel, the community trusted the department and the experience made the department stronger and more resilient as they navigated the complications of the pandemic. 

The future of Lynnwood

The city has begun advertising for Sordel’s replacement, and he advises his successor to prioritize involvement with the community they’re serving. As the city grows larger and development proceeds in the city center, more opportunities arise that give city planners and community members the chance to connect residents with green spaces and each other. 

“People tend to support what they create,” said Sordel, who added he sees a great future for Lynnwood. 

Further, he suggests that his replacement follow the “plan”– a meticulously detailed 91-page document known as the ParksLove project, which is focused on equity, community relationships, building new parks and improving existing parks. 

One of his successor’s most important tasks, Sordel said, will be to continue advocating for maintenance on Lynnwood’s existing parks – something he has done extensively during his 17 years with Lynnwood. “Many of our play structures and buildings were aging and had exhausted their useful life,” he said. “I messaged the importance of investing in these items, and we were fortunate to get council’s support for many deferred maintenance items throughout our parks system.  Examples included the replacement of play equipment, other structures and trail improvements. The reinvestment of these assets was a critical and necessary step for us to maintain these valuable amenities.”

What now?

“I sent out a note to everybody. My heading was, ‘Beware the Ides of March’. And then I said, “Well now that I’ve got your attention, that’ll be my last day.”

Sordel is writing a book – one that he says will give the inside scoop on his career and “lots” of stories in Lynnwood, both comedic and serious. He’s set a release date of sometime in 2025.

His list of other retirement to-dos include:

• Spending more time with his wife of 43 years and a “basketball team” worth of grandkids
• Traveling across Europe
• Joining a golf league
• Taking cooking classes
• Yoga

Of course, Sordel will still be involved with Lynnwood. He’s the president of the Lynnwood Parks and Recreation Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the city’s parks. He also serves Snohomish County as a board member in the Sound Foundation For Public Health.

“I joke it’s Lynn’s-wood. It’s my town,” Sordel said. “And I’m really, I’m just grateful for this opportunity I’ve had here for 17 years. It’s been a great ride.”

— Story and photos by Jasmine Contreras-Lewis