In his decision, Judge Samuel Chung sided with the City of Seattle and the Friends of Denny Blaine community group in keeping the two-acre park on the shores of Lake Washington open — and nude — calling Denny Blaine “a limited natural resource that must be shared by the residents of the neighborhood and the Park’s visitors.”
While it will keep the park open, the ruling will put new pressures on Denny Blaine as it has become a center in debates over public space, community use, and personal expression in Seattle.
The ruling also cements some key elements for neighbors: property values.
The judge cited the King County Assessor’s Office’s designation of “thirteen properties as being negatively affected by ‘nuisance’ from the Park and decreased the assessed land value of these homes by at least ten percent” as a key element in his ruling.
Chung’s decision comes with caveats after several findings that, he said, justified the neighbors’ claims around lewd acts and criminal activity at the park. In the ruling, the judge said the city must implement and manage a previously approved abatement plan, and “develop and implement a park specific user plan and code of conduct to address overcrowding, safety, and prohibited and acceptable behaviors.”
Members of the Friends of Denny Blaine group said they would be at the park on the warm Wednesday evening following the ruling to celebrate but were also still digesting the judge’s findings and the potential impact on the space.
“We respectfully disagree with portions of the Court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law. In particular, we believe the ruling gives substantial weight to conditions that predate the abatement measures now in place, and does not fully reflect the significant improvements at the park over the past year — improvements the evidence at trial documented,” the group said in a statement. “We believe that the evidence reflects that the Park is not currently a nuisance and that the Park should ultimately be restored to its full historical status as a fully clothing optional Park. We are reviewing the order carefully and evaluating our next steps.”
CHS reported here in late May as the trial began.
The court proceedings came two and a half years after an attempt by the city to add a children’s play area paid for by an “anonymous donor” to the popular nude beach park was stopped in its tracks by public outcry. Neighbors complained of illegal drug use and sexual activity around the park as well as more mundane complaints around issues like parking and public urination.
It was later revealed that text messages showed then-Mayor Bruce Harrell championed the “philanthropic position” of multimillionaire mall developer and Denny Blaine resident Stuart Sloan as the then-mayor pushed officials to address nudity in the park that has served as a gathering space for queer and naturist communities for decades.
In April 2025, the neighbors sued the city over its management of the lakefront public space.
A 2025 protest in the park
Complainants included Sloan, a serial property-tax appellant who acquired his neighborhood home in 1991 after renting in the area. The Friends group says Sloan rebuilt his home despite knowing the park’s character, and funded the masked proposal for a children’s playground to displace parkgoers. Other named property owners included David Rinn, who the group said admitted in depositions that he knew the shoreline was historically nicknamed “Dykiki” and a “topless lesbian beach” before closing on his adjacent home for $5.68 million in 2012.
As the legal battle played out, the city responded to the outcry as Seattle Parks added new signs and fences to the park establishing a “nude zone” at the beach — though somebody immediately tried to tear the new fencing down.
In October, the judge ruled against the immediate closure of the park as the case moved toward trial, saying the city was displaying “reasonable efforts in abatement” around illegal activity at the park.
2026 began with a boost in legal power for the park’s defense as the court proceeded toward trial. CHS reported in January as the Friends group filed to become “an intervening party” represented pro bono by law firm Perkins Coie.
2023
Now, two and a half years after the case was filed and Seattle leaders including Harrell, District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth, and Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes were unable to broker peace around the park outside the courtroom, there will be new legal requirements place around the long-standing nude beach.
A major strengthening of the October abatement plan is at the center of the court’s ruling as the judge has called on the city to address his concerns over sexual activity in the park and implement a roster of policies specific to Denny Blaine:
- Custom Code of Conduct: Create a park-specific user plan to address safety, overcrowding, and acceptable behaviors
- Adequate Staffing: Deploy sufficient staff to monitor the park, report inappropriate behaviors, and ensure compliance
- Grounds Maintenance: Properly maintain vegetation to prevent and discourage hidden lewd acts
- Property Buffers: Establish physical buffers to block views of nude park users from adjacent homes and prevent trespassing
- Signage: Post clear instructions and disseminate informational materials regarding proper and improper behaviors
While the city pounds out the new Denny Blaine policies, the ruling seems unlikely to relieve pressure on the park’s place in the neighborhood. Friends of Denny Blaine has said private security guards hired by neighbors have been in place and reporting nudity to police as the legal proceedings continued earlier this summer.
With the new policies, Denny Blaine parkgoers will soon face more restrictions.
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