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These will all happen in the next 10 years, according to the new 2010 Parks, Arts and Recreation plan. The city’s parks department has been working on the plan for nearly two years, with several public comment opportunities that Senior Program Specialist Jonathon Turlove said generated more than 100 public comments. The public will have another Wednesday night, when the plan is presented at a special meeting of the Olympia City Council, and a public hearing will be held.
“We feel like we’ve had a good public process and we’ve listened to what the community is interested in,” Turlove said.
The next question is whether the public agrees their dreams and concerns are represented in the 162-page plan, said David Okerlund, program manager for the parks department. “I guess what we’re hoping for is validation that we’ve done a good job,” he said.
After the public is heard and the planning commission reviews the plan, the City Council will hold another public hearing, scheduled for June 8. A plan is set to be adopted in August.
The improvements are paid for – except for complete improvements to Percival Landing and West Bay Park – which will need additional funding. Money for the improvements will come from general fund money and from revenue from a 2 percent private utility tax increase that voters approved in 2004 for parks and pathways.
Some of the new parks elements will come soon. Okerlund said the department is planning to put a community garden in this year at Yauger Park, and next year in Madison Park. It comes on the heels of the first community garden in a park, which was installed in Sunrise Park in 2007. That program is run by GRuB, or Garden-Raised Bounty, a nonprofit that focuses on community-grown food.
Dogs also will benefit under the new plan – which proposes adding a dog park to Chambers Lake Parcel, a 46-acre undeveloped park site the city owns at 4808 Herman Road. Turlove said that site, which is home to wetlands, would be tricky to develop, so it will take some time. The city is already developing an off-leash dog area at Sunrise Park in west Olympia, scheduled to open this fall.
Some improvements still will be years off, though. A swim beach at Ward Lake isn’t anticipated until closer to 2019.
All park properties that aren’t developed would at least get interim use plans – making way for minor improvements such as walking trails and benches – until more permanent improvements can be made.
Grass Lake Refuge would see a trail built from Cooper Point Road to Kaiser Road.
Though the plan focuses mainly on improving current parks properties rather than acquiring them, a couple of acquisitions are planned. For one, the city intends to get land for another community park – 20 to 40 acres large, Turlove said – something that could accommodate sports facilities such as soccer fields.
There also are plans to acquire land for an arts center, a subject that has been studied, but there is no money as yet to build a center.
Some environmental cleanups also are funded – on property on Eighth Avenue and the city parks land known as the Greene Parcel on Yelm Highway near Spooner Farms.
“We’re trying to have some new environmental initiatives,” Turlove said.
