Lacey’s bid to create a Metropolitan Park District appears headed for defeat, early returns show
The city of Lacey’s Proposition 1 ballot measure to create a Metropolitan Park District to fund and maintain parks in the city, appears headed to defeat for the second time.
Wednesday’s tallies showed the proposal was being defeated by 688 votes, or 53.6% of the vote.
“It’s a missed opportunity for this community,” said Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder Tuesday night.
If approved by voters, the park district would have levied a property tax of 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, or $225 a year for the owner of a home valued at $500,000. The MPD was expected to raise about $6 million a year for parks and parks maintenance.
Voters also rejected an effort to form a Lacey Metropolitan Park District in 2018.
Ryder said he would accept the results if Lacey residents fully understood the MPD and rejected it, but he believes there was too much misinformation that confused the issue. He said he heard from those who believed the city could arbitrarily raise the levy amount, which is not true, or that the process wasn’t transparent enough.
“It was a 100 percent community-led process,” he said.
Before the council voted to place Proposition 1 on the ballot, the city formed a 15-member Parks Improvement Funding Workgroup to review parks expansion and parks replacement projects. They ultimately recommended the MPD to the council.
Councilman Lenny Greenstein previously told The Olympian the city’s parks department did a “tremendous amount of outreach for over a year.”
Ryder said they have heard from residents who want more park services and trails, but they need a source of funds because the city is “not going to build those if we can’t maintain them,” he said.
The Lacey City Council gathered for a dinner meeting Tuesday afternoon and some council members discussed the challenges of misinformation.
Greenstein said he explained the MPD to a constituent, only to have that person get online and post incorrect information about what he had just explained. Greenstein then contacted that person, who said they had decided to trust a different source instead of the council member.
After the dinner meeting, The Olympian interviewed Lacey voters at the Lacey Timberland Library, which again hosted a voting center where voters could drop off a ballot, get a replacement ballot, or get assistance voting.
Bill Keim voted in favor of the parks district, saying the city needs more park facilities as the area grows.
Two other voters, who declined to share their names, voted against it.
One man, a 24-year resident of Lacey, said he can’t fund parks when he still doesn’t have sidewalks in his neighborhood near Carpenter Road.
A woman, 24, said she voted against it because she didn’t trust the city to only spend the money on parks, fearing the revenue would be spent in other ways.
“It’s back to the drawing board,” Ryder said, adding that the city in the future might just look at a project for a specific park rather than the entire system.
The city has more than 20 parks. It recently broke ground on a new park — Greg Cuoio Park — but also has popular Wonderwood, Rainier Vista and Woodland Creek parks.
This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 8:54 PM.
