Is this Thurston County park the best place for a sewer system? Locals are upset
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- Parks board said it lacked info and requested environmental and fiscal data.
Residents frustrated by a proposal to place a sewer lift station in a Lacey park brought their concerns to the parks board this month. The board itself acknowledged they were frustrated by the process, too.
The board, in the end, did not make a recommendation on the lift station location at its March 4 meeting.
“At this time the parks board does not have enough information to make a choice on either location, and we request additional environmental and fiscal impact information if this advisory board is going to make a decision on the two,” said board Chairman Aram Wheeler as part of his approved motion.
At issue is a more than 50-year-old sewer lift station — Lift Station 4 — near the park that needs to be replaced before it fails. A lift station does not treat sewer water, but it helps it flow to its final destination, which is typically where it’s treated and released.
The city has suggested placing a new 5,000-square-foot lift station in the park at one of two locations: either at the north end of the park near 25th Avenue or on the west side of the park closer to Hicks Lake Road.
The city also views the placement of the lift station at the park as a much more inexpensive and faster solution than acquiring private land that could take longer and be more expensive. An estimate of those costs differences wasn’t immediately available, although a recent appraisal showed the value of the 5,000-square-foot site at $66,500, according to city information.
For comparison, The Olympian checked private property in the area across from the park on Hicks Lake Road. In one example, it showed the building and land value of a residence at $480,000, according to public information.
About eight residents spoke during the meeting, none of whom spoke in favor of the proposal. Some comments, too, seemed tinged with lingering resentment over two multifamily projects that were proposed and approved by the city south of the park on the lake a few years ago.
“And so now, you know, three years later, four years later, we need to increase the size of our infrastructure at Wanschers Park,” said resident Janet Ikeda. “Wanschers Park is the wrong place. We need to preserve that property for the citizens to use today and in the future.”
Scott Goddard called the whole proposal absurd.
“It just flies in the face of the idea of the sanctity of parkland, and that public parkland should be inviolate, especially in this case at Wanschers Park,” he said.
“If we can invest millions in construction, surely we can prioritize protecting irreplaceable parkland,” added Marilyn Eshenbaugh.
Some residents expressed concerns that the city wasn’t being transparent enough about the proposal, so resident Liz Mercer said she put up signs in the area, alerting people to the March 4 parks board meeting.
“Sometime between yesterday and today, someone tore those signs down,” Mercer said. “And I have a feeling that it was someone -- maybe it’s my paranoia -- but that someone from parks did that. And so the whole idea of not even letting us share information any way we could about what was going on, because we know people love that place, is very distressing to me. So I agree with what everyone else has said, this is a bad idea, and more input is needed from the community about this kind of thing, so thank you for the time.”
Parks Board frustrated, too
The city’s parks board typically makes a recommendation that initiates a process, but this situation unfurled in a different order. The city has already approved the relocation of the lift station to the park, so the board was asked to make a recommendation on a preferred location.
“The city manager has approved the relocation of Lift Station 4 to Wanschers Park,” the agenda reads. “Staff seek guidance from Lacey Parks, Culture and Recreation Board on the preferred future location of the lift station for additional design and planning efforts.”
The board seemed more interested in voting on the lift station first.
“The way that this process has gone, I guess it’s not how I would have liked it to go for our making a decision,” said Commissioner Wheeler.
“We’re being asked to advise on something after a decision has been made, not before the decision has been made,” said Commissioner Laurie Davies at the meeting. “And that’s what doesn’t sit very comfortably for me, is that this should have been brought to the board before the city manager made his decision on using Wanschers Park.”
Commissioner Hilary Dykstra said from a strictly fiscal point of view the proposal makes sense, but she was still wrestling with it.
“I think of myself as a steward of our city parks and green spaces, and knowing how precious our parkland is and, I guess, I just don’t like the idea of taking up more space in this park (with the lift station) when it hasn’t reached its full potential,” she said.
Although the board seemed frustrated by their role in this instance, the city still appreciated “their input into this type of administrative decision,” said city of Lacey spokeswoman Donna Feliciano on Monday.
