Thurston Realtors neutral on Proposition 1 for parks

As president of the Thurston County REALTORS® Association, I’d like to explain why our association is neutral on the city of Olympia’s Proposition 1, which would create a Metropolitan Parks District (MPD) to fund parks acquisitions, operations, and maintenance.

There are good arguments in support of, and against, Prop. 1. Around the state, numerous local governments have created MPDs and REALTORS® have generally supported those efforts because of the importance of parks to cities and neighborhoods. If the measure passes, Olympia must ensure that land acquisition for parks is accompanied by designation of equal-capacity, new buildable lands within the city to replace lost housing and commercial development opportunities.

This is the intent of the Growth Management Act. Otherwise, growth will be pushed into other cities and into rural areas – contrary to the intent of the GMA.

The Thurston Regional Planning Council estimates that the county’s population will increase by over 120,000 in the next 20 years, with 20,000 expected to call Olympia home.

Olympia must do its part to provide housing for this growth. If the measure fails, we encourage parks supporters to consider a regional MPD, which REALTORS® voted to support a number of years ago.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Thurston Realtors neutral on Proposition 1 for parks."