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The divvying up of green space in the Spokane Valley isn’t as simple as it appears.
To begin with, there are several different categories of parks, ranging from community to neighborhood, linear to large urban. Add special use areas, undeveloped land and natural open spaces, and it’s becomes clear that cataloging a patch of lawn involves more than most parkgoers realize.
In April 2006, the city of Spokane Valley published a Parks and Recreation Master Plan, a document intended to provide “the foundation for a parks and recreation program.” The plan featured an inventory of current properties, including some 380 acres of land owned by the state of Washington – most of which are outside city limits.
The total park space inside Spokane Valley was tallied at just under 164 acres; that total included around 52 acres of undeveloped land. While the plan projects the city requiring 1,286 acres of park space by the year 2025,
Spokane Valley Parks Director Mike Stone said a more tangible goal may be to establish a dozen additional neighborhood parks by 2020. Currently, the city has five neighborhood sites occupying around 28 acres.
“You look at a map and there are quite a few neighborhoods in Spokane Valley that don’t have parks,” Stone said.
Part of that scenario will change with the addition of an 8.3-acre venue in North Greenacres. Last July, the Spokane Valley City Council voted to acquire a second piece of land in the area to go with a first tract purchased earlier in 2007.
Stone said the city had a contingent in Olympia last week lobbying for funds to supplement $500,000 that has already been set aside for construction in Greenacres. The latest grant would provide another $500,000 for the project. The goal of $1.2 million could be achieved through a final $200,000 through the state toward the end of the year.
Stone said the rapidly developing Greenacres area is a top priority for the city in terms of providing green space while “there are other areas of Spokane Valley where the city would like to add parks.”
Spokane Valley Mayor Richard Munson pointed to the Ponderosa neighborhood and the western part of the city near Park Road as two of several areas in Spokane Valley that would benefit from the addition of green space.
“We’re trying to make this a good place to live and part of that is providing good parks,” Munson said.
The mayor emphasized that roads and law enforcement continue to be top priorities as far as municipal budgeting goes, though parks and recreation factor into the overall picture. Munson added that the city has contributed to improvements at Plantes Ferry Park, a large recreational site just north of Spokane Valley utilized by many city residents.
If the funding falls into place, Stone said there could be public meetings by next spring to discuss the design of the Greenacres park. In a best-case scenario, building bids would go out sometime in autumn 2009 with construction starting sometime in spring 2010.
Other areas, including the old site of the Spokane Valley Senior Center on Mission Avenue and a parcel of property on Park Road, could develop into future park sites, Stone said.
In the meantime, much of the emphasis in the Parks and Recreation department will involve improvements – refurbishing paint, adding equipment, etc – at existing facilities. Stone said about 40 percent of the upgrades – some $3 million in total – have been completed with that percentage increasing to 60 to 70 percent by the end of the year.
Last March, the State House of Representatives and state Senate approved $800,000 for the establishment of a children’s universal park in its proposed 2008 budget. The park – with amenities for kids with physical and developmental disabilities – would be located in the vicinity of Mirabeau Point Park, a 14-acre green space currently operated by the city of Spokane Valley.
A meeting about the project was held this week. Stone said a design for the park could be in place by the fall with bids for construction going out by the end of the year.
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By
Craig Howard
