Plans to develop two community parks on county-owned property will be shelved for lack of money, county commissioners were told Wednesday.
Instead, the focus in carrying out the county’s pledge to build new parks will be on finishing 13 smaller neighborhood parks.
The proposed 38-acre Curtin Creek Community Park, 12503 N.E. 72nd Ave. in Brush Prairie, and 40-acre Pleasant Valley Community Park, 14320 N.E. 50th Ave., are on hold indefinitely.
The latest development did not faze commissioners, who have known the price tag to build 30 neighborhood parks, five community parks, 41 youth ball fields and seven miles of trails by 2012 was underestimated from the get-go.
In 2005, voters who live outside of Vancouver city limits but within the urban growth boundary approved an operations and maintenance levy that was expected to generate approximately $2 million annually to pay for upkeep for the new parks.
But the money to buy the land and build the parks comes from a different pot of money, and that’s where goals have fallen short.
Initially the cost of acquisition and construction was estimated at $40 million.
The first few parks were behind schedule and over budget.
In 2007, the Greater Clark Parks District went to commissioners and said they needed an additional $29 million. Commissioners, who at the time were Marc Boldt, Betty Sue Morris and Steve Stuart, said the district could have an additional $19 million, but made it clear the total cost could not exceed $59 million.
Morris has since been replaced on the board by Tom Mielke but the consensus remains the same, and commissioners on Wednesday didn’t offer to make up a $6 million shortfall in order to develop Curtin Creek and Pleasant Valley.
Staff, knowing the money woes facing the county, didn’t ask for it.
Stuart said the county would be in far worse shape in trying to meet its parks pledge if commissioners hadn’t agreed three years ago to give the project the additional $19 million.
Buying park land and developing it are paid for by park impact fees, which come from new development, and real estate excise taxes, which are paid whenever properties are sold.
The revenues that would be generated from those sources were overestimated, as nobody predicted the depths of the recession and how much it would slow development, said Pete Capell, the county’s public works director.
“Our original estimates were insufficient,” Capell said.
So far, 17 neighborhood parks, three community parks (Fairgrounds, Hockinson Meadows and Pacific) and 17 ball fields have been built.
Curtin Creek and Pleasant Valley were the last two community parks to be built, and they were dropped when it became clear the fund will be $6 million short and it was decided the community would be better served by more neighborhood parks, Capell said.
If, after the neighborhood parks are finished, there’s money left over, then the community parks will still be designed and would be ready to be built if and when money becomes available.
Capell said the program is currently $1.5 million under budget and on schedule. After the first few projects ran over budget, the county adjusted by managing the projects inhouse rather than contracting them out and worked with developers to secure better deals by grouping projects.
Jane Tesner Kleiner, parks manager, told commissioners the parks district will still be looking for partnerships with schools (in which the county enhances sports fields so long as they are available for public use when the school’s not using them) or grants in order to meet its commitment for more sports fields.
Stuart mentioned Prairie High School, for example, had turned down such an offer but might reconsider.
The parks district will also continue to acquire land for future trails, which could be built by volunteers, Kleiner said.
As of this week, three neighborhood parks are under construction: 5-acre Bosco Farm park in the East Minnehaha neighborhood, 5-acre Vandervort park in the Fisher-Mill Plain neighborhood and 7.7-acre Kate and Clarence LaLonde park in Northeast Hazel Dell.
The last non-neighborhood park scheduled to be built, a sports complex on a 20-acre site on the north side of Northeast 78th Street in Hazel Dell, remains on schedule for construction to start this year.
Stephanie Rice: 360-735-4508 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.
