Residents enjoying newly finished Chinook Neighborhood Park

Planned county parks

A number of park projects were put on hold in the Greater Clark Parks District because of dwindling tax revenues and park impact fees. Here are parks the county plans to build once funding is secured.

• Curtin Creek Community Park, 12503 N.E. 72nd Ave. 38.5 acres. Greater Brush Prairie.

• Kelley Meadows Neighborhood Park, Northeast 69th Street, west of Par Lane. 7.5 acres. East Minnehaha.

• Kozy Kamp Neighborhood Park, 17410 N.E. 29th Ave. 5 acres. Fairgrounds.

• Otto Brown Neighborhood Park, 15809 N.E. 96th St. 8.4 acres. Orchards.

• Pleasant Valley Community Park, 14519 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave. 40 acres. Pleasant Highlands.

• Salmon Creek Community Club Neighborhood Park, Northeast 159th Street and 20th Avenue. 4.5 acres. Fairgrounds.

• Sorenson Neighborhood Park, Northwest 26th Avenue and 109th Street. 4.9 acres. Felida.

• Tower Crest Neighborhood Park, Northeast 54th Street and 63rd Avenue. 2 acres. East Minnehaha.

Learn more at www.clarkparks.org/projects/active.htm

With the newly completed Chinook Neighborhood Park, Clark County is one step closer to fulfilling its mission of having a park within a few miles of every home.

Since Chinook Park officially opened on Sept. 3, Residents have began flocking to the recreation area, tucked between Northwest 139th and 149th streets in the Whipple Creek Greenway of the North Salmon Creek Neighborhood.

As a Salmon Creek resident and father of two young kids, Clark County Public Works Project Manager Scot Brantley is one of those enthusiastic neighbors.

On Chinook Park’s opening day he paid a visit to the outdoor space that he and many others, including the North Salmon Creek Neighborhood Association, have spent years realizing.

“We had about 20 kids and families using the play equipment and the bike trails. Everyone was excited to have their park open,” Brantley said. “It’s a true neighborhood park.”

The 4.5-acre Chinook Park, just east of Skyview High School, features not only a playground and the usual collection of benches, tables and other park staples, but also a land bridge, wetland areas and a tributary that connects to Whipple Creek.

A path through the property has long served as a shortcut for kids to walk to the nearby schools Skyview High, Alki Middle and Chinook Elementary.

“It was a dirt path and now that it’s developed it’s much more open,” Brantley said. “It’s paved, it’s a safer connection.”

Despite development, including the removal of dozens of trees that were deemed unsafe, the area still retains a natural feel. A family of deer was recently spotted munching on newly planted vegetation.

“The uniqueness of that park is it’s very much a natural open space,” Brantley said.

County’s park promise

Chinook was one of 35 parks the county promised to build after voters narrowly approved the Greater Clark Parks District in 2005. On Oct. 15, the 4.9-acre Dogwood Neighborhood Park, in Brush Prairie on Northeast 124th Avenue, is scheduled to open.

Including Chinook and Dogwood parks, the county has created 27 parks and 26 sports fields since 2005.

In the first five years following the founding of the Greater Clark Parks District, the county was able to build a steady stream of new parks. But once the economy began its downturn, which led to a 70 percent drop in real estate tax revenue between 2006 and 2010, county officials decided in late 2011 to put the rest of the park projects on hold so the county could pay down debt instead.

In November, county commissioners directed staff to move forward once again on the dormant park plans.

The county contracted with Vancouver’s Thompson Bros. Excavating to build Chinook and Dogwood parks, at costs of $704,000 and $775,000, respectively.

Brantley said the county isn’t out of the woods quite yet when it comes to having enough money to build the remaining eight parks and 15 sports fields projects. Those will stay shelved until more funding is approved.

“Those will remain on hold. As of now we are not building any more parks next year. We feel privileged that we were lucky enough to build two this year,” he said. “There’s been a lot of uncertainty the last few years, but we’re trying to wade through that and fulfill our commitment to the voters.”

Neighbors celebrate Chinook

The North Salmon Creek Neighborhood Association has been involved with helping guide the Chinook Park project since before the formal design process began in 2010, including surveying neighbors about what features they would like to see. A majority of people who responded favored a traditional park concept that included a playground.

Opening celebrations for Chinook and Dogwood parks are set for spring.

North Salmon Creek Neighborhood Association Co-President Jennifer Konopasek said after years of planning it’s great to see the community space take shape.

Her 10-year-old son is a big fan of the play structures, and she is fond of taking her dogs for a walk along the paths that wind through the land.

“It’s a great little park. I am very happy to have it,” she said.

When Barbara Anderson’s home was being built in 2004 near what is now Chinook Park, the former North Salmon Creek Neighborhood Association board member and current co-chair of the Clark County Parks Advisory Board, had hoped a park would pop up soon.

Though a decade has passed, Anderson, speaking as a Salmon Creek resident and not a Parks commissioner, said it’s better late than never.

“Even though this park was supposed to come about in 2006, I can’t tell you how much this means to the neighborhood,” she said. “We’re really jazzed about it. It certainly met our expectations and exceeded them in some ways.

“It melts into the neighborhood nicely.”