Community support of Si View Metropolitan Parks District appears to be running as strong as ever. Since voters created the Parks District 15 years ago, no levy or bond measure has failed, including the most recent measure on the November 2018 ballot.
King County election results are in and Si View Parks District announced its $14.7 million capital bond measure – Connect and Protect Our Parks – had passed with 61.17% of District voters in support. The measure required a 60% supermajority for approval.
Via news release Si Views Parks said, “The District community has chosen to invest in local parks and open space improving the quality of life for all residents. Proposition 1 provides the needed resources for the District to move forward with a number of capital projects connecting our community to green spaces and recreation opportunities, benefiting the entire Snoqualmie Valley for generations to come.”
Si Views said the bond measure will address recreation needs of the growing community with park land acquisitions for future parks and green spaces, trails connecting neighborhoods to parks and rivers and improvements to existing parks and facilities to accommodate expanded use.
District officials will immediately get to work first designing and then implementing the projects identified in the Capital Bond and said they anticipate doing two rounds of bond sales, three years apart, to generate the revenue needed for the projects.
Staggering the projects and bond sales allows for the necessary time to provide high quality products and plan project implementation “for the best opportunity to match the capital revenue with available grants, collaborative partners or adjacent development to stretch each bond dollar as far as possible.”
Si View says a conservative timeline for the completion of all projects and acquisitions is four to six years.
In September, Si View Park Executive Director Travis Stombaugh said some land acquisitions funded by the bond measure might include land for a future pool and Cascade Golf Course (CGC), which it would purchase from the City of North Bend. [Cascade Golf Course (CGC) is located within one of the District’s targeted parkland acquisition areas identified in their comprehensive plan.]
The City of North Bend is scheduled to close on the $2.4 million CGC purchase at the end of November, but would hold onto a property easement, worth approximately $400,000, that contains a water well (i.e. water right) that the city would use as a secondary mitigation water source to meet conditions of its water permit from the Department of Ecology.
In late summer Si View said a potential park/open space on the Cascade Golf Course land could “provide opportunities for a bike and walking trail and riverfront access for rafting and kayaking.” Si View said before any decisions were made, public input and comment will be sought.
Comments
The Si View Parks District is the top public agency within the North Bend / Snoqualmie area. Their board is dedicated to the Parks District’s mission – public parks, trails, open space and recreation/learning activities. This bond measure was a close call (61% with 60% needed to pass). The attack by those few who desire to stop the “Mule Pasture” development using the “water rights issue” to lobby voters to vote against the parks bond because of the potential of the Cascade Golf Course being a well site/park — is dark side politics at its best. A park makes more sense for “well head protection” than say a gas station next door. Drinking Water is a nonpartisan issue – we (all of us) need it – let’s not allow the water issue to be a partisan issue. Something for all of us to think about.
Why don’t Si View Parks and King County Parks combine resources to finish the kayak takeout at Tanner Landing Park on the Middle Fork River. It’s a project thats been in the works for years, and would take the pressure off the neighborhood take out on Tanner Rd, which is going to get widened and a lot more busy. They are putting in 156 new homes with the main entrance to this neighborhood off Tanner Rd.