The Maple Valley City Council is aiming to put a $22 million general obligation bond on the April 2016 special election ballot.
The money would be used for park projects throughout the city including developing the rest of Summit Park, doing maintenance and repairs at Lake Wilderness Park and golf course and developing a 15-20 acre park on the Legacy site.
In March, the council asked the Parks and Recreation commission to fine-tune a list of priority projects and their associated costs to later put into a bond proposal.
At the July 13 meeting, the commission and council met to discuss the projects and the bond proposal and terms.
Lake Wilderness Park
A master plan of the park was created in 2007. The plan is cut into 10 phases. Some of the items on the list of projects that would be funded by the April bond, if it passes, would be reconfiguring the entrance to the lodge and arboretum, establishing more a permanent storage facility for parks and recreation staff, and constructing additional parking in the park.
Lake Wilderness Golf Course
The club house, which was originally built several decades ago, according to Greg Brown, Parks and Recreation director for the city, is in need of a few repairs including a potential new roof. Included in the bond project would be paving the remaining unpaved cart paths, which are riddled with pot holes, said Brown.
In total, the repairs and maintenance costs associated with the club house would be about $1.4 million. Brown told the council July 13 the projects listed can be considered à la carte, meaning they can pick some and leave others off the table.
Summit Park
In October 2014, the city sold about 8 acres of the Summit Park property to the Tahoma School District for additional parking and a bus turn around for their new high school. The property is located on the west side of state Route 169 and just south of state Route 516. In exchange for the land, the city and district made an interlocal agreement for joint use of all city-owned and district-owned facilities.
The Parks and Recreation Commission, with the help from Erik Sweet of SLA Landscape Architecture in Renton, recently reconfigured the master plan for the Summit Park site, taking into account the sale of the 8 acres on the northwest corner.
The new plan includes a softball field, both for high school and adult league use; a multi-purpose field; a sport court; a skate park; a playground; a 2-acre dog park; walking trails and pedestrian access to adjacent neighborhoods.
Brown said they took input they received at various public meetings and at Maple Valley Days into account when they picked what facilities to include at the park.
Undeveloped park property
A new 15-20 acre community park would also be on the ticket for the April bond. The commission Chair Pat Weiler said the park would be located on the Legacy site, a 54-acre plot directly across state Route 169 from the Tahoma School District Central Services building.
The Legacy site is one of only six undeveloped parcels of land that’s at least 15 acres remaining in the city. The other five are zoned commercial or are otherwise spoken for and the owners aren’t willing to sell.
Because of this, the commission collectively said they felt this was the best location for another park in the city.
The plan for the park is still unknown, because nothing has been master planned. But Brown said it likely will be passive recreation as opposed to ball fields, or active recreation.
Taxes and Support
The $22 million bond would increase the average homeowners’ property taxes by about $18 per month, Brown said. That figure is based on a home value of $385,000. The bond would last 20 years.
Brown said while the parks commissioners were manning their booth at Maple Valley Days and soliciting input from residents about the Summit Park plan, they also asked people if they would support this type of funding mechanism.
He said they didn’t hear a lot of negative reaction to the plan.
“Almost every single person was in favor,” Brown said.
A more scientific survey was done earlier this year by the Bellevue firm Hebert Research on the community’s willingness to support a bond of this type.
The results show that approximately 55.2 percent of those surveyed would support a $20 million bond to fund Summit Park, improvements of Lake Wilderness Golf Course and Park, a dog park and community garden.
Brown said that percentage is exceptionally high considering there was no effort to educate those people that were surveyed on the details of the projects.
The city will need a supermajority – at least 60 percent approval – for the bond to pass.
Other taxes
This bond, which would be the first general obligation bond for the city, comes on the heels of a $195 million construction bond for the Tahoma School District. That bond received overwhelming approval – 68 percent – in the November 2013 election and was an increase of $36.75 per month in new taxes for the owner of a $300,000 home. The funds from that bond, which is also 20 years long, are paying for the construction of a new high school and regional learning center.
