After 20 Years of Growth, Key Pen Parks Plans for the Future

Key Pen Parks will develop a new capital facilities plan to take stock of its properties and amenities and create a work plan for improvements over the next 10 years, according to its board of commissioners.

The announcement this fall to create a plan, with public input through a survey on the district’s website, provides an opportunity to reflect on where the district has been.

Key Pen Parks had three properties to its name when it came into being 20 years ago. The centerpiece was Volunteer Park, built and maintained up to that point by volunteers. It often looked scruffy.

There was Rocky Creek Conservation Area. Pierce County had planned to sell the 224-acre forest to developers in the 1990s until locals organized and worked out a deal for the county to keep ownership and park volunteers to maintain it as a conservation area with trails. At that time it saw as much illegal dumping as hikers.

Then there was the patch of ground that would eventually become Home Park. The lot had been one of the county’s infamous “dirty dozen” most trashed private properties. Even after the county hauled tons of old refrigerators and junk off the site and turned it over to the local parks and recreation district, more trash continually arrived.

That parks and recreation district — the entity that preceded Key Pen Parks — failed repeatedly to get voters to approve a property tax levy, so it had no budget. “The general population out here didn’t see the value of local public parks,” said current parks Commissioner Kip Clinton, who was in parks leadership at that time as well.

A state legislative change in the early 2000s allowed unincorporated communities to form metropolitan park districts. The advantage was that such a district could draw on other funding sources, such as a cut of a sales tax. Key Pen Parks was born in 2004. Suddenly it had a modest budget, which allowed it to hire Scott Gallagher, its first director.

In addition, according to Clinton, Pierce County passed some measures in the early 2000s that were friendly to conservation and parks, particularly the Conservation Futures program that provides grants to protect environmentally and culturally valuable lands.

“We thought everything was possible, but it would take a very long time,” Clinton said.

Negotiations began with the Department of Natural Resources to arrange the 50-year leases that allow public trails at Key Central Forest and 360 Trails. As Key Pen Parks gained the trust of the community, it allowed the district to pass the levy that had proved so elusive before.

Within the first several years, Key Pen Parks rebuilt Volunteer Park, built a playground and picnic shelter at Home Park, finalized the DNR leases and built trails, and acquired land on Taylor Bay to give residents in the southern half of the peninsula a place to recreate.

Since then, progress has been rapid. “We’ve gone from being a baby to being a young adult in the park world,” said Clinton. “Our responsibilities and our inventory and our basic facilities have expanded substantially.”

The district now manages 11 parks. It has 10.75 full-time employees. Its percentage of the property tax has decreased over time, though rising property values have allowed its budget to increase.

Clinton hopes the district will be able to increase its percentage. “We have too few maintenance staff,” she said.

“The park district’s goal is to get as much community input as possible,” said Executive Director Tracey Perkosky.

“I want to hear all the different groups in the community. I want to hear what their thoughts are on the parks. Are we happy where we’re at? Are we looking for more? Are we looking for less?” she said.

“Anything you build has to be maintained and repaired, and we need to make sure we’re programming in those costs,” Perkosky said. Costs include land acquisition, development, maintenance, repair and staffing.

The survey is open until Oct. 27. Key Pen Parks is also convening focus groups of specific user groups.

Clinton made special note of Key Pen Parks’ role in preserving habitat. “Most of our property should be considered conservation land,” she said.

“From the beginning, trails and preserve the forest have been right up at the top of any survey we do. People like trees. People like having trails through the forest.” Meanwhile, she said, the ballfields at Volunteer Park are often underutilized. She said she envisions about three developed parks, with the balance offering nature-based recreation.

Go to keypenparks.com online to access the survey.