North Greenacres Neighborhood

Spokesman Review - Valley Park Plan Progresses/by Peter Barnes

Valley park plan progressing

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Valley park plan progressing
Greenacres hopes to save open space


Residents of Spokane Valley's Greenacres neighborhood are pushing for creation of a park on 8 acres of open land near Boone Avenue and Long Road. (Jed Conklin The Spokesman-Review )

Peter Barnes
Staff writer
February 15, 2007

The fast-developing Greenacres neighborhood is poised to become home to the first new park in Spokane Valley since incorporation.

The city's prospects for a state grant to help buy the land are looking good, city officials say, thanks in part to neighbors who spent two years planning and pushing for public space before the Greenacres area is covered in houses.

"We've been moving ahead toward the purchase of the property," said Spokane Valley Parks and Recreation Director Mike Jackson.

The proposed park, south of Central Valley School District property at Mission Avenue and Long Road, was recently ranked 14th of 69 projects under consideration for a grant from the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation.

"It just needs to be passed in the final budget" by the Legislature, Jackson said. The park is ranked high enough on the list that it would take a very large cut to the grant program to jeopardize the project, he said.

One of the project's strengths in the grant process was the extensive public support for a park in the area, voiced mostly through the North Greenacres Neighborhood Association.

"We're actually quite proud of that," said Pete Miller. "There are many things we have tried to accomplish and, frankly, this is the first," she said.

Miller joined a number of her neighbors in the association to lobby for the park, and she continues to petition the city for a more interconnected network of roads and trails in Greenacres.

In the last few years, the formerly rural area – checkered with horse pastures and a few small subdivisions – has become one of the city's hottest locales for developers. New houses on city-sized lots have replaced farmland, leaving many residents worried that kids will run out of grassy, open places to play in the neighborhood.

"There is not a recreation facility here at all, anything that is close," Miller said.

Long-term plans drawn up by neighbors and the parks department recognized there aren't any parks or playgrounds within walking distance of most Greenacres residents, and both placed parkland acquisition in the neighborhood high on their list of priorities.

"Obviously we are going to lose the opportunity to purchase park property if we don't move ahead," Jackson said.

The grant would cover half of the estimated $600,000 cost to buy two parcels totaling about 8 acres.

Next year the city plans to apply for another grant to help with the cost of developing the park; if all goes as planned, construction could start in 2009.

The Central Valley School District bought the land next to the park site about two years ago, preparing for a wave of students from all the new housing in the area.

The land is one of five undeveloped parcels the district has acquired over the years to accommodate its growing student population. The school board hasn't discussed building on the site yet, but district officials say the area will eventually need another grade school.

"We will need a new elementary in this part of the district as soon as we can pass a bond," said district spokeswoman Melanie Rose.

The city hopes to work with the school district as it lays out the new park, taking into account the playgrounds, ball fields and other amenities that eventually will sit next door at the school.

Spokane Valley's budget sets aside $3.5 million for capital projects in the city's park system. Raw parkland costs about $100,000 to $150,000 per acre to develop completely, Jackson said. With upgrades to existing parks and other projects also in the works, the city will need grants, donations or other funding to help build the Greenacres park after the land is purchased.