Small Town News

Issaquah officials say annexation key to Klahanie Park

---

Issaquah officials called for decisions about adding Klahanie Park to the municipal parks system to be made alongside long-term growth agreements.

Members of the Issaquah City Council Services & Safety Committee discussed the park Feb. 25. The committee followed a recommendation from the city administration to weigh decisions about the park in conjunction with potential Klahanie annexations in mind.

Although Klahanie and nearby neighborhoods border Issaquah and Sammamish, the area is included only in long-term growth plans for Issaquah. Officials from both cities will discuss the issue and others at a March 9 joint meeting.

Issaquah officials also encouraged King County to forge a maintenance agreement with a volunteer group or government agencies to keep the park open.

The full Issaquah City Council discussed the issue at 7:30 p.m. March 1.

County Parks Director Kevin Brown reiterated -- as he has during earlier meetings about the park -- the desire to close the park as soon as possible to save money for cash-strapped King County.

"Our timeframe for finding a solution is critical and short," he said. "We do not have funding in our 2010 budget for this park, and to the extent that it stays open today, it takes away from other parks and levels of service have diminished."

The county requested offers from sports groups and volunteer organizations after then-County Executive Kurt Triplett announced a plan in August to close Klahanie Park and 38 others. But the park attracted no interest aside from Sammamish and the Klahanie Association, the neighborhood homeowners group. The proposal by Sammamish to take over the park riled Klahanie residents, who then asked Issaquah officials to consider the park.

But Issaquah lacks the money and employees to maintain the park, officials said Thursday.

Issaquah's Parks & Recreation Director Anne McGill said the municipal park maintenance division remains understaffed due to a vacancy and a layoff.

Besides employee and supply expenses, parks staffers estimate the cost to maintain Klalhanie Park to city standards at: $125,000 per year. King County sppent $92,983 last year to mairntain the park.

"After careful and deliberate review of the current situation, the administration recommends that any decision regarding Klahanie Park should be made in conjunction with a decision on annexation," she said.

Issaquah City Councilman Tola Marts, a former Klahanie resident and Services & Safety Committee member, said the strain on Issaquah finances prevented the city from taking on the park outright.

"We obviously are in a tough economic climate, and I don't think we can take on any expenses, so the only way that Issaquah could look to do this is if there was some sort of mechanism" to join with other organizations to help maintain the park, he said.

McGill recalled how the Issaquah Soccer Club assumed soccer fields from Lake Sammamish State Park several years ago in order to keep the fields open. The parks director suggested a similar agreement as a way for King County to keep the park open.

"There are all kinds of different, creative ways you can enter into with different volunteer organizations in exchange for their use of the park -- of certain parts of the park," she said.

Reach reporter Warren Kagarise at 392-6434, ext. 234, or wka-garise@isspress.com. Tb comment on this story, visit www. SammamishReview. com.



Copyright 2010 Sammamish Review, Sammamish, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 Sammamish Review Sammamish, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

More from Sammamish Review