SEQUIM — If voters approve a metropolitan park district measure floated by the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center on Aug. 4, then the city will not pursue its own district, the city manager said.
A measure to create a metropolitan park district to support the recreation center at 610 N. Fifth Ave., which includes the city’s only public pool, will appear on the primary election ballot, it was decided Friday after a judge’s ruling and verification of petition signatures.
“The matter will be placed on the primary ballot,” confirmed Mark Nichols, Clallam County prosecuting attorney.
The City Council on April 27 endorsed efforts to potentially place a separate “broad-based” city metropolitan park district on the February 2016 ballot.
That district would encompass the same area — the Clallam County area of the Sequim School District — as that proposed by the recreation center, known by the acronym of SARC.
However, if the SARC measure passes, the city will not pursue a second district, said City Manager Steve Burkett.
“Then it is a moot point,” he said.
If the SARC measure succeeds, the city most likely will request the newly elected board members to provide funding not just for the aquatic center but for other parks and recreation facilities in the area.
Nichols’ office filed a lawsuit May 8 in Clallam County Superior Court asking a judge to decide if the wording in a petition calling for the formation of the park district would block the measure from being placed on the ballot.
Judge Erik Rohrer ruled Friday in favor of the petition, allowing it to go to County Auditor Shoona Riggs for verification of signatures.
“That has been done,” she said Friday afternoon.
“I sent the letter to the prosecutor’s office requesting them to prepare a ballot title for us so that we can put it on the primary ballot.”
The question raised by the county prosecutor was if the petition circulated complied with state law even though it did not include a verbatim statutory warning against improper signatures.
Approval of a metropolitan park district takes a simple majority.
Once approved, a metropolitan park district is permanent.
The metropolitan park district board, to be elected at the same time a district is offered to voters, can levy up to 75 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation in property taxes without putting the tax before voters.
The SARC petition specifies that the five commissioners would implement a tax levy of 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The next step in the process will be a special filing period for candidates to register to run for the five open seats on the SARC metropolitan park district board.
“We are opening up a special filing period for this on May 26 through May 29,” Riggs said.
“Then we are going to open it up June 1, and that is because of the holiday” on May 25.
“That gives ample opportunity for any candidates out there that want to file,” she said.
“They have plenty of time to hear about it.”
SARC is expected to run out of money by December 2016.
If the measure passes, funding of SARC would kick in beginning in the spring of 2017.
“I hope they will be able to receive some type of bridge loan to keep SARC open” for the first few months of 2017, said Virginia O’Neil, spokeswoman for Citizens for SARC.
O’Neil was pleased with Friday’s ruling.
“The judge did the right thing today by allowing the vote and the voice of the people to be heard,” she said.
Citizens for SARC’s attorney, Craig Miller, said he thought that “Judge Rohrer was most impressed by the sufficient number of valid signatures the campaign had collected since March,” when Citizens for SARC began collecting signatures.
The Seattle law firm K&L Gates acted as Miller’s co-counsel.
More than 4,400 signatures were submitted to the Clallam County Auditor’s Office on April 29.
By law, the petition must be signed by 15 percent, or 3,247, of the 21,647 registered voters in the district.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
