SEQUIM — Kayaking, cabins, a grand lodge, camping, horseback riding, biking and connecting to Olympic Discovery Trail.
Those ideas and other hopes were raised at Carrie Blake Park’s Guy Cole Convention Center during a discussion of the future Miller Peninsula State Park.
The 3,000-acre parcel that will become the park includes 2 miles of waterfront on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and another mile on Discovery Bay, said Steve Gilstrom, Sequim Bay State Park manager.
Much of the land, which surrounds Diamond Point, is wooded with second-growth forest.
Park planners will seek a $12 million investment from the state Legislature during its 2007 session.
The goal is to complete the park by 2013, the Washington State Parks centennial.
Input from about 160 people who took part in the meeting “really ran the gamut, from preservation for wildlife species and corridors to commercial partnership ideas,” Gilstrom said.
Some 20 miles of old logging roads run through the Miller Peninsula property, he added.
Hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers — the pedal-powered kind — came to the meeting to air their enthusiasm about using those roads.
Off-road vehicles most likely will not be permitted at Miller Peninsula State Park, Gilstrom said.
During the two-hour meeting, there also was talk of a range of lodging possibilities, from campsites to a Lake Quinault- or Kalaloch-style lodge.
Sequim Bay State Park’s future was also discussed.
Campers there complain of road noise from nearby U.S. Highway 101, Gilstrom said, so planners will consider replacing Sequim Bay campsites with new sites on Miller Peninsula.
Others at the meeting suggested preserving portions of the park for wildlife, said Peter Herzog, the state parks planner who came from Olympia for the forum.
“We talked about making sure sensitive species are protected, and zoning the park so we’d leave some places with less use,” he said.
During the next few months, Washington State Parks will review ideas from the meeting, consult with a park designer from the private sector and conduct a financial analysis of park operation.
“Then we will bring that back to the public in late May or early June,” Herzog said.
