PORT TOWNSEND — The city’s budget and finance committee is weighing the option of a new limited-use parks district to fund half of a proposed $24 million expansion of the Olympic Peninsula YMCA at the Mountain View Commons.
The advisory committee to the Port Townsend City Council discussed Tuesday a draft agreement renewing the city’s partnership with Jefferson County, the Port Townsend School District, Jefferson Healthcare hospital and the YMCA.
“We’re in the early stages, but there’s some thought about getting membership from each of the partners to go through this,” said Nora Mitchell, the interim city manager who also serves as the finance and administrative services director.
“The goal today is to find out concerns and questions, go back and explore those and move forward from there to another discussion in August.”
Jeff Randall, the communications specialist and project coordinator for the Jefferson County YMCA — which is located now in the Mountain View Commons at 1925 Blaine St. — told the finance committee this is the first attempt since the original agreement expired in December 2018 to bring community partners back together.
Much of the discussion centered around financing.
Randall presented a plan to the council in June that projected $12 million from residents through a new parks district, $6 million from Y fundraising, $3 million to $5 million from state grants and $4 million from community partners.
The state funds would come through grants from the Department of Commerce. Other Ys and community aquatic centers — including William Shore Memorial Pool in Port Angeles — have been successful in their applications, Randall said.
Council member Bob Gray, who sits on the finance committee, asked why the burden would be front-loaded onto voters with the potential forming of a parks district before additional funds would be secured.
“We’re trying to state it so it reduces the risk to everybody and it shows the state that the local community has already raised the money,” Randall responded.
The city leases Mountain View from the Port Townsend School District.
The city has until Dec. 6 to determine if it wants to put a parks district measure on the ballot for next February. If council approves, it may ask to create only a limited-use parks district, with any funds collected going only to the Y.
Randall said the parks district would be authorized to collect up to 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, but it would likely fall between 25 cents and 40 cents per $1,000.
City staff members also were concerned about timing because they have authorized a parks and open space study that will take place this summer and may want to use a new parks district to fund development or upgrades at existing properties.
“In the back of our planning minds, we’ve talked about an MPD [metropolitan parks district] to fund parks and recreation programs,” Mitchell said. “Would this limit the city’s ability to have an MPD?”
Votes on the separate issues could be two ballot measures, but both Gray and council member Amy Howard, who also serves on the finance committee, didn’t like the prospects, suggesting voters would feel double taxed.
The city would still be limited to a cap of 75 cents per $1,000, meaning a second parks district collection could amount to between 30 cents and 40 cents for parks and recreation programs.
“That would never pass,” Gray said.
Howard also was skeptical.
“It would have significant challenges to pass,” she said.
Randall countered by saying the Y has continued to fund conceptual work and construction designs on a full-service building in Jefferson County since 2014.
A newly formed parks district would potentially fall within city limits and the portion of the county that follows the Port Townsend School District boundary, he said.
The board could be two members of the city council, two county commissioners and one member of the public, Randall added.
“In our view of it, [an MPD] gets a tool on the table that we don’t have right now,” he said.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
Terry Ward, publisher of the Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum, serves on the Olympic Peninsula YMCA board of directors.
