PORT TOWNSEND — More than 200 people crowded into a conference room at the Fort Worden Commons for the first of three open houses to provide information, gather feedback and answer questions about the future of the Port Townsend Golf Course.
The gathering Wednesday evening was distinguished by strong feelings and conflicting ideas about what should be done with the 58-acre city-owned property.
A big crowd turned out Wednesday evening at the first open house exploring the future of Port Townsend’s golf course and Mountain View Commons. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/For Peninsula Daily News)
The Port Townsend Golf Course and Mountain View Commons Concept Planning Effort grew out of the city’s 2020 PROS (parks, recreation and open space) plan that indicated residents were interested in seeking alternative uses for the municipal nine-hole golf course.
Responses Wednesday included advocacy by those who wanted it to remain a golf course, suspicion that the city already had a plan in place for it and skepticism toward the company the city hired to manage the project’s public engagement process.
A significant number preferred the golf course to remain as is, although there were many who wanted to see walking trails, disc golf, public housing or a community garden in its place.
The overwhelming response about Mountain View was to keep it as a pool with others suggesting a saltwater pool, playground and skate park.
“They’re putting this overlay of the [Mountain View] pool and what that vision is going to look like, but the reality is, it’s really the golf course that they’re after,” said Port Townsend resident Lyn Hersey before the start of the meeting.
“The golf course has raised over $700,000 for nonprofit tournaments over the past 20 years,” Hersey said. “All that money is directed back into the community. If for nothing else, the golf course should stay.”
One of Port Townsend Mayor David Faber’s first comments to the audience when the program began addressed the notion that the city had already determined what was going to happen to the golf course.
“No decision has been made at this time,” Faber said. “The purpose of this gathering is about open and constructive conversation about this asset.”
Chris Jones, principal of Groundswell, the Seattle landscape architecture and planning firm hired by the city, also addressed what he called “a lot of myths about this project. There’s been no determination that golf is being replaced.”
Groundswell developed a strategic plan for rolling out the Envision project and last year assembled a 21-person stakeholder group that has met monthly to brainstorm ideas and provide local perspectives for the Groundswell team.
The open house was the first opportunity the public had to see in person the design concepts for the golf course that Groundswell has developed from stakeholder input, to meet the stakeholders and to query Groundswell about the project.
People viewed display boards created by Groundswell that showed the history of the site, its ties to trail and transportation networks, its location in relation to other city parks and soil and slope analyses. Boards also illustrated adapted, hybrid and renovated golf course projects presented as examples of how other cities had transformed those public spaces.
People were encouraged to rank their preferences for use of the golf course and Mountain View Commons, which will go through its own public engagement process later this year, and offer ideas for their use.
During a lively question-and-answer period, Jones of Growndswell responded to written questions about climate change (the site is not at risk of being underwater), returning it to native prairie (possible but potentially very expensive), the safety risk of integrating walking trails into a golf course (it has been done elsewhere successfully), handing it over to local Native American tribes (submit the idea to the city’s Envision comment webpage) and how much Groundswell was being paid ($125,000).
Carrie Hite, director of parks and recreation strategy, also jumped in to answer questions about the project’s total budget She said the city doesn’t have one yet.
Groundswell’s role, which Jones described as “not designers but consensus-builders” and its compensation appeared to strike some in the audience as “a waste of money,” as one individual who declined to give her name said.
Hite reminded the crowd that all of the documents related to the project — the city’s open space plan, public comments, maps, golf course revenue, the contract with the city council meeting minutes, project schedule — are available on the city website. She encouraged people to submit their comments online at tinyurl.com/y9jva39d.
The next open houses will be held in April and May at which Groundswell will present progressively refined design concepts.
At the end of the process, a preferred vision for the golf course will be presented to the Port Townsend City Council for a vote.
Groundswell also will brief the city council on the project at its next meeting, which will be on Tuesday, and at the Jan. 24 meeting of the Park and Trail Commission.
Information about the Envision Port Townsend Golf Course and Mountain View Commons can be found on the City of Port Townsend’s website: tinyurl.com/w27uczzv.
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Paula Hunt can be reached at 360-425-2345, ext. 50583, or by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
