PORT ANGELES — An 18-hole disc golf course will open next year on the Miller Peninsula east of Sequim Bay.
Clallam County commissioners Tuesday approved the rezone of 40 acres of county-owned land from rural low to parks and recreation — a necessary step to construct a disc golf course in the east county.
The facility will be on Thompson Road near Old Blyn Highway about 9 miles east of Sequim and 2 miles from the Jefferson County line.
“This is yet another star in the recreation constellation surrounding Sequim Bay,” Clallam County Commissioner Jim McEntire said Tuesday.
Although the construction schedule has not been finalized, Joel Winborn, Clallam County Parks, Fair and Facilities manager, said he hoped to have the course open by late spring or early summer.
“This facility will offer families, and individuals of all ages, the opportunity to get outside and enjoy this beautiful community we call home,” Winborn said in a Tuesday email.
Disc golf is played by throwing a flying disc at a series of metal baskets, or holes.
Like in regular golf, the objective is to complete the course in the fewest number of attempts.
The only other public disc golf course on the North Olympic Peninsula is at Lincoln Park in Port Angeles.
Smaller private courses are in Carlsborg and Chimacum.
“The course at Lincoln Park here in Port Angeles just continues to get used more and more,” Commissioner Mike Chapman said at the hearing.
“So this will be a nice second course.”
Clallam County officials have been trying to open a disc golf course for well over a decade.
Proponents of the sport lobbied the county to open a course at Robin Hill Farm County Park near Sequim in 2007.
That idea was met with loud objections from neighbors and park users.
Commissioners in 2010 added disc golf to the county parks and recreation master plan, except at Robin Hill Farm.
“I actually think this location is probably even a little better [than Robin Hill Farm] because it’s a little further east, which can draw in folks from Jefferson and Kitsap counties and the Gig Harbor area,” Chapman said.
“And it was land that the county wasn’t really using as much anymore.”
In 2004, the county road department used the land as a depository for debris from an estuary restoration project on Jimmycomelately Creek.
The county planning commission voted 6-1 to recommend approval of the rezone in October.
No public speakers testified at the public hearing, which was proceeded by a unanimous board vote.
“Whereas before this room was packed with people opposing a disc golf course at a couple of sites we looked at, we had nobody testify today,” Chapman said.
“So that does show that the staff did a good job of responding to the citizens’ requests. I think this will be a good addition to our parks department.”
Volunteers will prune vegetation, cut certain trees, grade the 20-foot-wide fairways and install concrete tee boxes, signs and metal baskets, according a project checklist.
Winborn estimated that the cost of the equipment, accessories and miscellaneous items will be about $20,000.
“Obviously, we have to put a little bit of money toward it, but there’s a lot of volunteer labor that will go with it,” Chapman said.
Winborn credited the Parks and Recreation Board for meeting another planning goal and “seeing this project through.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
