SEQUIM — Keeler family members have had a change of heart that could lead to youth play fields and other active recreational uses of the 45-acre Joseph L. Keeler Memorial Park.
The park has been left in its natural state since the city of Sequim acquired the property three years ago because of the family’s stipulation that the land be kept to only passive uses, such as trails.
“We changed our minds from our original intent,” Joe Keeler said, speaking also for his sister, Carol Bolduc, and others in the family.
“Why not incorporate some much-needed facilities like that for kids’ sports?”
Besides play fields and other possible recreational uses on some 10 to 15 acres of the land, Keeler said, the family supports two trail loops, with one accommodating the disabled by providing access required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Keeler said such development could take place while preserving wetlands and waterfowl habitat on the future park site named for his grandfather, Joseph L. Keeler, one of Sequim’s first open-space advocates.
“They are very cordial and very committed to work with us cooperatively,” Keeler said of the meeting with city representatives.
“I’m thinking in a couple years things might get rolling.”
Joseph Keeler, who died in 1944 at the age of 71, purchased the acreage in the 1920s for farmland.
He came to the Olympic Peninsula in 1897, a 24-year-old from Kansas headed for Alaska to look for gold. He later settled in Sequim, helping the city install water, electricity and telephone lines, and served as a Clallam County commissioner during the 1930s and ’40s.
The city purchased a portion of the land three years ago for about $850,000 after about two years of negotiations with the Keelers.
The family agreed to donate 10 acres, bringing the total city parkland acquisition to 45 acres in 2008.
At the time, the family stipulated that the park be kept in its natural state.
The family’s new position pleased city officials and others interested in developing city parks.
“I was elated,” said Roger Fell, a member of the Sequim Citizens Park Advisory Board, who sat in on a recent meeting with Joe Keeler, Public Works Director Paul Haines and Parks Manager Jeff Edwards.
“We’re just kind of surprised that they were so open to the changes.”
Fell envisions passive trails on the west half of the property and play fields on the east half.
The idea, he said, was to develop it similar to Carrie Blake Park while preserving wetland and waterfowl habitat on the land.
Take a lot of work
“It will take a lot of work and a lot of time,” Fell said.
Haines agreed, saying much time would have to be put into planning the park.
Creating better motorist and pedestrian access and possibly drilling a well for family picnic facilities are among the matters that need to be addressed, he said.
The only access now is Happy Valley Road at U.S. Highway 101, which can be dangerous in traffic, Haines said.
Money is another consideration as well, he said, because of tight economic times.
“It isn’t programmed for us to spend any money out there,” Haines said, adding the city was still paying off the park acquisition.
“But it’s never too late to consider some opportunity if a grant comes along.”
Haines said extending the frontage road south of the highway from Simdars Road west to Happy Valley was another Keeler park access option to consider, he said.
“Certainly, if we’re going to invite people out there, we want to make it safe,” Haines said.
Craig Stevenson, president of Sequim Family Advocates, which is planning to break ground on 13 acres of multiuse facilities in mid-May for play fields east of the city of Sequim’s Water Reclamation Demonstration Park off Blake Avenue, said he saw a future need for additional play fields at the Keeler park site.
“That sounds like such a better deal for the city,” Stevenson said.
“We will find [there] is a backlog of needs for such uses down the road. I think if you asked people, you would find the more parks, the better the town.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
