NORDLAND — Like so many business owners dependent on visitor traffic, Tom Rose wants to see an end to the $5 parking fee at Fort Flagler State Park.
“We feel it especially on weekends,” said Rose, who has co-owned Nordland General Store with his wife Sue for 11 years.
“It hasn’t devastated us, but we have felt it.”
What Rose has felt is a significant drop in the number of visitors at nearby Fort Flagler State Park on Marrowstone Island.
State Parks and Recreation Commission figures show that since the $5 parking fee went into effect, Fort Flagler visitation has declined by more than 50 percent, from 538,738 in 2002 to 261,730 last year.
Rose said he often sees cars parked outside the park’s gate, with people walking in at no charge.
Despite attendance declines at state parks in Jefferson County — all but Fort Worden, where the city of Port Townsend and Jefferson County have invested lodging tax dollars to keep parking free — a state Parks and Recreation Commission spokeswoman said it is unlikely that the commission will consider dropping the fee.
“Attendance has dropped off but leveled out,” said Virginia Painter of the parks commission’s communications office.
The city of Port Townsend has contributed about $51,000 in 2-percent lodging tax dollars to keep Fort Worden parking free, while county commissioners have contributed $25,000.
Commissioner Pat Rodgers, R-Brinnon, voted against the county’s last state parks buyout installment, saying he does not believe a parking fee will affect attendance at Fort Worden.
Along with Deception Pass, Fort Worden is the only state park not to see declines in attendance since the $5 fee began.
Regardless of the attendance decline, Painter said, the state parks system needs the money for maintenance.
“The first money from parking fees has gone to smaller maintenance projects such as roofs and park benches,” Painter said.
A positive note, said Painter: The fee will remain at $5 next biennium largely because an increase might prove too unpopular and further erode attendance.
“It is just a hard thing for people to swallow,” Painter said.
