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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Partnership saves local open space

By Bob Ferguson

The city of Lake Forest Park, in collaboration with King County, is making great strides in its efforts to preserve and protect local open spaces.

The city has applied and received preliminary approval for county funds to purchase and permanently protect the Towne Center Nature Park, located on Brookside Boulevard Northeast, adjacent to the Towne Center shopping area on Bothell Way. The location of this new park will provide pedestrian and bicycle-friendly local access and help enhance the beauty of the Towne Center district.

To make this important acquisition, the city is leveraging King County Conservation Futures funds, which allow local jurisdictions to purchase and protect open space lands. The grants are funded from a voter approved property tax levy that, by law, can only be used to purchase open space or resource lands. These revenues cannot be used to support the $56 million shortfall in the county’s general fund.

Lake Forest Park passed the first hurdle in this competitive annual award process. This year, there were a record 39 applications requesting $18 million in conservation funds for only $8.5 million in available funding.

Following a review of applications and extensive site visits, a citizen oversight committee made recommendations to the county council and county executive for consideration in the 2010 budget. Lake Forest Park’s $177,000 request for the Lake Forest Park Towne Center Nature Park was among their recommendations.

This park is a central component of the city’s 100-year legacy vision of parks and trails. The nature park contains a portion of Lyon Creek and a wetland area that the city intends to restore. The land will be added to another 0.62-acre property — purchased with Conservation Futures funds last year — to create the Towne Center Nature Park. The park currently supports poplar trees, many songbird species and cutthroat trout.

The recommendation is included in the executive’s proposed 2010 budget that was sent to the King County Council Sept. 27. The funding will be finalized when the county council adopts the budget in November.

As the council enters what I anticipate to be a challenging and difficult budget session, preserving this important property will be a bright spot. I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that this property maintains its funding and that we continue to protect open space here in King County.

King County Councilman Bob Ferguson represents District One, which includes Lake Forest Park and Shoreline, among other areas. He can be reached at bob.ferguson@kingcounty.gov or 206-296-1001.