Council Legislation

Proposed Resolution No. R2021-168

Title: A Resolution of the Pierce County Council Adopting the “Orangegate Park Master Plan Update, 2021”.

Status: Passed

Sponsors: Councilmembers Marty Campbell

Final votes

October 5, 2021
Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye


Documents
Additional legislative records are available below Collapse All  Expand All
 

Public Comments

Name Date Comment
Scott Byrd 9/20/21 1:47 PM I live on 96th St E, and I have 2 horses at High Point Equestrian Center on 96th St. I ride in the park almost every day. I also spent many hours maintaining the trails in the park, including cutting back the blackberries every summer and cutting up downed trees to re-open the trails after the storm in January. I have issues with the process, analysis, option selection, and Parks Dept direction of the trail crew work. I have exchanged several emails with Tiffany Odell expressing my concerns, with no effect. There has been opposition to the plan from the beginning, which the Parks Dept presentations haven’t mentioned in the past presentations. They probably also won’t mention that the equestrian community will be losing access to 25% of the park property. I suspect that the equestrian community pays more in taxes than was represented in the Parks Dept analysis. And there isn’t anywhere that we can ride on trails like this without driving for an hour. Orangegate park is unique in this area The response to the survey was that people wanted the wooded trails, but the plan produced by the Parks Dept seems to ignore this input and will develop yet another urban park, removing a significant amount of the wooded trails in the process. The Parks Dept asked for public input on three options for the development of the park. One of the options offered more access to all, and would appear to have met the fundamental desire of the public for wooded trails better than the plan they have selected. The Parks Dept plan was presented to the Citizens Advisory Board meeting on May 18, and the Advisory Board voted to support the plan without the promised opportunity for public input. The Parks Dept presentation did not mention that there is opposition to the plan, so I wonder if the CAB members even knew that not everyone thinks that the plan is as wonderful as presented by the Parks Dept. I gave a presentation to the Summit-Waller Community Association June 1 meeting with much more detail on my concerns. June 1, 2021 SWCA Board Meeting - YouTube Park users have been maintaining the Orangegate trail system for years. Trails are now being created and destroyed by the Parks Dept trail crews that are contrary to the wishes of the park users. At the direction of the Parks Dept, the trail crews have filled in existing trails with trees and branches. Park users have re-opened some of these trails. The trail crews have also created trails that make no sense. I suggest that the Parks Dept work with park users on the details of where trails go. The current relationship is definitely adversarial.