Liberty Lake Planning Commission hears parks, recreation and open-space plan update; outreach set through October

The Liberty Lake Planning Commission on June 11 heard a presentation on a parks, recreation and open-space plan update from Genevieve Dial, project manager at SCJ Alliance, who outlined an inventory and needs analysis, a public outreach schedule and a timeline aimed at making projects eligible for state grants and easy to incorporate into Liberty Lake’s comprehensive plan.

Dial told commissioners the consultant team is mapping park assets and conditions, assessing park tree canopy to meet Growth Management Act requirements, and developing a level-of-service analysis tailored to Liberty Lake that will combine quantitative standards with qualitative community preferences. “We want this plan to be representative of what we hear in the community. It's really your plan, and we're just facilitators of that information,” Dial said.

Why it matters: Dial said the update is timed to support near‑term capital planning — roughly a six‑year horizon for capital priorities — and to ensure proposals align with Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) grant eligibility and Growth Management Act expectations, which will help the city compete for funding.

Key deliverables and timeline - Inventory and assessment: SCJ will catalog city‑owned parks (size, amenities, condition), map park tree canopy per new state requirements, and create GIS maps of park locations and gaps. Dial said the team has completed the community demographic profile and site visits and expects to deliver a near‑final plan in October. - Outreach: The consultant outlined multiple engagement methods — an initial visioning survey (about 40 responses at the time of the meeting), targeted pop‑ups (including a planned event June 20 at Pavilion Park), interviews with stakeholders and partnership with the Community Engagement Commission. Dial said the plan includes tools to filter survey responses by residence so the city can separate feedback from Liberty Lake residents and non‑residents. - Needs analysis and level of service: SCJ will compare Liberty Lake to three comparable communities (to be selected for demographic similarity) and present a combined quantitative and qualitative level‑of‑service recommendation (for example, a 10‑minute walk shed for neighborhood parks) to identify geographic gaps.

Coordination and context Commissioners and staff discussed including private HOA parks in the broader context inventory while keeping the city’s inventory limited to facilities the city owns and maintains. Dial said the plan will show both so the city can evaluate whether HOA parks are meeting nearby residents’ needs even when the city does not own those parcels.

Commissioners asked about land acquisition and long‑term options for large facilities (for example, additional ball fields). City staff said the city currently lacks a subdivision requirement for dedicated open space, that most entitled development already has approved plats, and that strategies could include negotiating with entitled property owners, pursuing available unentitled parcels, or partnering with school districts for shared facilities.

Arts, programming and special topics SCJ will also inventory public art assets and align art pieces with the city’s five‑year arts strategy. Dial noted the city’s unique parks and arts commissions structure and said the study will assess life‑cycle costs and programming opportunities for facilities such as a pool, multiuse fields and trails. Commissioners asked staff to consider golf‑cart use on trails and connectivity; Dial said consultant data collection already includes golf‑cart usage and that the team will address safety as part of the multimodal network analysis.

Community engagement specifics and follow‑up Dial said the team will continue pop‑ups, farmer’s‑market outreach, and targeted events (e.g., Barefoot in the Park and a virtual town hall) through the summer, and that the consultants will return to present findings and recommendations in October. She asked commissioners to share the survey on local community pages to increase response rates.

Ending The plan will produce an engagement report summarizing interviews, workshops, surveys and pop‑ups, a needs analysis with recommended level‑of‑service standards, and an action oriented capital improvements program aligned with grant eligibility. SCJ and city staff plan to bring a draft to the commission and city council later in 2025 for further review.