Council committee forwards $50,000 for Hanrui Garden; members urge citywide cultural‑park policy

The Federal Way Parks & Public Safety Committee voted unanimously to forward to the May 20, 2025 consent agenda a request to allocate $50,000 from King County parks levy funds toward development of the Hanrui Garden.

Committee members and staff described the garden as nearly complete and discussed ongoing maintenance, project costs and the prospect of a broader city policy to set aside one‑acre parcels for culturally focused parks.

The project funding request was presented by Parks staff; committee members asked for financial context and project scope. Council Member Honda asked, “So the cost of the garden is roughly 1,200,000.0. And the city's put in about 100,000 at this point, including the land. Is that correct?” Parks staff replied that city contributions tracked in finance records were higher than originally estimated, saying, “to date, we're about a hundred and 68,000 from Citi funds expended,” and that the additional $50,000 would bring city spending to about $218,000.

Members pressed on maintenance and long‑term upkeep. Honda asked whether maintenance would be intensive; staff warned the parks division faces “lean staffing” and must prioritize tasks. Staff said volunteer organizations — specifically the Federal Way Korean Association — have discussed volunteer maintenance events, and that the city would work with volunteers but could not rely solely on them.

Committee discussion broadened into whether the council should create a formal policy to identify parcels for similar cultural parks in the future. Council Member Jack Dovi urged adopting a policy that would identify multiple one‑acre parcels citywide and consider a matching city contribution formula, saying the city could “scour our city and find 4 or 5 1 acre blocks” to make available for community groups. Staff said the Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) plan update is the appropriate place to include such direction, noting that projects identified in the PROS plan are eligible for future grants.

On ceremonial details, members discussed a plaque and potential grand‑opening timing; staff said a June 10 grand opening had been set and that a city dedication plaque would be pursued if not already included in the association’s plans.

The committee moved to forward “option 1” — the staff recommendation to place the $50,000 allocation on the May 20 consent agenda — and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

The committee did not adopt a citywide policy at this meeting; several members asked staff to draft language for possible inclusion in the PROS plan and to return with guidance about percentage‑of‑project contributions and eligibility criteria for future cultural park proposals.

Looking ahead, staff said further funding requests from the association would come back to the council for consideration and any handover of privately built features to the city would require a memorandum of understanding to define maintenance, scheduling and booking expectations.