Planning Commission reviews parks-and-recreation element; community recreation center, forest lands and maintenance funding discussed

The Anacortes Planning Commission on May 14 reviewed proposed updates to the Comprehensive Plan's Parks, Recreation and Open Space element, focusing on access for underserved neighborhoods, an update to maintenance and funding language, the proposed community recreation center, and policies for the Anacortes Community Forest Lands (ACFL).

Parks staffers John Lunsford and Bob Vokes presented the draft. Lunsford said the update reorganizes goals into more action-oriented policies and broadens language on public gathering spaces and arts collaboration. He described candidate underserved areas as the Avenue Corridor and south-of-20 neighborhoods and noted recent park additions such as pocket parks and a senior-center pavilion.

Why it matters: the parks element is a mandatory Growth Management Act element that guides city funding, grant applications and capital priorities. The commission's review affects future grant requests, development of impact fees and potential voter measures to fund operations or new facilities.

Key points from the discussion - Community recreation center: Staff described an active community effort to build a new community recreation center adjacent to the skate park. Lunsford said donors have pledged roughly $10 million and the project team aims to raise an additional $2 million to $5 million this year toward a roughly $25 million building; if completed the plan would intend the donors to "gift" the facility to the city and for parks to operate it. - Maintenance and funding: Staff emphasized that impact fees and capital funding pay for facilities but not ongoing operations; the parks department and commissioners discussed the need to identify operations funding, including the possibility of future levies or other city funding. - Forest lands and cultural resources: Staff said the ACFL plan remains a stand-alone document with its own advisory board and that certain projects (Ship Harbor improvements) require cultural-resource surveys and coordination with the Samish Nation. The parks team proposes stronger references to best-management practices, citizen science and university partnerships for the ACFL. - Park ranger and safety: Staff described discussions with police about a dedicated park ranger position (employed through the Police Department) to work on park and forest-lands maintenance and enforcement needs, complementing existing support from police and contract social-services staff. - E-bikes and nonmotorized definitions: Commissioners pressed staff to clarify "nonmotorized" and e-bike rules. Bob Vokes summarized existing practice: class 1 e-bikes (pedal-assist) are allowed on trails open to bicycles; class 2/3 or throttle-driven units are treated as motorized and are not allowed on forest trails. The department enforces a 15-mph trail speed limit.

Quotes and roles: John Lunsford (parks staff) explained that "people were looking for places to do that" — referring to more public gathering spaces after COVID-era behavior changes. Bob Vokes noted the department followed state policy in allowing class 1 e-bikes on forest trails and said the policy reflects a compromise among accessibility and user-group concerns.

Next steps: Staff will revise the parks element to restore clearer maintenance language in implementation policies, finalize alignment with the separate ACFL plan, and incorporate commissioner suggestions about emphasizing the community recreation center's operational financing. The parks element will be included in the overall comprehensive-plan draft that staff intends to circulate for public review in late June or early July.