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Lake Stevens park board forwards 10-year PROS plan to city council after consultant presentation
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Summary
After a consultant described community feedback and a $54 million project list (about $64 million with inflation), the Lake Stevens Parks & Recreation Board voted to forward a draft Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan to city council for formal adoption and submission to the state Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO).
The Lake Stevens Parks & Recreation Board voted to forward a draft Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan to the city council after a presentation from the plan consultant.
Consultant Steve Due of Conservation Techniques told the board the outreach effort for the PROS plan yielded just over 600 survey responses and found "97% feel that local parks and recreation opportunities are either essential or important to the quality of life in Lake Stevens," a figure he called a strong baseline for future planning. The draft plan frames a 10-year strategy for parks, trails and recreation amenities, including goals on accessibility, maintenance, trails and system management.
Due said the draft includes a project list with planning-level cost estimates totaling about $54,000,000 in today’s dollars; with an inflation escalation built into the 10-year outlook, that figure rises to roughly $64,000,000. He emphasized the project list is a planning tool rather than a budget and that projects would be sequenced across the 10-year window to balance capital demand and available funding.
Parks staff told the board the plan’s maps use travel-shed analysis to show gaps in access (quarter-mile, half-mile, one-mile radii) and that the project list is linked to labeled acquisition targets and implementation chapters. Staff also said the plan positions the city to pursue state and federal grant dollars and other partnerships.
Board members discussed priority areas that emerged from the public input—trail expansion, playground upgrades, parkland acquisition and indoor recreation space—and asked for small wording edits and clarifications about how project sequencing and cost estimates were developed.
A board member moved to forward the draft PROS plan to city council for adoption by resolution; another member seconded. The motion passed by voice vote. Staff said the plan will go to the planning commission and then to city council (staff estimated an April 7 council action as of the meeting) and will be submitted to the Recreation and Conservation Office for final compatibility with state grant requirements.
Next steps include any SEPA comments that arrive during the notice period, planning commission review, council resolution to adopt the plan, and formal submission to the state RCO. The consultant and staff said more detailed project scoping and cost refinement will follow as projects move from the plan into budget conversations.
