Ellensburg adopts updated parks and recreation plan, removes proposed eight-court tennis item

Parks & Recreation Director Brad Case and consultant Cindy Mendoza presented the City's updated 10-year Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Sustainable Funding Plan (PROS). The plan reflects extensive outreach (over 1,100 survey respondents), identifies system needs and recommends prioritizing facilities investment over adding acreage to maintain financial sustainability.

Mendoza outlined the plan's structure: inventory and assets, demographic and needs assessment, prioritized Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital projects (Tier 1 ~ $3.6M focused on the field house and immediate pool/playground repairs; Tier 2 ~ $6.9M for additional sites), trail corridor priorities and a six-year action plan to satisfy grant eligibility. The consultant estimated a full-plan capital cost of approximately $117 million but recommended a financially sustainable approach focusing on facilities and phased implementation.

Public comment raised one substantive change request: a resident asked that Appendix B, item F — which recommended removing open-field access at Lions Mountain View Park for an eight-court tennis complex — be removed. Council debated the master-plan history and concluded the tennis-court recommendation was not a near-term priority, moved to delete Appendix B item F, and then adopted the PROS plan as amended.

Staff said Tier 1 projects will be funded using impact fees, REET2 and insurance/community center funds, and that longer-term Tier 2 projects will require impact-fee updates, county coordination and additional grant or district funding. Council adopted the plan as amended and directed staff to proceed with implementation steps including impact-fee methodology updates and grant pursuit.