Parks commission approves scoring rubric to prioritize Sammamish park projects

The Sammamish Parks & Recreation Commission on July 8 approved a staff-developed methodology to evaluate and prioritize projects in the parks capital improvement plan.

Commissioners voted to back the five-category scoring rubric — safety; asset preservation and maintenance; alignment with the Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) plan; equity and access; and community use — and asked staff to refine the weights and run a workshop with a small commissioner subcommittee before staff applies the framework to the full project list and returns to council in September. "We did tell them that the PROS plan is our guiding document in parks," Director Angelie Meyer said, "but council wanted some form of evaluation criteria."

Parks project manager Michelle Arab walked commissioners through the draft matrix and example project scores. She said staff added a separate line item for the Lower Commons vegetable-garden improvements and has asked consultant D.A. Hogan to update cost estimates for Beaver Lake Park athletic-field options. "There are five different categories… and then there's a scoring grade between 1 and 5," Arab said, noting safety and asset preservation are weighted most heavily in the draft.

Commissioners pressed staff on who would perform scoring and how to treat additions versus preservation. Commissioners raised scenarios including adding an ADA restroom at Pine Lake Park, trail connectivity projects that score highly under the PROS plan for equity and access, and field-regeneration or turf-conversion options at Beaver Lake. Arab and other staff said multiple internal reviewers (planning and maintenance) should score projects and that the commission could form a small subcommittee to participate in a workshop so commissioners understand project details before scores are finalized.

After discussion, Commissioner Chris moved approval of the methodology and Commissioner Nancy seconded; the motion passed by majority. The commission recorded no formal roll-call tallies beyond the recorded ayes and the chair announced the motion passed. Staff will proceed with a workshop/subcommittee exercise and return a refined rubric and updated CIP to the council on Sept. 8 and to the commission with an October update.

Why it matters: The adopted methodology will change how the city ranks projects for a six-year capital program and will be used to inform which projects the city advances when funding and staff resources are limited. Staff also told commissioners the city council has signaled it may review how the city's real estate excise tax (REET) is split among transportation, parks and facilities — a potential source of additional funding if council takes action.

Next steps: Staff will invite commissioners to participate in the workshop, apply the refined rubric to all park projects, and bring the results to council on Sept. 8 and back to the commission in October.