Park Acreage Below National Standards

Spokane County needs another 580 acres of community parks, the county parks advisory board learned this month.

According to national standards, the south end of the county lacks 74 acres of park land, the west lacks 101 acres and the north lacks 158 acres, given today’s population of about 202,000, said parks planner Steve Horobiowski.

Spokane County provides about 2.2 acres of community park per 1,000 residents.

These figures do not include regional parks, such as Bear Lake, or conservation land or golf courses. They do include all school playgrounds and playing fields, though.

Southern Spokane County has 54 acres of community park land, including school land. The north end has 215 acres, and the west has 26 acres.

These figures were discussed at April’s parks advisory committee meeting during an update on the county’s new parks plan.

Wyn Birkenthal, parks and recreation manager, emphasized that the numbers are still rough. Horobiowski said he’d like to believe he’s about two-thirds through completing the plan.

Much has to be decided before then.

The National Parks and Recreation Association has set a minimum standard of six acres per 1,000 residents. On the high end, the group’s standard is 10 acres per 1,000 residents.

“There’s nothing that says we have to follow those standards,” said Birkenthal.

The parks committee and the community must decide what standards Spokane County should strive toward and what parts of the county should have highest priority for more park land.

Another issue the plan should tackle is how much land should be acquired now versus how much land should be acquired and developed now.

Birkenthal said it costs about $80,000 an acre to buy and develop community park land, complete with parking lot, tennis and/or basketball courts, playground and irrigation.

About $20,000 is land cost, and about $60,000 is development cost.

Park committee members discussed the wisdom of buying land for parks now, with an eye toward holding off at least some development.

“My gut feeling,” said Craig Volosing, vice chairman of the committee, “is that given the nature of this county, how it spends its leisure dollars, is going to change as density hits us. … We’re better off spending money for land acquisition now and developing it down the road.”

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