‘This area’s growing, thriving’: Spokane County to construct new community park on the West Plains

The sounds of hammers pounding, nail guns firing and cautionary beeps from heavy machinery seems to fill the rolling hills near Interstate 90’s exit 272 on the West Plains.

The once-agricultural area is quickly becoming more and more suburban as the empty prairie lands are being converted into subdivisions and apartment complexes.

Soon, a brand new 10-acre park – complete with sports fields, pickleball courts and a dog park – will be the newest development amongst the litany of construction outside Cheney.

Spokane County hopes to break ground on Camas Meadow Park at the southeast corner of Melville Road and Fruitvale Road later this year, after the county commission awarded the design build contract for the project to Spokane-based Garco Construction. They’ve set aside $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the work, including the roughly $2 million needed to buy the plot where they plan to build.

“The Board of County Commissioners is excited to bring the West Plains community the County’s newest park, Camas Meadow, through a $6 million strategic investment of ARPA funding,” Commission Chair Mary Kuney said in a written statement.

“Spokane County Parks, Recreation, and Golf has a number of projects in the pipeline, to ensure we continue providing our residents with ample opportunities to get outdoors and play right here in our own backyard.”

Doug Chase, director of the county’s parks, recreation and golf department, said the effort to bring a community park to the West Plains has been in the works for more than a decade.

“In monitoring growth, we have long anticipated a park out on the West Plains as the next park,” Chase said.

Chase said his department is constantly reviewing whether their facilities are providing the county’s desired level of service to match that growth. As more and more families have opted to move into those newly constructed subdivisions, the need for a community park has become more prescient.

“This is a fantastic example of good planning,” Chase said.

Commissioner Al French, who represents the West Plains, said it took years of careful planning by the board, Chase and his department and community members to make his dream of bringing a community park to the area a reality. He said it was a wise move to use the one-time ARPA funding to make a long-term investment for the benefit of the community.

French’s push to establish a park stems back to his days helping neighborhood committees, before he eventually served on the Spokane City Council and before he was first elected to the county commission in 2011.

It was in those committee days when he learned parks can help ensure nearby youth have outlets to express themselves responsibly instead of turning to more destructive activities like vandalism, he said.

“You need to be deliberate with recreational opportunities for youth,” French said.

The location the commissioners selected for the park is home to a growing number of families and businesses, but it is also a logical community gathering point, French said. There are more and more homes sprouting up around the 10-acre plot each day, and the Spokane Transit Authority transit center that opened in 2018 is just around the corner, providing access for those traveling to visit the soon-to-be park.

French said he has been happy to work with developers and community members to continue to shape the West Terrace neighborhood into an ideal place to live. He would like to continue efforts to bolster stormwater and sewer services in the area, and eventually, would like to help attract a grocery store and pharmacy so nearby residents would no longer need to make the drive to Airway Heights or Cheney.

“Slowly but surely, one amenity at a time, hopefully making life better for the people out there,” French said of his efforts.

Chase said the design of Camas Meadow was heavily influenced by those who neighbor the plot, through surveys, open houses and one-on-one meetings over the last year. Community members were encouraged to share their hopes for the park, including what activities and uses they’d like to see, and the parks department used those suggestions heavily.

At the open houses, community members were able to suggest features by adding sticky notes to a conceptual layout for the park, which included several children who crudely drew the slides, swings and “crawling tubes” they hoped to enjoy one day.

Even the name was selected by popular choice through an online survey, Chase said.

“We really try hard to incorporate the input from the community; that is the point of a community park,” Chase said. “We want to try and serve the community and provide the services and opportunities that are really needed, that are desired.”

Some of those features called for by the community that made it into the design include soccer fields, a plaza for events and gatherings, a paved circular trail, a playground and enough parking for nearly 90 vehicles.

“We have a little something for everything, my goodness,” Chase said. “I think the park contains elements that will absolutely serve all age groups.”

French is looking forward to the addition of a baseball/softball field, something that the county does not have enough of, he said. He also likes that elements of the park will be there to serve residents of all ages and abilities.

“One of the challenges that I hear is there are not enough recreational opportunities for recreation at all ages,” French said. “We’ve been very good about that here, and it’s a credit to staff.”

Longtime West Terrace resident Christina Gillingham said the prospect of a new park is a sign of just how fast and how much her once-quiet corner of the county has grown.

Gillingham and her husband moved into the model home for their subdivision next to the Plains Golf Course on Melville Road about 25 years ago, and she’s watched the neighborhood sprout up around her. It’s ongoing – “new homes” advertisements litter the roadsides of the West Terrace area.

“There was just a few, like, three, four blocks of houses,” Gillingham said. “And then they just started popping up more and more and more – and now it just goes for days.”

Her daughter and 8-year-old grandson now live with the couple, and Gillingham said her grandson keeps raving about the opportunity to ride his bike a few blocks to the park with the other neighborhood kids.

“He’s all excited,” Gillingham said. “I think it’ll be a big hit.”

The only thing that would make the park better, Gillingham said, is if the county found a way to help ensure children in the neighborhood can get to it safely. There is not currently a sidewalk on either side of Melville Road, and she has had a cyclist friend get struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run years ago while going the same way her grandson will eventually go to get to the park.

“Melville is getting really busy,” Gillingham said. “I mean, the traffic has really picked up a lot out here.”

In the meantime, Gillingham said she looks forward to watching the park come together bit by bit.

“I think it’ll be good for the neighborhood,” Gillingham said. “There’s a lot of kids in the neighborhood. This area’s growing, thriving. It’s just amazing.”