Freeland Park will be getting a playground makeover, but other parts of the public recreation space in need of repair have not yet been funded.
During a regular meeting this week, Island County commissioners approved an award totaling $226,000 for the playground replacement.
“We’re moving forward and we’re going to have some new playground equipment in Freeland,” Commissioner Melanie Bacon said.
The current structure is nearly 30 years old. Its replacement was hindered by the pandemic.
The new playground will be accessible to children with different abilities and a wide range of ages.
The playground equipment will be funded through the “second quarter percent” real estate excise tax, or REET 2. These revenues can only be used for financing capital projects, especially infrastructure and parks construction projects.
A Feb. 16 memorandum from Parks Superintendent Jan vanMuyden to the commissioners detailed the damage caused by erosion of the shoreline from the Freeland boat ramp to the western edge of the park. High tides and strong winds in November 2021 contributed to the erosion.
“Island County Parks applied for state and county expedited permits to mitigate the continuing damage. The permits were granted and in early January of 2022, the parks department proceeded to follow the prescribed mitigation procedure, which is now in place,” the memo read. “However, this is only a short-term repair, as both the state and county will require a longer-term repair called Soft Shore Armoring.”
Before any work can begin, the parks department is requesting REET funds of $30,000, to be used for permits, biological and coastal assessments for the erosion repair at Freeland Park.
After the two assessments are completed and the budget estimate for the permanent restoration of the shoreline buffer is determined, the parks department plans to approach the board of commissioners again with a request for more REET funds.
VanMuyden estimated that the timeframe for finishing the project could take 90 days or longer if more permits are required.
