PHOTO BY MEGHAN ERKKINEN

THE BROOKVILLE GARDENS SITE WILL BE DEVELOPED AS ONE OF FIFE’S FIRST PASSIVE USE PARKS. Unlike Dacca Park, the site won’t have ball fields, but will likely be open space, possibly with trails and picnic areas.

Brookville project underway

By Meghan Erkkinen

The development of one of Fife’s first open-space parks is underway. Brookville Gardens, off of Valley Avenue, is set to be developed over the next several months, and work on the site will likely begin in late 2008 or early 2009. The city is currently looking at developing 10 of the site’s 14 acres.

The city is looking at developing a passive-use park, which would consist mostly of lawn area and landscaping, and might include trails or picnic facilities.

“The focus of the discussion at this point in time has been that we’re not going to build another Dacca Park with a lot of sports fields,” said Parks and Recreation Director Kurt Reuter. “It would be more grass areas with some trails.”

The site will feature a restroom facility and paved parking. There has also been discussion of including a children’s play area.

“It’s a real exciting project for us – it’s our first community park,” Reuter said. “We’re looking forward to having a big open space where we can potentially do some other city events and activities and give people a place to go and hang out and pick their own activity.”

Park Board Chair Melanie Reimer feels the city needs a community park.

“We obviously need parks near housing developments and communities,” she said. “But you also need open space. I love the idea of passive use just because you don’t want to overdevelop, but it’s a place where someone can go read a book.”

Reimer said she would like to see some sort of gazebo structures in the park, as well as trail development.

“I love the idea of open space, the passiveness,” she said. “I love the idea of a gazebo, the trails connecting to more of Fife, and I love the idea of the serenity...You have a lot of playfield-type parks (in the city). It’s just nice to have something a little more open.”

The city is in the very early part of development. A wetland delineation and topographical study has just been completed for the park, and Fife is looking at refining a site plan after it receives comments from citizens. After the city takes residents’ comments into account, a preliminary site plan will be presented to the city council March 25. If the council agrees to move forward, the city will begin filing for permits.

The council allocated $750,000 for the site development for 2007, and are currently deciding how much to allocate for 2008.

The property was purchased by the city several years ago. Most of the property was formerly farm land. Presently, the city leases the land to a farmer, who will harvest his last crop of raspberries later this year before the city begins to develop the property. Much of the property is open space, but it also includes wooded area, and Wapato Creek flows through the site.

A site plan will be presented at a public meeting at Columbia Junior High March 20 at 7 p.m. The city will be seeking public comment on the plan, as well as other ideas for the development of the site.

“I think it’ll be a great project and I’m exited for that to get developed,” Reimer said. “Obviously we’d love to get a lot of public out there to get some ideas of what they want to do.”

Story Tools