Sims proposes $20 million for county's open spaces

There's another silver lining to the Puget Sound area's frenzied real estate market besides swelling homeowner equity: more money to buy land for greenbelts, open space and trail corridors.

King County Executive Ron Sims on Friday announced $20 million in open space and trail projects to be included in his proposed budget for next year, funded by the taxes levied on properties and real estate transactions.

The money would help the city of Seattle buy the last 200-foot segment needed to complete the Burke Gilman Trail in Ballard.

It also would help assure that a remnant of private land in the heart of Discovery Park is converted to grassy meadows rather than an enclave of million-dollar homes.

The money targets forestlands and stream corridors that protect water quality and wildlife habitat, as well as new parks to serve increasingly dense urban areas.

"We must find innovative ways to grow and thrive as a region without compromising our environment," Sims said. "This is not an easy task.... It means getting the most bang for our buck, or to put it another way, getting the most green for our green."

Rising property values and soaring home prices, which are pricing some out of the market and have turned buying a home into blood sport, actually boosted county revenue that's earmarked for buying open space and improving parks or trails, officials said.

Except for 2004 -- when the county splurged on protecting 90,000 acres of forested land in the Cascade foothills from development -- it has spent between $3 million and $16 million a year on buying open space in the past five years.

"It makes sense to make the investment now -- it will not be cheaper and it will not be there in the very near future," said Roger Hoesterey, regional director for the Trust for Public Land. That conservation group helped the county develop a software tool to target the most ecologically valuable lands.

Sims' proposed funding would contribute to projects that cities and community groups have put forward, such as buying the last private land in the Duwamish Head greenbelt, across from Salty's on Alki Beach.

The house on the property will be torn down, and the space will be used for picnicking, wildlife viewing and urban green space, officials said.

A citizens committee that reviews the proposals has also recommended helping pay for a new city park in the densely populated neighborhood around 12th Avenue south of Seattle University, which has a deficit of green space.

In those cases, the city will match the county's funding with money from its ProParks levy, said Donald Harris, manager of property and acquisition services for Seattle Parks and Recreation.

The largest chunk of the county's proposed funding -- $2.7 million -- would go toward helping the city of Seattle buy 24 acres of military housing in Discovery Park, which the Navy sold to a private developer last year.

Under a proposed $9 million deal, the city will buy the Capehart property that park advocates feared could have been turned into luxury homes or condos and permanently protect it as open space.

Elsewhere in the county, the proposed funding would be used to protect the headwaters of Judd Creek on Vashon Island, buy land along the Cedar and Green rivers, and expand Bellevue's greenway and open space system.

Altogether, the funding is expected to add roughly 700 acres to the county's inventory of permanently protected open space in King County. That number has more than quadrupled, from 25,000 acres in 1997 to nearly 124,000 today, Sims said.

OPEN SPACE

For information on other open-space projects, visit www.metrokc.gov/exec/news/2005/1014green.htm.

P-I reporter Jennifer Langston can be reached at 206-448-8130 or jenniferlangston@seattlepi.com.

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