The failure of an $8 million bond measure to fund a park in Edgewood has city officials unsure of where to go next.
The city has planned to turn an 18-acre parcel at 36th Street East and Meridian Avenue into a park ever since it purchased the land in 2004.
But voters shot down the park bond measure, with 53 percent voting no Aug. 19, leaving city officials without funds for the project.
The measure needed 60 percent of the vote to pass. It was the city’s first attempt to pass a bond measure since its incorporation in 1996.
“It’s unfortunate,” said Edgewood Mayor Jeff Hogan. “It’s back to the drawing board, I guess.”
The city’s master plan included a baseball diamond, two tennis courts, a mile-long trail, a playground and picnic area, and an artificial turf soccer field.
The city’s only park with an athletic field is the 5-acre Edgemont Park, which Hogan and City Councilman Dave Olson said is too small to serve Edgewood’s 10,000 residents.
Public works director Dave Lorenzen said the city has two main options: Scale back the park plans, or try to put it before voters again.
If the city opts to create a smaller park or tackle the full project in stages, it might be able to use matching grant funds from Pierce County or other agencies, Lorenzen said.
“There are grant funds available, but usually not for that size of project,” he said.
Many grant programs require a city to match the gift with money from its own coffers. Finance director Janet Caviezel said Edgewood doesn’t have that kind of money right now.
The city’s parks board will have to make a recommendation to the City Council about what option is best – appealing to voters again or revising plans for the park.
The board next meets Thursday.
No group submitted a statement against the park bond for inclusion in the voter’s pamphlet, but the measure may have suffered from a quiet anti-tax mood in the city. It would have cost the average Edgewood household about $120 annually.
Lorenzen said success with voters may be more likely if the city runs a better information campaign next time.
The city decided in March to put the measure on the August ballot, giving officials five months to promote it. School districts usually allow a year to 18 months to promote facilities bonds before they come up for a vote, Lorenzen said.
“Sometimes you just need to get some input from the public and hear their concerns,” Lorenzen said. “Then you can try to see what improvements you can add to make it more interesting to them.”
There is another reason for the city to wait two years if it decides to put the measure before voters again, Caviezel said.
Bond measures require 60 percent of the turnout of the past year’s election to move forward. Getting that turnout is harder the year after a presidential election, when more people show up at the polls, Caviezel said.
“My feeling is that it may not come back up until 2010, but that will be for the council to decide,” she said.
Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058
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