Will overgrown parkland by Cheney Stadium become Tacoma’s 1st permanent disc-golf course?
Walking through more than 15 acres of vacant land adjacent to Cheney Stadium and ball fields at Heidelberg Davis Park on Tuesday, a volunteer crew of disc golfers tore up thorny blackberry bushes. Remnants of homeless encampments, including burned debris and garbage, sat in piles throughout the forest, and an asphalt track with the fading words “Pine Derby Road” alluded to a time when soap-box derby races were held there in the early 1950s through the 1970s.
A forested lot behind the headquarters of Metro Parks Tacoma and Boy Scouts of America, off South 19th Street, might become the site of Tacoma’s only permanent disc-golf course if plans progress.
As previously reported by The News Tribune, Metro Parks floated the idea of establishing a permanent disc-golf course at Swan Creek Park in February after local disc golfers pushed for a site within city limits. That park ultimately wasn’t seen as a good fit, and Metro Parks pivoted to other opportunities on properties it owns, said Marty Stump, Metro Park’s chief planning officer.
During the summer, park staff walked through the overgrown site near Heidelberg Park. Since then talks have been underway with Josh Larson, an avid disc golfer working with the parks department on behalf of local disc-golf associations, including the Parkland Disc Golf Association, Northwest Disc Golf Association, Pierce County Disc Golf Association, South Puget Sound Disc Golf Association and the West Sound Disc Golf Association.
Larson, who lives in Tacoma’s Eastside, said hobbyists have to drive 20-30 minutes from Tacoma to find courses to play. The closest sites are in Lakewood or Auburn, and some courses have fees.
With disc golf increasing in popularity, Larson said the city should be doing more to make Tacoma a destination for disc golfers. He’s been pushing to make that a reality for more than three years.
As a disabled Army veteran with PTSD, Larson said it was hard to get out of his house and interact with people but that he found community with disc golf.
Chris Hansen, who volunteered his time clearing brush Tuesday, said he’s been disc golfing since he was 11 years old. Now 42, Hansen said the inexpensive sport has been a lifelong hobby that’s helped him get outside, get exercise and have fun.
“My kids have been [disc] golfing since they were old enough to walk,” he said.
If the site concept is approved, Larson said, disc golfers could park at Metro Parks headquarters. There is additional parking close to the nearby ball fields, he said.
What would have to happen to make this course a reality?
Before a permanent disc-golf course could be approved, a lot of criteria have to be met, Stump said. So far it’s still in the preliminary stages. The public will have to be patient — it could take years before a course opens.
“One of the themes here at Metro Parks is we have a lot of demand on park property for any number of uses, and part of my job is to make sure that we don’t create conflict of use by putting activities on the wrong piece of property, or try to put too much on a piece of property. So we proceed with caution as we entertain these ideas,” Stump said. “It’s not just a green light … it’s always going to be managed by the professional guidance that we require for projects like this.”
The first step is to clear invasive species and garbage from the site, “so we can see better what the possibilities of that site would be,” Stump said. Next steps include permitting, authorization, establishing a funding model, scheduling and signing a formal agreement with a maintenance plan. Metro Parks also has to consider site design appropriate with the character of the land, he said.
According to Larson’s draft proposal, which he shared with The News Tribune, baskets cost between $250-$555 each. Tee pads can cost between $100-$450 per unit, and tee signs cost between $30- $200. Additional signs, professional course design, benches, landscaping and labor have additional costs. Larson said the disc-golf community has a long history of volunteer work, fundraising, course planning and development, event promotion, running competitions and course maintenance and pledged to assist in those ways.
The site in question is owned by Metro Parks, although there’s a property line that crosses into city land near Cheney Stadium, Stump said. The city of Tacoma hasn’t been involved in any of the disc-golf conversations, and Metro Parks would aspire to keep the course on its land, he said.
“[Disc golf is] one of those sports that has a low entry barrier, right?” Stump said. “It’s not a tremendous amount of cost to build and develop a course, and it has a high return on that investment because it gives folks a chance to go out and experience the outdoors in a way that they might not have otherwise.”
Although he didn’t know specifics, Stump said there have been people camping on the property, which has resulted in fires, vandalism and trash dumping.
“We never want to force people on or away from park property by making them feel unwelcome,” he said. “[But] we would believe that a disc-golf course that we’ve activated at that site will discourage the uninvited or inappropriate uses that we can see on park property.”
If the site was activated in the future, Stump said, the city’s Homeless Engagement Alternatives Liaison team would go out in advance and connect with anyone camping there to offer resources and places where they can find support.
Stump said it’s likely there would be pop-up disc-golf events and temporary installations put in the park first before the installation of a 9- or 18-hole permanent course, possibly in the next couple months, “But we don’t have anything on the calendar yet.”
“We follow a pretty strict process of planning, design, permitting, construction management, and we usually say that minimally, it would be 12 to 18 months before you can expect a permanent improvement to be able to be built from the day that you formally start the process, that you formally have funding in place and you’re ready to move forward,” Stump said. “Again, that’s managing the expectations of the community and the players. Not going to happen overnight. We’re going to move into it very deliberately and thoughtfully. The time scale is on the spectrum of years, not weeks.”
Stump said at any given time Metro Parks has dozens of projects underway, some of which have been on the drawing board for four to six years.
“It sounds like a long time to a community member, but to do things well and to do them right, we are going to follow a process. We want things to move along as quickly as they can, but given limited resources, we can’t just jump to action just because we’ve got a group that’s ready for us to build something,” he said. “It’s important work. Fundamentally and philosophically, we support the project. The reality needs to be managed in a way that follows the process.”
This story was originally published October 25, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
