There’s a $9 million plan to improve Kopachuck State Park. Here’s what it’ll do
A kids play area, welcome center and a building with a fireplace and barbecue plaza are some of the $9 million improvements planned for Kopachuck State Park.
Permits and funding are still being finalized, but project manager Brian Yearout said construction might start this summer.
The new welcome center would be a place where visitors can get information about the park and buy a Discover Pass, he said.
There also would be a building with a meeting room, the fireplace, restrooms, an audio and video setup, kitchen area and the outdoor barbecue plaza. They’re picturing that as a rental for weddings, conferences, school groups and other events, Yearout said.
Besides a kids play area, a horseshoe pit is in the works.
Part of the plan is to make the park’s facilities compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Getting to the restroom now requires going down a set of stairs, for example.
They’ll also be making stormwater improvements and upgrades to the lower beach area of the park. They’ll have new trails, and a picnic area near the beach that’s ADA accessible.
‘I believe it will increase visitation’
Yearout said the project came about when the park campground closed a decade ago, due to laminated root rot in the park’s trees that made that area of Kopachuck unsafe for visitors. A committee with park staff and community representatives worked on a master plan to improve the day-use area of the park, and the State Parks commission approved that plan in 2014.
“The original cost for construction was about $7 million, but we’ve had multiple delays over the last couple years, mostly just getting it through permitting,” Yearout said, and construction costs have increased over the last year.
This legislative session, Yearout said, State Parks will be asking lawmakers for an additional $2 million in the capital budget for the project.
A geotechnical report that prompted changes to the plan was one of the challenges, he said.
“We had to go back and revise that several times, make sure that we got it right, because there are some areas here that slide,” Yearout said.
They’re working to finalize remaining permits for the project in the coming months, and hope to advertise the project in May or April to find a contractor, which means construction might start this summer.
“I think it’ll probably take about a year,” Yearout said. “I would say sometime in summer of 2023 it’ll be ready to go.”
The park will be closed during construction, he said.
From July 2010 to June 2011, there were 94,697 day-use visitors and 6,370 campers, State Parks records show. There were 97,952 day-use visitors and 208 campers who used the remaining marine campsite in 2020.
“I believe it will increase visitation,” Yearout said about the improvements, though he said it’s hard to say by how much. “... I would imagine it’ll be similar to back in the day when we had a campground.”
Ken Graham, the real estate program coordinator with State Parks, said in order for Pierce County to grant a building permit, the county wants additional right of way to give the county the ability to widen roads around the park if increased traffic makes that necessary.
Kopachuck Drive Northwest, 56th Street Northwest and 106th Avenue Northwest are the roads that would be affected, Graham said.
The commission will make the final decision, Graham said.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
