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PARKS, RECREATION, TREES, & TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD
Minutes
March 26, 2024 1 4:30 p.m. I Virtual or In Person Meeting
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Welcome, Introduction & Call to Order - Chair Debbie Jahnke
Good afternoon and welcome to this meeting of the Port Townsend Parks, Recreation, Trees & Trails
Advisory Board. The role of this Board is to assist City staff and to advise the City Council on
legislative matters concerning parks, recreation, trees and trails.
This meeting is open to the public at the City Council Chambers, virtually via this web format, and is
also being video recorded for those who could not attend the meeting today and for future
reference. Given that this meeting is in virtual format, we ask that the board members raise their
hands to be called on by the Chair. The public can do the some to comment during the public
comment periods. We take public comment at the beginning and end of the meeting.
I. Roll Call: Pam Adams is briefly delayed, Russell Hill and Jennifer Roterm und are excused; Becci
Kimball, Matt Miner, Jim Todd, Debbie Jahnke are present. Staff present include Steve King, Emma
Bolin, Adrian Smith, Carrie Hite, Michael Todd, Robin Hill.
II. Approval of Agenda/Changes to Agenda: approved by consensus
III. Approval of Minutes: minutes for February meeting approved by consensus
IV. Public Comment (3 minutes per person/agenda items only): none
V. Old Business: none
VI. New Business (60 min)
A. Comprehensive Plan process update and anticipated board engagement (Emma, Adrian):
Comprehensive Plan consultants SCJ Alliance presentation. Bill Grimes, project manager,
introduced his project team. Scope is phase 1. Comp Plan update; phase 2. middle housing -
policy implications from tactical infill; phase 3. climate change/action plan; phase 4. active
transportation. 'Phase' is not intended as sequential. At what point are functional plans adopted
into the Comprehensive Plan? Plan to update PROS Plan so it will be good for another six years
and adopt it into the Comp Plan (as an appendix or by reference). SCJ is seeking a common
language between planners and engineers. Active transportation will be included in the
Transportation Element and will be funded through the Climate Change grant. Community
engagement is a priority. Project website - PT2045PIanning.org. Consider both challenges and
surprises. PRTTAB wants to be very involved to provide the public an opportunity to be engaged.
Issues of concern include recreational vs transportation trails and recreational immunity and
protection of pedestrians from other transportation modes. Nonmotorized plan didn't get carried
through past about five years of the plan. People need to see that all the elements overlap.
Who should we reach out to - who is our audience? Students for Sustainability; school clubs for
transportation, DASH, Rotary, bus riders, senior groups, employers, young adults and families; HJ
Carroll's Jump Playground community, Finn River, the Nest, senior leadership at the high school,
DNR proposal connections, environmental groups at the high school, WSU for outreach; Scouts;
ReCyclery, County Fairground Committee/Fair Board, HSN contacts, 4H, Rhody Festival, Black
Lives Matter, JCIRA; YMCA; Olympic Pride, OPEPO, the library, alternative schools, community
garden groups, grocery stores, the Coop, the Food Bank, the Golf Park; keeping an eye on
NextDoor is a good place to stop negative rumors and jumping to conclusions. We need the
policy elements to play well together. Staff have to create a system of information gathering so
data can be collated using minimal staff time due to staff shortage.
What are our hooks to ask questions? Do we address differences between city and county? How
and where do we ask questions? It is appropriate to go outside the zipcode. County Parks & Rec is
a very good source for recreational group identification and access. Ask questions like 'are you
willing to get rid of your car?' or 'do you know how much it costs to drive your car?, 'housing
costs for families?, 'where will your kids live?, 'are you willing to drive to the pool?, 'where do
you shop?'. Don't keep meeting in one place or time and make sure you get representative input
from all age groups.
B. Grant application update (Michael): DNR grant of approx. $345K for parks/trees approved for
invasives removal and tree planting (with natives as much as feasible) at Sather and Bishop;
summary of proposed work effort and community engagement was provided.
C. Engagement with WSU for various tree grant community outreach efforts (Robin): Meeting is
planned with WSU folks to help us with community engagement. Cooperative Extension is about
community outreach so this is a very helpful connection. It was noted that community
engagement is necessary for the DNR grant, both IRA/USDA grants and the Comp Plan so it
would be logical to combine outreach efforts.
VII. Staff update — (10 min)
A. River Network and realignment of match requirements/waiver for USDA Urban Forestry
grant (Emma, Adrian): River Network is the possthrough organization we have been assigned
to. The Network does not work with match, so we don't need a match but we need to adjust
our scope and include language for equitable outcomes and community -based engagement for
the grants for planting and maintenance. We need to write an RFQ to get the community
involved.
B. Updates on RCO grant efforts for golf park and 12th & Hancock (Carrie): Two grant
proposals are being prepared, one for each location. Open house site visit will be April 5 at
12th and Hancock, 3:30 - 5pm. Council authorization of the proposals is planned for May 6.
The two locations have a very different match requirement from RCO due to differences in the
block group income and other disparities. Match required is 40% at the golf park; 12th and
Hancock is 10%. The Hancock site can accomodate folks from Avamere - ADA trails and
features; it is still zoned R-IV.
C. Grant for Lawrence bulbouts (Steve): We were awarded a $500K street grant for Lawrence
Street from the library to Tyler. This will put in all the ADA ramps to connect to Tyler and
Jefferson, but it has to be built by August 2024. Due to staffing limitations, this will delay 9th
Street's work with banked capacity so it will have to be put on hold. Richard Hefley reported
that we will have proper root volumes for the trees planned in the bulbouts.
VII. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting: April23, 2024
Vill. Public Comment: Linda Smith, Sather Park Hemlock Society, expressed appreciation for the
success of the DNR grant proposal for Sather and Bishop Parks and addressed the issue of age for
our volunteer groups and the importance of engaging younger families and the high school,
encouraged assisted migration for planting trees; mentioned the Connectivity Fair April 20 and
suggested the School Board for outreach.
IX. Adjourn: 6:04 pm
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