Agency lets city know of need to build parks in some areas

MOSES LAKE — Brenda and Chris Adame are worried.

They are a young couple, blessed with a little infant son and they have a beautiful home in one of the newer neighborhoods of the city. And yet, they are worried, enough so to plead their case to city authorities at the 2005 Moses Lake City Council and Staff Retreat this past weekend.

Their child is growing and they say is the only place he has to play besides their own fenced-in backyard is the asphalt street they live on, the same one where the 20-mile-an-hour speed limit is more of a suggestion than a law.

"They want a park," said councilman Dick Deane.

The Adames' neighborhood has been identified as one of the handful of areas where Spencer Grigg, Parks and Recreation Department director, has said a neighborhood park is needed. In these areas, not a park of this sort can be found within a half-a-mile radius, which is the standard set for neighborhood parks by the National Recreation and Parks Association .

Crestview Drive, Patton Boulevard, Nelson Road and Colonial Avenue are among the streets highlighted by Parks and Rec as areas that could use a park. In the Adames' case, for their child to avoid playing among vehicles, he would have to go across major intersections.

The city is working on drafting an open space and parks ordinance. First, it must amend the city's comprehensive plan so that it addresses deficiencies of open space and park space.

"If we had had this (ordinance) the Adames would not have had to come," Deane said at the retreat.

Grigg said that deficiencies nonetheless, the city is not short on parks per se, but instead, short on parks located in these particular neighborhoods.

The city does have more than 150 acres of community parks, Grigg added, but they do not meet the needs of neighborhoods and families like the Adames, hence the desire to suggest to city council and the rest of the staff to go for more green.

Whether the city should use green currency to pay for these green areas is a point of conflict.

While Grigg said that the city has a balanced approach to parks and recreation, former city councilman Chris Blessing said the city spends too much on parks.

"It's disproportionate," he said. "The other services get the short end of the stick."

Grigg disagreed, saying that in many cases the money used in recreation projects is restricted to that kind of uses.

"It's not money that can be used in other things," he said, calling the money "earmarked."

"Because of stipulations placed on it by the state, there might be money for some projects but not for all projects," Grigg said.

Besides, he added, the fact that his department and the Parks and Recreation Commission are talking about new parks, it does not strictly mean that they will happen.

"I was planting seeds and hopefully the seeds will grow into plants," he said. "What a great thing to be doing."