Name: Bellingham City Council - Parks and Recreation Committee meeting, Apr 27, 2026
Start: 2026-04-27
End: 2026-04-27
Location: City of Bellingham

City Council - Parks and Recreation Committee

Mon, April 27, 2026

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City Council Parks and Recreation Committee — April 27, 2026

This was an informational committee meeting chaired by Council Member Skip Williams, with Council Members Dan Hammill and Jace Cotton also present. No binding votes were taken; both agenda items were presented for information and discussion only.

Agenda Item 24913: 2025 Greenways and Park Impact Fee Annual Report

Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Oliver, Planning and Development Coordinator Peter Gil, Greenways Advisory Committee Chair Zach Cook, and staff member Lane Potter presented the annual report covering 2025 revenues, expenditures, and project highlights for both funds, as well as a look ahead at 2026 budgeted projects.

Greenways Levy (Levy 5) — 2025 Financials

The Greenways Levy brought in $9.9 million in revenue and spent $11.5 million in 2025 — the first year in several that spending exceeded revenue. The department still maintains a reserve balance of over $10 million. Spending is allocated across four categories: 35% for property acquisition, 20% for development, 15% for climate resiliency, and 20% for maintenance and operations, with a 10% flex allowance built in.

Major 2025 accomplishments by category included:

Acquisition ($4M spent vs. $3.5M target): Purchase of 65 acres on Samish Crest near U Street, connecting two existing open spaces into a 200-plus-acre corridor with a potential future trail link from Lake Padden to Whatcom Falls Park.

Development ($3.5M spent vs. $2M target): Completion of the Little Squalicum Pier, the Sunset Pond loop trail, and restoration and trail work in 100 Acre Wood, plus several design projects.

Maintenance ($2.6M spent vs. $2M target): Primarily staff costs (29 benefited employees); projects included resurfacing the Fairhaven Park sport court and upgrading the Maritime Heritage boardwalk.

Climate Resiliency ($1.4M spent vs. $1.5M target): Half on staff (five benefited employees plus a conservation crew), half on projects including Boulevard Park shoreline enhancement, trail designs for Jill's Court Trail and Squalicum Creek Trail, new lighting at Roosevelt Park, and energy upgrades at Bloedel Donovan.

Looking ahead, 2026 capital projects include Bear Creek Open Space work, the Beta Baker Trail, a Civic Stadium turf study, Samish Crest Trail planning, Lockwood Trail design (part of the Salish Coast Trail), Wharf Street connection to Salish Landing Park, and Primrose Lane trail design. $2.5 million is budgeted for additional land acquisition.

Director Oliver noted that Greenways Levy 5 funding has been critical to sustaining and expanding the parks workforce during tight general fund budget years, but that — consistent with current council direction — no further staff positions will be added to the Greenways fund.

Park Impact Fees — 2025 Financials

Park impact fees (collected from private residential development) opened 2025 with a $5.78 million reserve. Actual revenue came in just over $1 million, slightly below the $1.8 million projection, with most fees generated by development in Bellingham's northern neighborhoods. After expenditures of just over $4.8 million, the year ended with a reserve of $2.19 million.

Major 2025 expenditures included the first development phase of Storybrook Park (a new 7-acre neighborhood park in the Birchwood neighborhood), electrical and mechanical upgrades at the Sportsplexfor future electrification, the Civic Athletic Complex master plan, Sunset Pond loop trail (shared with Greenways and state grant funding), Cornwall Memorial Park sport court overhaul and new pickleball courts, and playground replacements at Bloedel Donovan (completed) and Rock Hill (underway). The department also worked with a consultant to substantially complete the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) Plan update.

Park impact fees as a share of the total parks budget have declined significantly — from 18–20% two to three years ago, to 13% last year, to 7% in 2026 — reflecting lower fee revenues and a reduced reserve. The 2026 park impact fee budget is $2.3 million (down from $5.7 million in 2025), funding completion of the PROS Plan, Rock Hill playground construction, Squalicum Creek Park sports field design, continued Salish Landing construction support, and targeted land acquisition for neighborhood and pocket parks.

Council Discussion

Council Member Hammill asked about the 10-year spending requirement for park impact fees; staff confirmed rigorous internal tracking ensures fees collected are spent before the deadline. He also praised the Little Squalicum Pier and Sunset Pond loop, noting he and his wife have been visiting parks systematically and emphasized the importance of trail connectivity in getting people to amenities safely.

Council Member Cotton asked whether a park impact fee credit could be created to incentivize residential development near existing parks — similar to urban village credits or traffic concurrency concepts — using geolocation data on park usage. Staff said this idea had not been previously considered but expressed interest in continuing the conversation. Cotton also asked about upcoming changes to the park impact fee structure; staff noted the state legislature has changed requirements for how PIFs must be structured, and that updated framework will be presented alongside the PROS Plan in May.

Vote: No vote taken; informational presentation only.

Agenda Item 24914: Parks Operations Division Update

Parks Operations Manager Steve Janashesky and Park Stewardship Supervisor Freya Friedenberg presented a comprehensive overview of the division.

Scope and Growth

The department now manages 57 parks, over 3,000 acres, 85 miles of trails, 58 bridges/boardwalks/piers, 4 community gardens, 110+ buildings, 260 garbage cans, 5,600 street trees, and 37 public rights-of-way maintained on behalf of Public Works — all with a staff of 75 employees. Since 2016–17, staffing has grown approximately 28%, driven largely by the addition of major parks including Squalicum Creek Park, Cordata Park (two phases), and Waypoint Park, plus 10-plus miles of new trails. The supervisory structure has been flattened and improved: the former ratio of roughly 30:1 (staff to supervisor) has been reduced to a more manageable 9:1, with six field supervisors now in place. Most supervisors were promoted from within.

Greenways funding accounts for roughly 40% of the overall 2026 Parks and Recreation budget of $32 million, nearly matching the general fund allocation.

Accomplishments

The urban forestry team has significantly reduced its work order backlog and improved response times. A notable restoration effort is underway at Cornwall Park, where decades of recreational use had degraded tree health and understory; crews from urban forestry, stewardship, and grounds — working with the Bellingham Disc Golf Club — are replanting and fencing off damaged areas. The park trails team resurfaces approximately 2 miles of limestone gravel trail annually. The facilities team has improved restroom flooring and appearance. Bay View Cemetery received mausoleum roof and HVAC repairs, paving improvements, and 500 new grave sites were mapped. The department has also embraced a "One City" approach, sharing equipment and resources with other Public Works divisions.

Challenges

Ongoing challenges include vandalism and graffiti (costing $10,000–$15,000 annually to address, with an overnight security contractor at Waypoint and Maritime Heritage parks), aquatic invasives (New Zealand mud snails and blue-green algae at Lake Padden), finite limestone gravel supplies for trail surfacing, and trail-use conflicts involving cyclists, off-leash dogs, and dog waste. Emerging concerns include illegal electric motorcycles tearing up turf in parks and electric hydrofoil surfboards operating on Lake Padden — which are not currently addressed by Bellingham Municipal Code. Derelict vessels washing ashore and people living in vehicles in parks were also cited as ongoing issues.

Stewardship Program (Freya Friedenberg)

The stewardship work group — formed in 2022 — oversees the parks volunteer program (running since 1992), community garden program, wetland mitigation, ecological restoration, a native plant nursery, and several civic certifications (Tree City USA, B City USA, Community Wildlife Habitat).

In 2025, the volunteer program coordinated 162 work parties with nearly 4,000 unique volunteers contributing 14,000 hours — equivalent to seven full-time employees — and planted approximately 2,500 native trees and shrubs. The value of volunteer hours is estimated at over $83,000 annually. The recent Earth Day event at Squalicum Creek drew 181 volunteers who removed 4,500 pounds of invasive vegetation.

The individual park steward program currently has 92 active approved stewards. Applications were paused while the program was streamlined; a new cohort onboarding is planned for summer 2026, with the application window reopening in June/July.

The native plant nursery currently holds 7,200 plants — the most ever — with a permanent home planned at Wburn Park pending drainage and construction work. Twice as many plants were potted in early 2026 as in any prior year.

The community garden program includes four gardens, with a pilot composting project and a food-bank donation "victory garden" underway at the King Mountain garden. A new community garden in the Birchwood neighborhood (an identified food desert) is targeted for 2027.

Wetland mitigation now covers approximately 19 acres across multiple sites — a perpetual and growing responsibility. The Washington Conservation Corps crew (partnered since 2024) is critical to this work, splitting time between mitigation and restoration projects and supporting major volunteer events.

The loss of two AmeriCorps members in April 2025 due to federal mandate was noted; that funding is being redirected in 2026 to hire a 9-month Maintenance Aid position to help restore environmental education programming.

Council Discussion

Council Member Cotton asked about capacity and ambition for urban forestry expansion; staff noted two open positions are currently unfilled and that goals will be shaped by the forthcoming urban forest plan. Council Member Anderson asked whether the department accepts donations of plastic nursery pots — staff confirmed enthusiastically, noting they reuse as many as possible, and provided a contact email (ffriedenberg@[city]).

Vote: No vote taken; informational presentation only.

Key Takeaways

Greenways Levy spending hit a record high in 2025 ($11.5M), exceeding annual revenue for the first time, driven by major land acquisitions (115 acres at Dewey Valley, 65 acres at Samish Crest) and significant park development completions. A $10M+ reserve cushions the gap.

Park impact fee revenues are declining, reducing the fee fund's share of the parks budget from ~20% to 7% in three years; the 2026 park impact fee budget is cut by more than half compared to 2025.

Greenways funding now underwrites roughly 40% of the entire parks budget and has been the primary mechanism for sustaining parks staffing through general fund constraints — but the council has directed that no further staff positions be added to the Greenways fund.

The PROS Plan update will be presented to the council in May, and is expected to include updated park impact fee projections and direction on future acquisition and development priorities.

A potential merger of the Greenways Advisory Committee and Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee is under active consideration, with a proposal expected to come forward for council review.

AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.

What happened at this meeting

A presentation of the 2025 Greenways and Park Impact Fee annual report

# Combined Summary

Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Oliver, along with staff members Peter Gil, Zack Cook, and Lane Potter, presented the 2025 Greenways and Park Impact Fee annual report, detailing combined revenue of $9.9 million and spending of $11.5 million allocated across property acquisition (35%), development (20%), climate resiliency (15%), maintenance/operation (20%), and a 10% flex allocation. Major accomplishments included acquiring 180 acres (115 acres along Squallum Creek and 65 acres at Samish Crest near Lake Padden) and completing key projects such as the Little Squal Beach pier, Sunset Pond loop trail, and Roosevelt Park lighting improvements, with a reserve balance exceeding $10 million. Oliver emphasized that the fifth greenways levy has enabled more effective and efficient teams, while Cook noted it was a busy year with the Greenways Advisory Committee considering a merger with the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. Lane Potter detailed the park impact fee fund separately, reporting a 2025 opening reserve of $5.78 million with actual revenue slightly below projections at just over $1 million, and major expenditures of $4.8 million on projects including Storybrook Park, sports plex upgrades, and various playground improvements, with private development partnerships like Northern Lights Park offsetting some costs through developer-built amenities. Council members inquired about the 10-year spending requirement for impact fees, service area tracking, potential code updates, and a possible exemption or credit to incentivize residential development near existing parks, which staff indicated warrants further discussion.

An update on the Parks Operations Division

# Parks Operations Division Update Summary

Director Nicole Oliver introduced an update on the Parks Operations Division presented by Steve Janaske (Parks Operations Manager) and Freya Friedenberg from the stewardship group, covering a portfolio of 57 parks across 3,000+ acres maintained by 75 employees with guiding principles centered on safety, access, environmental stewardship, and budget responsibility. The division has grown significantly since 2016, with a 28% increase in staff, improved supervisory ratios, and enhanced employee retention through benefits and permanent positions, while completing major projects including new trailheads, playgrounds, over 10 miles of new trails, and infrastructure improvements across multiple teams (urban forestry, grounds, trail maintenance, and facilities). Staff highlighted accomplishments such as successful tree planting and pruning by the urban forestry team, restoration work at Cornwall Park with community partners, and expansion of community gardens with a 2027 goal to open a new garden in the Birchwood neighborhood identified as a food desert, while also addressing challenges including vandalism costs ($10,000-$15,000 annually), aquatic invasives at Lake Padden, trail conflicts between bikes and pedestrians, and illegal electric motorcycles in parks. Director Oliver emphasized efforts to better communicate the department's work through social media and regular council updates to help the community understand greenways funding and operations, while Council Member Hamill acknowledged the valuable contributions of the Washington Conservation Corps crew to visible park improvements and community initiatives.

Agenda items (2)

Procedural (2)

24913ProceduralA presentation of the 2025 Greenways and Park Impact Fee annual report

City staff will present the annual report on impact fees collected from new development projects to fund greenways and parks in Bellingham.

What happened

24914ProceduralAn update on the Parks Operations Division

City staff will provide an update on the Parks Operations Division's activities, maintenance, and operations.

What happened

Verbatim transcript available

237 transcript segments indexed

All right, welcome back. The next committee is parks and recreation that is chaired by council member Williams. I'll turn it over to him at this time. >> Thank you, President Stone. Today for our meeting, I'm joined by by council members Dan Hamill, who who will return in a minute, and uh council member Jace Cotton.

City of Bellingham Parks and Recreation Committee minutes April 27, 2026, 10:20 AM Chair: Edwin H. "Skip" Williams Phone: 360-778-8200 Members: Daniel Hammill, Jace Cotton Email: ccmail@cob.org Web: cob.org/council City Council committee meetings Standing committee members receive reports and information, ask questions, and vote on a recommended action for consideration by the full Council at the regular meeting.

There is no public comment period during committee sessions. Call to order and roll call Council President Stone called the meeting to order at 10:34 a.m. Present: Committee Chair Edwin H. "Skip" Williams, Fourth Ward Committee Member Daniel Hammill, Third Ward Committee Member Jace Cotton, At-Large 24913 1.

And we have two items on our agenda today. The first being being agenda item 24913 which is going to be a presentation of the 2025 greenways and park impact fees and this is an annual report. So um parks I I'll just read the summary.

Parks and Recreation staff and the chair of the Greenways Advisory Committee will present an annual report on the greenways program and park impact fee fund. The report will cover project and program accomplishments that were funded by the greenways levy and and park impact fees.

A presentation of the 2025 Greenways and Park Impact Fee annual report Summary: Nicole Oliver, Parks and Recreation Director, Peter Gill, Park Planning and Development Coordinator, Zach Cook, Greenways Advisory Committee Chair, and Laine Potter, Park Design and Development Manager, presented the 2025 Greenways and Park Impact Fee Annual Report.

Council Members discussed the presentation and asked questions. 24914 2. An update on the Parks Operations Division Summary: Steve Janiszewski, Parks Operations Manager, and Freya Fradenburgh, Parks Stewardship Supervisor, provided an overview of the Parks Operations Division accomplishments, ongoing challenges, 2026 goals, and Parks Stewardship Program.

and a summary of revenue and and expenses. This is what it will cover in each fund will be provided in the presentation and will also highlight 2026 budgeted projects. So, um I would like to welcome uh Parks and Recreations Parks and Recreations um director.

Your name wasn't on the agenda. That's [laughter] Anyway, uh and um staff Peter Gil, Zack Cook, and Lane Potter. Thank you, council member Williams. [laughter] >> Yeah, that's my name. >> I'm Nicole Oliver.

I'm the parks recreation director. Before we get started today, I wanted to just mention that we we have two presentations today. Um, one's at the annual report and then the other one is um an overview and a highlight of some of the work of our operations division.

This fifth greenways levy has really allowed us to um create much more effective and efficient teams that are out working in the park system. Um they're coalescing, they're leveraging each other's strengths.

They're able to accomplish a lot more of the greenways priorities including restoration, habitat improvement, mitigation, cleanup improvement, enhancement, resiliency, all those things. Um and I think it's a really interesting uh to see not only the greenways annual report but how this greenways fund f spending how this greenways funding has been allowing us to expand our work in the park system.

We did um look forward with the way that we have added staff that has been the way that the park system has made it through the um the tough budget times is is being able to to rely on this additional greenways five spending.

And we're not going to under the current council direction that's that expansion is is not going to happen anymore. We've we've added as many positions as we can um to the greenways fund and under your current uh spending direction.

Um, looking ahead, um, we're really excited about all the things that we're going to do. And in May, you're going to have you're going to be able to see the results of our parks, recreation, open space plan update that, um, is kind of again looking at enhancing and taking care of what we have, um, with some clear directives on where we would expand and what we're still trying to acquire.

And then I just wanted to also mention that we are continuing to work on that merger um concept for your review uh of the two uh boards to become one um strong coalesed um parks, recreation and greenways.

We don't know how what we're calling it exactly, but that's going to be coming forward. With that, I will turn it over to Peter. Good morning. Peter Gil with um Parks and Recreation. I'm the planning and development coordinator.

I also have the pleasure of working on the greenways program for the parks and recck department. Um we have Zach Cook who is the chair of the greenways advisory committee and he is going to share um some of the work that the advisory committee was working on in 2025.

It was a big year for Greenways and I'm going to come back and share some of the the spending and the funding numbers and then Lane Potter is going to share information on the park impact fee uh from 2025.

>> Hello council. Uh my name is Zach Cook. I'm the current chair of the greenways committee greenways advisory committee. Um, it's been a fantastic year. It's been busy and, uh, it's been exciting. Some of the projects have been, uh, coming to fruition.

Um, I don't know if anyone's had an opportunity to go down to the new pier at Little Squal Beach. Um, or there's the new trails at Sunset Pond and Peter will get into the the details, but as the weather changed this weekend, it was exciting to be out, see people accessing these spaces.

Uh so hopefully some homework from this presentation, you'll get to see at least one place you haven't been yet that you could check out um as the weather continues to get better. Um uh this advisory committee is made up of citizens.

Um last year the chair was Kelsey. Uh was handed off to me. Uh this year is the current chair. Um, we meet once a month and as Nicole alluded to, we're currently talking to the parks and wreck advisory committee to um, consider uh, what it would look like if these two committees advisory boards merged.

Um, getting into 2025, um, there were several purchases that uh, again will come up later in this presentation that we were able to um, recommend going forward with. uh the committee had a lot of insight and uh uh public comment or comment on the trails maps that you'll see in the pros plan that's being developed as the parks and Rex open space plan.

Um, and then as a committee, we also were able to get out and visit some sites. Uh, went to Sunset Pond to check out the new trails there. Um, and some of the other spaces around, um, Bellingham that are being developed being, um, turned into parks.

Um and um I would say as a committee when we look at the maps and we study uh where where different neighborhoods can be connected um there's some some new some new improvements being made um through Jill's Court and being able to get under I5.

So, it's been very exciting year this last year to see as the opportunities for getting around Bellingham on trails has been improved. Um, and so that's been exciting exciting venture there. Um, and to that end, I'll give it back to Peter.

He'll get into the numbers, the different aspects of the levy. Thanks, Zach. Uh, Zach's been a great addition to the greenways advisory committee, just just over a year, I guess. So um so getting into some of the numbers um this is kind of big picture stuff here.

So uh revenue that came in uh through the greenways uh five levy was 9.9 million um in 2025. Uh we spent 11.5 million. Um and that does not include some of the uh grant funding that went towards green greenways uh funding was match for a number of grants um as well but those those aren't reflected in here on the left uh I'll call it the pin wheel um of spending allocation that was in the levy 5 resolution.

So 35% towards property acquisition, 20% towards development, 15 point 15% times climate resiliency, and 20% towards maintenance and operation. And there's also a 10% flex built into that spending allocation.

Those are important because we're going to walk through each of those four um categories as we go forward. Before we do, we're going to look a little bit about uh the last four years. Um this chart shows in green uh actual spending uh for the last four years back to 2022.

And you can see as that spending uh has increased over the last four years. Uh the blue line is the revenue and the revenue has also increased. And you'll notice that for the last uh three years, well 2022 through 2024, um we have not spent as much as the uh the levy has brought in.

Uh last year was the first year in many that we actually spent more uh than than we brought in in revenue. Um so luckily we have a reserve balance and the reserve balance at the end of 2025 was still over $10 million.

There's a number of projects as I mentioned uh it was a big year for greenways and that's why that um that spending was over the revenue. Uh so this is looking at the four categories and over the last two years.

Uh the darker green is the amount that was actually spent in the different spending category and the lighter green is the the target spending, the 35% for acquisitions, the 20% for development, maintenance, etc.

You'll notice that the last couple years have been a big year for property acquisitions. We bought um 115 acres um along uh Squallum Creek, that Dewey Valley property. We also bought a big uh 65 acres um up on Samish Crest, which we'll talk about as well.

U but you'll also notice that we didn't allocate that flex portion, right? And so when you when you move the flex over towards acquisition or development, we're really still right on target for uh for spending.

So let's get into each of those categories. Uh property acquisition spending. Um these tables will have the target revenue and then the expenditure and then the difference at the bottom. Um so the the revenue target was roughly $3.5 million for acquisition.

Uh and we spent uh $4 million last year and that was on that Samish Crest property. Um this is in between well this is uh near U Street um just on the boundary of or the city boundary there uh north of Lake Padden and it connects two large open space properties uh making the total connected space roughly 200 acres more than 200 acres and allows that potential future trail connection all the way from Lake [clears throat] Padden Park up to Watcom Falls Park.

On the development side, target revenue uh was roughly $2 million and we spent $3.5 million and so that is where most of that number of projects came together last year which was great uh for the community.

Um, some of the larger ones, uh, Little Squallum Pier, as Zach mentioned, um, the loop around, uh, Sunset Pond is now complete as well. And the the restoration work and trail work in 100 Acre Wood was also completed last year along with a number of design projects.

Uh, that funding on the development side also includes two full-time employees. on to maintenance. Uh roughly $2 million was the target revenue expenditures were 2.6 million. Um most of that is staff.

2.5 million is staff and uh the rest is projects. um almost well I guess 29 benefited um employees are paid through that maintenance section of the greenways levy. There is also some projects um the fair haven park sport court was resurfaced.

Um maritime heritage boardwalk was was updated and big rock garden fence was worked on as well. under climate resiliency. Um, target revenue was 1.5 million. We spent roughly 1.4 million. And that was spent roughly half on staff and the other half on projects.

And so the the whole stewardship uh group is funded on under the climate category. It's uh five benefited employees and a conservation crew as well. And then projects um many of you have been down to Boulevard Park and seen the shoreline enhancement work down there that was funded uh through greenways.

Also done a number of trail design projects or at least the design side of it. um Jill's Court Trail um over near Iron Gate that connects to Telegraph. Uh Squall Creek Trail as well. We redid the lighting in Boulevard or I'm sorry in Roosevelt Park.

Really nice lighting um for all all season use there. And then Blowell Donovan energy upgrades were also under the climate category. So that was actual spending in 2025. Um this is looking at 2026 u budgeting.

Um this is for the entire um parks and recreation department. Uh $32 million were budgeted. Uh roughly 40% of that is greenways funding just to give you an understanding of how much that is. and it's roughly $2.9 million budgeted.

It's just under the amount of general fund funding that parks gets. And some of the projects uh capital projects for 2026. Uh Bear Creek open space. This is on the north side of town. Got Betabaker um design work, which is Beta Baker Trail.

um connecting Squallum Creek at Cornwall Park. Civic Stadium turf study is going to be worked on. Samish Crest Trail Plan, that's that trail um over that new property that we purchased last year. [snorts] Lockwood trail design, that's part of the Salish Coast Trail out there um near the Marine Drive uh bridge, railroad bridge.

Lockwood Trail is Sunset Pond up to um Telegraph Road. Warf Street um is connecting to the new Salish Park from the South Bay Trail. And then Primrose L uh Lane trail design is from Mloud um well Mloud up to Telegraph Road.

And then we also have budgeted $2.5 million for land acquisition as well. So with that, we'll move on to Lane Potter and park impact fees. >> Thank you. So, I'm going to give a brief summary of our 2025 revenue and expenses for park impact fee fund and then I'll um in similar fashion as Peter look ahead to the current 2026 budget um projections.

So, looking at the beginning of 2025, our park impact fee reserve was just about 5.78 million and we had budgeted 1.8 million of anticipated revenue. Those are the impact fees that get collected with private residential development.

And just a quick reminder of the um park impact fee spending. Those are to be used for acquisition, expansion, or capital improvements that are consistent with our city's capital facilities plan. They're spent within the service area in which the fees were collected or the city.

They're to be used um for those capital improvements uh versus operations and maintenance. a little more restricted with how we can use these funds. They are to be spent within 10 years of being collected and so we're looking at spending on a first in first out basis and making sure that we're spending uh those fees that get collected within 10 years as well.

So looking at the actuals for 2025, we were slightly below what was anticipated to u be brought in. So those private development fees brought in just over a million dollars. We also received some grant reimbursement funding from the state recreation and conservation office for the uh sunset pond loop trail construction.

And so that left us, excuse [clears throat] me, after our expenses um that we'll cover on the next slide with an ending reserve balance of 2.19 for the end of 2025. >> [snorts] >> And you'll also see on your left, I just wanted to highlight some photos of some private development partnerships um where the city partnered with um some private development you're seeing on the top, Northern Lights Park, which is a new neighborhood park in the Cordata neighborhood.

And then some trails on the bottom photo in the King Mountain, the village at King Mountain development. And these are where we're able to work with the developers to give them park impact fee credit in exchange for them building park amenities trail facilities that are in our capital facilities plan.

They're able to do it efficiently more economically with their development. So it's a win-win. So looking at our 2025 park impact fee expenditures, you'll see the list of projects that's consistent with our capital plan where we spent those funds for each.

So, we spent just about 4.8, a little over 4.8 million. Just a reminder, our budget for park impact fees was 5.7. So, we spent a little bit less than what we had budgeted in 2025. So, just a few highlights of these projects.

We had some big expenses for the first phase of development of Storybrook Park, which is a new neighborhood park in the Birwood neighborhood. It's a 7acre park that had been some open space. It's now developed with a playground, some nature loop trails, um, park amenities.

It has artwork, um, park furnishings and entrances that are accessible off Cherrywood. We did the next phase of upgrades to the sports plex. So, putting in all new electrical and mechanical services for future electrification of the building, getting new electrical service, and then continuing to work on the civic athletic complex master plan, finishing up that master plan for future expansion of indoor recreation, aquatics, and a future recreation center.

Another big cost was towards the Sunset Pond Loop Trail. And as a reminder, that was a combined funding project. We partnered with um we shared costs with greenways funding, park impact fees, and some state recreation and conservation office grants.

Uh we worked on finishing up the master plan for East Bakerview Neighborhood Park, which you'll be seeing in the next couple of months where we'll be kicking off the naming and um moving forward with approval of the master plan in the next two to three months.

We did some um overhaul of the Cornwall Memorial Park sport courts. So completely redoing them, adding pickle ball courts um providing some new uh new recreational amenities there. And then two playground projects that we worked on were at Rock Hill and Blowell Donovan Park.

So the Bloodell Donovan playground you're seeing on the bottom left, it's completely done, finished in 2025. It has a really exciting um accessibility component where you're able to get on the play equipment from the accessible sidewalk.

And then we're continuing to work on Rock Hill, which will be going to construction shortly to replace um and expand both the upper and lower playgrounds at Rock Hill Park. Uh we also worked with a consultant to complete our parks, recreation, and open space plan, our next sixear strategic plan for the department.

So we'll be continuing on that this year, but the bulk of the work happened last year. And then some uh greenways funds also went towards the design of Salish Landing and some of that con early construction coordination with the contractors.

So looking ahead at 2026 at what we have budgeted and what's funded. Um just a reminder that we started the 2026 Park Impact View Reserve with just about 2.2 million in our reserve. We have that anticipated revenue of 1.8.

Um, and just to highlight, we have been seeing most of that revenue coming from the northern neighborhoods in the city where you're seeing more residential development. So, we expect that to continue.

Um, and another thing I wanted to highlight about our current budget with park impact fees is you saw that um, pie chart earlier from Peter of the 7% of park impact fees is currently um, what you see accounted for in our department budget and that's been decreasing over time.

So if you look back two or three years, it was closer to 18 to 20% of our budget. Last year was 13%. It's now 7% of our budget. So that park impact fee budget amount has gone down commensurate with the revenue that we're seeing come in our reserve balance.

So looking ahead at the 2026 funded projects, um so that budget again is decreased because of our um trends in revenue and reserves that we're seeing. So last year was 5.7. This year we have 2.3 budgeted to try to maintain those reserves.

At the end of the year, we'll be continuing to um finish the parks, recreation, and open space plan, complete the construction of the Rock Hill playground. We'll start some design work uh to improve and expand the sports fields at Squalum Creek Park.

We'll continue to partner with the cleanup on the construction of Salish Landing. will continue to look at some feasibility and replacement options or expansion options for Fair Haven Park of both the pavilion and picnic shelter.

Then we also have money of park impact fees set aside each year to look at targeted park acquisitions for potential neighborhood parks or infill pocket parks um as well as expansion projects at our neighborhood parks throughout the city.

So that is all I have on park impact fees and I think we're all happy to take any questions on on either part. >> Well, thank you very much. That was a very very enlightening presentation. Um, I know as I as I went through this and being on the parks and wreck assignment from the council, I was very very impressed with the with the with the accomplishments that this department has made over the years that I've been involved.

So, so are there any questions from the committee? Uh, Council Member Hamill. >> Yeah, thanks for the presentation. um some questions on uh how park impact fees are allocated. You had mentioned a 10-year timeline and so the the the funds need to be spent within that 10ear time.

Is that correct? And and just how is that determined? Is that policy practice? How does that work? >> Yes. Yes, that's correct. So we have um lots of internal tracking in place where we track the date in which every you know building permit generated the park impact fee credit to which it's tied.

And so each year in the spring when we get um the reports from our internal systems, we go through and look at any funds that were brought in close to that 10-year mark and we make sure that we're spending those before they hit that 10-year mark.

Uh before I call on you again, I'm going to call on Council Member Cotton. >> Um well, first I just think this presentation um just is a amazing testament to the legacy we're leaving our our community and um making sure that we're we're a livable community as our community grows.

So um uh I also have a parking back fee question. Um uh I know there's been previous discussion about maybe updating um some of our practices and and maybe even um code on this and um any previews you're willing to give now for that work.

Um and if not that's okay. Well, uh, yes, with the pros plan, um, you're going to be seeing, uh, in May the how the current, um, comprehensive plan growth projections and what our current, uh, what our proposed improvements over the 20-y year result in as far as a a park impact fee.

And we do have some changes that are um we're working closely with the planning department because the the legislature changed the way you you have to do the PIFF and so we're changing some of our framework or format for that.

And if you have any other questions, he's he's the guy. >> Okay. Council member Hamill. >> Uh I wanted to just um touch on what Mr. Cook had said about the the pier. Uh my wife and I went there yesterday.

it was very well loved and well used. Um, and that took a long time to get that opened up and safe and and people I think are very happy with it. Um, same for the Sunset Pond. Um, my wife and I are making a mission to go to like every park that we can and uh the connectivity to get to those parks I think is something that's understated but hugely important for uh people to ride safely or walk safely to get to to each amenity.

Um uh Miss Potter, you had mentioned in the um for the park impact fees that they're they're spent in the areas where the impact is uh pardon me, they're spent in the areas where the impact is collected.

Is that correct? >> Yes. So basically they need to be spent in the service area in which they were collected. And I think the city code defines two service areas. We have a citywide, we have a neighborhood.

Um, and so most of those projects you saw for the 2025 list are considered citywide amenities. We're typically spending those on things like the Sports Plex or the Sunset Pond Loop Trail that are that larger city-wide surface uh service area versus um something like Rock Hill Playground.

We would typically look at that half mile walk radius and use the funds that were collected in that neighborhood park service area to pay for those improvements. >> Thank you. Council me uh council member Cotton.

>> So I we have so many great existing park amenities in our community and I wonder if there are policy levers to incentivize residential development near those existing comm amenities in addition to you know wanting wanting more.

Um, has there been any consideration to like a parallel exemption to our urban village credit that if you're probably near a park, right, if you're within walking distance to an existing park, um, I'm thinking about the great geoloccation data we have now about our our park usage.

Um any reaction to that idea of could we consider a credit to incentivize residential development in your existing park amenities? >> Um we haven't uh considered that as of yet. Um I know that uh traffic impact fees have a similar um thought process uh behind that concurrency concept.

Um, we do have a different levels for different types of housing trying to better reflect the actual impact of new development and those new people coming to the park. Um, but we haven't actually um considered specifically what you're talking about.

No, >> I'd be interested to continue that conversation and benefit from your um yeah, thoughts thoughts about that idea. So, thank you. Okay. >> Okay. Are there any other questions? Okay, seeing none, this was a presentation for information and discussion and I for one am very thankful for the thoroughess of all of this and and the picture that it covers for the development of our community.

So now based on that we will move on to agenda bill number 24914 which is an update on the parks operations division and the work that they do. Our parks operate our parks department operations staff will give us an overview of a their division growth, their past program accomplishments, ongoing challenges, program goals for 2026, and an update on the parks stewardship stewardship program.

And uh based on that, I will turn this over to Director Nicole Oliver who will introduce >> Thank you. >> the staff. >> Thank you, Council Member Williams. Um we have Steve Janashesky here and Freda [laughter] Freya Friedenberg from our stewardship group.

Um we try and do these updates to council regularly. We haven't done them in a while and um we just have been really busy, but I'm really trying to get more time to explain some of the inner workings of our department out to the community.

It's one of our goals this year um to really more accurately reflect and and we're putting a lot more social media to the projects that we're doing in parks. It really helps um people understand how important those um greenways dollars are and how important it is the work that's being done by our operations and and all of our staff.

So, take it away, Steve. >> Good morning, council members. My name is Steve Jenna. I'm the park operations manager, and I just finished my ninth year here in Bellingham. So, here's what we're going to be covering today.

We're going to talk a little bit about what guides us. Uh, I want to kind of dive into the division growth we've had over the years, a little bit on budget accomplishments, what some of our ongoing challenges are, and then Freya is going to step in and talk about the stewardship program specifically, and then we'll finish up with goals and questions.

So, here's a snapshot of our portfolio currently, what we maintain. We're up to 57 parks, and that includes special use sites such as Woodstock Farm, the golf course, the cemetery, and civic complex, a little bit over 3,000 acres of parks and open space.

Our trail count is up to 85 miles. And here's a new stat I put in here was 58 bridges, boardwalks, and peers. So, Little Squallum Pier is highlighted here. Four community gardens, and then 37 rightways.

These are smaller parcels throughout the city that we maintain and then we get reimbursed by public works. And we do all that work with 75 employees now, the majority of those being full-time and we have some seasonals and uh one regular non-benefited and then a Washington conservation core crew that works with the stewardship work group.

These are some of the principles and guiding things that guide our work and I just wanted to mention these because we think of these every day. And obviously at the top of the list is employee and public health and safety.

Whenever we do our projects or we're working from day to day, safety is so important to us out in the parks. And then you can see the other list not necessarily in in uh priority, but we think of things like access, universal access, making sure facilities are clean.

We have lots of regulatory requirements that guide our work on projects. We um and we put a lot of effort into the green and growing environment as well as the built environment and we try to be wise with our limited budgets that we receive.

wanted to just this is a new slide I created this year and it's really showing you all the different community groups and partners that are either operating in parks or we coordinate with in different park locations and they can be nonprofit groups, businesses, tribal governments and other entities that provide recreational services and parks.

And on the lower right you'll see the newest new agreement we have out at Blowell Donovan. It's a mobile sauna service. I don't know if you've seen it. It's out on the point at Blow Delonovan where you can go and have a sauna and then take a cold plunge into the lake.

Just a few more facts and figures just showing the how wide of of a portfolio we have. We have over 110 buildings and shelters, uh 260 garbage cans, and our street tree count now is up to 5600, which is a lot of trees to maintain.

So, I'm going to jump into uh kind of the growth of our operations division over time. And I think Lane and Peter covered some of this, but if you look back to 2016, we've added some pretty large, sizable community parks.

Started with Squalicum Creek Park in 2016, and then we built Cordata in two different phases in 23 and 24. We added Waypoint Park, a small neighborhood park right on the the bayfront in 2021. and then two trail heads within existing parks.

So you can see um the Galbreth trail head at Lake Padden and then a small trail head at Giuliana was added. Furthermore, within existing parks, we've had other additions. We've added new playgrounds at Maritime and Storybrook, swimming docks, three new restrooms, a new community garden, the pier being new, and then 14 acres of wetland mitigation plantings.

Uh that's our total now. We anticipate another five acres, 19. So you can see wetland mitigation is also growing. And then our trails we've added, it's a little over 10 miles. Also, private development trails that are added as part of the park system each year.

Those are those private sections built that are public trails that then we maintain. And I think Lane covered some of these new additions. These are just some of the newest additions in the last two years.

You can see the list of new parks that have come online and kind of their uh magnitude in acreage and assets or infrastructure that's been added. So here's the department tree and the reason I show this is just to show you kind of the relationship in our department between our different divisions and it just shows kind of the relative size of the division according to the canopy of the tree.

So our operations now is the largest part of the canopy followed by recreation and then smaller branches for design and development and administration. So our division has grown um since 2017 and this chart just kind of shows you the breakdown in FTE by workg groupoup.

So just about every work group has got it gotten new positions except for structures and utilities. Not as much additions there. Same with the cemetery. But other work groups we've systematically added both supervisors and technicians and specialists and seasonals.

So I just wanted to kind of show the relative relationship and then the total is a little over 23 FTE. And here's our organizational chart. Uh it has flattened out quite a bit over the last eight or nine years.

You can see those six field supervisors across the top. And uh it's a large organization now. We uh have 75 employees and if I look back to 2016 2017, that's about a 28% increase in staff. So, shifting over to budget, this is our 2026 budget.

Uh greenways is about 5 million, 5.6 in the general fund, 2.477 477 2.5 for the golf course about a half a million for the cemetery and then that orange or yellow piece of the pie is for project work capital maintenance projects.

So this chart I just uh pulled it for show you a relationship of our park tasks. This is categories within city works. And then this is a 5-year average annual labor hours between 2019 and 2024. But what I'm really seeing here is you can see the breakdown between kind of the grow green and growing environment.

So trees, lawns, turf, landscape maintenance kind of half of it. The other half in the purple shades and is really related to park facilities. So think of buildings, sports courts, playgrounds, pavement, curbing, and all the work and the tasks that go into the take care of that.

And then the cemetery is that blue uh piece of the the circle up at the top. So I wanted to cover some of our accomplishments over the last year. This is our park operations leadership team and our greatest asset is the people that we have working for us and these are the supervisors and managers that lead the the groups out in the field and over the last few years we've added six new field supervisors.

We used to have two program managers which had a span of control of about 30 to one and since then we've added these new supervisors and we're more at a manageable nine to one. So, it's it's a better span of control.

Um, a lot of these supervisors, except for a few, have been promoted from within. A few came from the outside, but the majority uh came right up through the ranks. I also wanted to call out all the talented, dedicated, and skilled field staff that we have that take care of our parks on a daily basis, addressing challenges, finding solutions, and then working outdoors with the public has its own set of challenges.

But um these folks are very committed to uh the work they do. And we've had less turnover in the last few years ever since we shifted away from four and six month seasonal positions to get 9-month at the very minimum that have benefit packages that come with them.

So we've had better retention and then we've had better uh internal recruitments through promotion and that also allows us to train up the new staff coming in passing along the institutional knowledge that some of our veterans that retire can pass on to the new folks coming in.

Just another call out to more uh talented staff. This is the facilities team that takes care of all the restrooms, all the playgrounds. They empty all the garbage, pick up all the litter, and they are becoming a more and more skilled and diverse group with more uh skills that we're training them to be able to handle out in the parks.

We have fully embraced the one city uh initiative and I have several examples here of where we've worked collaboratively with other work groups within the city primarily because we're housed with public works.

We've been really focusing on sharing resources, sharing equipment and um just asking for help when we need it and they do the same with us. So we coordinate together and it we're more efficient that way.

And the groups that have really done more of this have been the facilities group, our park improvements team, and our urban forestry team. So, I'm just going to call out some quick progress reports over the last year from urban forestry.

They have done a fantastic job at taking care of the street trees and all of our park trees. They have planted trees and pruned trees at some very high numbers. They have reduced their work orders dramatically from past years when we are underst staffed.

And they've also increased their response time to the public whenever we have a call that comes in about a tree. Um just they're a great group, very skilled, technically skilled group of of staff that have to be able to tr climb trees very safely with rigging and also take down trees very safely.

So, I wanted to point out this project at Cornwall Park where we've made some well, I guess I should say after decades of a lot of recreational use, there uh was starting to show signs of resource damage, primarily poor tree health and the lack of understory in certain sections of the park.

So, our crews have made significant progress at a restoration of that park. And you can see the areas in the blue. Those are areas we've targeted for restoration and replanting. So we are working together with our uh our different work groups.

This was a collaborative effort between urban forestry stewardship and our grounds team working with the Bellingham disc golf club. So more work to come. Uh some of these areas will be fenced off while the plants have a chance to regrow and uh it's kind of exciting to see uh restoration going on in a park.

And this is just another uh some of the damage that we experienced at Cornwall. This was some bicycles jumping creating jumps and and through the trees creating a lot of root compaction and our staff was able to deal with that.

We we stopped the activity and then we restored that area and you can see the difference from what it looks like after we worked on it. This is another uh project. This is a grounds related project where we did some vegetation control at the library in anticipation of the new library renovation project where um a new landscape plan is coming.

But a lot of the vegetation there was overgrown and uh was not safe. You could not see into the park. So we came in and removed a lot of that vegetation. We planted new trees and we'll be replanting with other plants as we move into the future.

But uh it was a nice improvement. So our park trails team uh highlighted here, they resurface approximately 2 miles of limestone gravel trails give or take a little bit each year depending on what they can take on.

They also worked on trail features and amenities such as boardwalks, bridges, railings, things like that. and uh they helped out with the storm damage at the Little Squal Pier when we had some uh storm damage there.

And we also have a new supervisor that just got hired in the last few months. His name is Phil Evans doing a great job, promoted from within. And uh I'll show you a little bit of their work here. Few before and after pictures of the limestone resurfacing that we do.

We spread the gravel and then compact it. and uh they do a fantastic job in the trail and they get I think one of the groups that gets most of the compliments out in the parks because their impact is so um immediately seen by pedestrians and bicyclists that are using our trails.

Last slide here on just some highlights. This is from our park facilities team. Just some work they did on floor epoxy work, improving flooring and the overall appearance and cleanliness of our restrooms.

and just having the time to take this on and uh improve our restrooms uh was a nice accomplishment for the year. And then at Bay View Cemetery, we were able to reinvest in mausoleum, which had some work on the roof and the HVAC system.

And we also did some paving and roadway repairs along with, you can see some expansion. We mapped out 500 new graves uh in the upper area there. We're not without our challenges. Here are some of our ongoing challenges.

And some of you probably have heard these before. Vandalism and graffiti continues to happen. Uh we do have an overnight security company that helps us with Waypoint Park and Maritime Heritage Park at night.

However, um we don't have staff out there at night and that's when some of these things happen. Uh we're still facing aquatic invasives with the New Zealand mud snails and blue green algae blooms at Lake Padden.

We're working with public works natural resources to better understand what's causing those and hopefully we can help mitigate some of that. Um the limestone gravel supplies we have are limited and finite and we're looking at other resurfacing options because um we don't know when that quarry will run out of limestone.

And then just trail issues that involved bikes, pedestrians, dogs off leash, and dog waste uh continue. And then two emerging motorized equipment uh types of things. We've been seeing these electric motorcycles at little at a squall park, not little squall, but they're driving around off trail tearing up our turf.

And they're not a legal vehicle. They're illegal. There's really no place you can operate those. We're working on with the Bellingham police uh to identify um the people that are operating those motorcycles in our parks.

And then the right corner there is an electric hydrooil. It is a surfboard that rides fairly fast up on top the water surface. And we've seen some of these operating at Lake Padden. We do not have a Bellingham Municipal Code that addresses hydrooils at this time.

Just showing here uh a little bit of cost related to vandalism and graffiti. We had a big uptick in the cost to mitigate in 2021, but we've evened back out again with our costs. It ranges anywhere from 10 to 15,000 a year to address different types of vandalism and park damage.

And then this is another emerging issue that we've been faced with uh that's a big challenge for us and it's derelct vessels that break free from moorings. People are either living on them or they just the boat hits the shoreline and breaks up and then they abandon them and then we're looking at uh having to dispose of that.

Uh we work with the Washington DNR with the derelct vessel program, but there's a cost to getting that vehic getting that boat off the shore and then disposed of properly. And there's a cost. We we are reimbured for it, but it's a very time consuming process.

And then we we continue to have problems with people uh living in vehicles or cars and sometimes towing them out of a park, but uh it is an issue in some parks. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Freya and she's going to give you an update of the stewardship program.

Hello. Thank you all so much for having us today. Make this much shorter than it was. My name is Freya Freighenberg. I'm the current park stewardship supervisor. Um I stepped into this permanent role about a year ago, but I've actually been with parks since about 2016 when I started as an Americanore member.

Um and I just want to give you some updates on the stewardship program. Um I think a lot of people know about some aspects of it, but not necessarily everything that we do in the history of the program.

So just want to give some updates. Oops, sorry. Um, so first of all, just what is stewardship? Stewardship is a fairly new work group at the parks department. Um, it was formed in 2022 as an umbrella over some other kind of public facing uh programs.

Um, the volunteer program, the parks volunteer program is probably the most well-known of the areas that stewardship overseas. That program has been running since 1992 and has done some amazing work in the community.

But stewardship is a lot more than that. Um, I put the Wik Wikipedia definition on here because it really does a good job of summing up everything that stewardship does, but essentially stewardship is just collaborative care of shared resources.

Um, and that's really what all of our work areas focus on. So stewardship oversees the parks volunteer program, which also includes environmental education programming and the individual park steward program.

Um, we also work on community collaborations. So, we currently have license agreements with about five different nonprofit groups that do restoration and education work in our parks as well. Um, stewardship also oversees our community garden program.

We have four gardens right now um with hopeful future expansion. We also take care of wetland mitigation in parks. So, anytime there's an impact to a wetland or a wetland buffer on park property due to new construction or projects, um there are regulatory permits that we need to fulfill and mitigation for those impacts on wetlands and wetland buffers.

Um we also do ecological restoration projects. So, similar work to wetland mitigation, but it's projects that we take on by choice or community needs, such as the Cornwall Park restoration that Steve Jay highlighted earlier.

We also collaborate with public works on pet waste issues and outreach to the community. And Sturgeip also maintains a few certifications uh for the city including B City USA, Tree City USA, and the community wildlife habitat certification through the National Wildlife Federation.

Stewardship also runs our native plant nursery for the entire parks department, which I'll highlight later as well. I just want to really quickly look at our staffing through the years. I'm not going to get into the nitty-gritty.

Um, but really the big picture here is that in the past both the volunteer program and stewardship has really relied on some I would say alternative staffing uh models including temporary employees, Americaore members, part-time workers, volunteer interns.

Um, 2026 looks a lot different. We've had a lot of changes over the past few years. Um, but really the main difference is we have less people overall, but we have more full-time permanent city staff members and things have felt a lot more consistent and sustainable with that model.

Um, the biggest change in 2025 was the loss of two full-time Americanore members due to federal mandates in April of 2025 that ended those members term of service. Um, we are really excited in 2026 that we'll be using that funding to hire a 9-month maintenance aid 3 that will really help us bring back some of our environmental education programming.

Um, and we are grateful as always for the work um that our Washington Conservation Corps crew that's serving with us does and I'll highlight them a little bit later as well. Um, so the most well-known part of stewardship is the parks volunteer program and well known for good reason.

This program has been doing amazing work in the community for over 30 years. Um, I wanted to just highlight our 2025 totals. Uh, in 2025, the volunteer program uh coordinated 162 work parties and events, had almost 4,000 unique volunteer hours.

So, that's unduplicated volunteers. Um, 14,000 volunteer hours. That's about equal to seven full-time employees. And we planted about 2500 native trees and shrubs. So the volunteer program, as I mentioned, includes weekly Saturday work parties.

It includes our individual park steward program. It also oversees our environmental education and school stewardship programs as well as those community partner engagements. Um folks like Wild Watcom or Nooksac Salmon enhancement association who who do work in restoration in our parks.

Um and then that community wildlife habitat certification has historically been overseen and maintained by the parks volunteer coordinator. These are some fun quick stats um specifically about our Saturday work party programming because that is the longest running and most consistent of the volunteer um program.

So the Saturday work party year to date, that's actually as of the end of April. So those numbers are higher uh over the last couple weeks, but just at the end of March, we'd already gotten about 2400 volunteer hours.

Um 863 folks had signed up for one of our Saturday work parties. 437 of those were new people who had never volunteered with us before. Um the hours value is quantified Washington state um the equivalent hour volunteer service is about $33 per hour.

So with all of those um $2,462 hours that equates to over $83,000 value of volunteer hours engaged. um the little chart of months. You'll see a few months that are significantly higher than other months and those typically correlate with the months where we have our larger events, our big days of service.

So those are make a difference day in October, Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January and Earth Day in April, which we just completed on Saturday. Um so an average work party, our work parties see anywhere from 20 to 400 people depending on the scope of the work party.

On average, those Saturday work parties take about 40 staff hours to plan, prepare, oversee, clean up. Um, we are really lucky to work with some volunteer interns every academic year as well. But the hours returned about three-fold from how much staff time goes into these work parties.

So, it's really amazing um how many people come out from the community and build those connections and do stewardship work in their own backyards. Um, I'm obligated to put up our spring schedule. I hope everyone will come join one of our work parties if you haven't.

Um we did just complete the April 25th Earth Day work party at the Squalicum Creek Reroute. Um that was a collaborative work party with Public Works Natural Resources working on the Squalicum Creek reroute uh near Bug Lake.

You may know that property. Um and I just got our final counts in. We had 181 volunteers join us. Um we took out 4,500 pounds of invasive vegetation. Um and we had about 10 partner groups tableabling with us as well for that event.

So another super successful day out working in our parks. Um worth noting we base our schedule on the academic year. Um and that both lines up with the parks and recreation playbook and it also lines up with a lot of our um partner group schedules as well.

[snorts] Individual park steward program is another big part of the parks volunteer program. Um, we have had new applications on hold for about a year while we've tried to get this program reigned into a sustainable model.

Um, but our current program stats for this, we have 92 active approved stewards currently working in our parks. And for every person that's approved and actively working, it averages about 15 minutes of staff time per week to support these folks.

That can be anywhere from a quick phone call for a quick question all the way to mulch deliveries, um, native plant deliveries, invasive debris pickup, um, or just a site visit to kind of help guide people in the next steps in their area.

Um, we do also see about a 50% average rate of applicant attrition. And by that I mean for every person who fills out an application, only about half of them end up actually reporting hours to us. Um, so in between that time is a lot of staff time that's not accounted for in these 15 minutes of actually developing a plan and moving people through that process as well.

Um, we do end up getting about 2,000 hours reported from our park stewards annually. Um, and we did recently streamline the renewal process for this program to be a lot less cumbersome. So, um, we're working through some of those renewals right now and we are looking forward to reopening the application window um, in June and July.

We'll do a summer cohort onboarding and then depending on how many folks renew and how many people apply, we'll be looking at either annual or twice a year reopening of the application window to bring new folks on.

The other thing that stewardship does that I'm not sure anyone knows about is we maintain the entire native plant nursery for the parks department. Um, this supplies all of our crews, our grounds crew, trails crew, tree crew, um, as well as some community partners that have licenses to do work in our parks as well.

Um, it can house anywhere from 2,000 to 7,000 plants. Um, we are currently housing 7,200 native plants, which is the most we've ever had in the nursery before. Um, we're very excited to get those plants out into the parks in the next couple years.

A lot of the homes of the nursery have been temporary over the years. Every home has been temporary, actually. Um, we are looking forward to finally moving into a permanent home at Wburn this year or next year once we do some drainage work and some construction work to make that space good for us.

Um, we plan we mostly purchase all of these as bare root and then we have volunteer work parties to help pot them up. Um, and we're also super grateful to staff help as well to get all of those plants potted.

Um, in 2026, just at the end of March, we potted more than twice as many plants as we've ever potted before. So, that was a huge undertaking, very collaborative. Um, but we're very excited to see those plants go into our park soon.

Um, community garden program is another area that stewardship has taken on. Um, the newest community garden is in the King Mountain neighborhood. Um, and we're actually doing two really exciting pilot projects there.

Um, and that's made possible because we hired a stewardship coordinator who is overseeing both wetland mitigation and community gardens. and um that position has been a huge asset. McKenzie, who took on that position, has been a great addition to our team.

We're super grateful for their work. Um but they are piloting both a composting onsite project at King Mountain and we're also piloting a victory garden. Um we're working with the food bank and some gardeners at King Mountain who've taken [clears throat] that on to grow food for donations.

Um we would really love to keep expanding the community garden project. Um, we have a goal in 2027 to open a new community garden. One of our ideas right now that need has been expressed for is in the Birchwood neighborhood because it's an identified food desert.

Um, we have lots of folks in that neighborhood reaching out to us with inquiries. Um, so we're excited to get some more community gardens. [snorts] Wetland mitigation is one of the things that I mentioned.

Um these numbers were accurate as of the end of March, but we have actually just added five more the second phase of Cordata Park, which brings our total up to about 19 acres of wetland mitigation sites.

Wetland mitigation sites are interesting because there is an official monitoring period where they will be inspected regular regularly and um we're subject to making the needed changes. However, even when that monitoring period ends, we are responsible for maintenance in perpetuity.

So, none of these sites ever go away. We take care of them forever. [snorts] Um, prior to 2022, we actually didn't have any dedicated staff for wetland mitigation. It was shared between a lot of different work groups.

Um, in 2022, uh, one technician was hired in stewardship. In 2024, um, it was one of the main reasons that we brought on a Washington Conservation Corps crew is it's this perpetually growing number of acres.

Um DubC spends about half of their time on wetland mitigation right now. Um about other half on restoration projects and wetland mitigation is really collaborative within the parks department too. It's not just operations.

It's us talking to design and development. It's us talking to other staff who are maintaining pieces of the park. So it takes a lot of communication and coordination to make wetland mitigation happen.

Um we are always looking for ways to streamline this. public works also has wetland mitigation sites. So, we're exploring possibilities of collaborating on a one city approach to wetland mitigation in the future.

Um, but I do just want to highlight our Washington Conservation Corps crew because we would not be able to do our work without them. We've been so lucky to partner with them. Um, like I said, they spend about half of their time on wetland mitigation and about half of their time on other restoration projects in parks.

Um, but they also support our really big volunteer events. The whole crew flexed their schedule last week and worked on a Saturday to be small group leaders for our Earth Day volunteers. Um, they support other work groups on some special projects as well.

Um, and they help us a lot in our native plant nursery during the growing season, making sure that those plants are surviving and thriving. And I would be remiss not to give a shout out to all of our community partners.

As I said, stewardship is all about community collaborations and building those connections and we are so lucky to work with so many amazing partners um in this city and in the county. Um so I just wanted to give all of them a huge shout out.

Super grateful for them. So thank you. Steve has just a little bit more and then we'll be happy to take any questions. >> Thanks Freya. So just to conclude, I wanted to just cover some of our goals for the upcoming year and break it down by a little less of more of and continue with.

So we're really focusing on taking care of what we have uh with the budget that we have and we've targeted some reductions with irrigation just to save on some costs. And then uh we're going to do more of one city where we can.

We're diving in more of analytics uh that we can derive from city works to help guide our work and to manage workloads. And then as Freya mentioned, we're expanding uh reopening the steward program this spring.

Uh and then continue with uh finding efficiencies in just about everything we do. Um burning down our backlog that we've been successful at and all the cross trainining and just cross fertilization that's going on with the different work groups has been exciting to see.

Just seeing staff help each other out. um where before there might have been walls between different work groups, now it's kind of opened up into a very good team that's working together. Uh so yeah, does anybody have any questions for us?

>> I'm going to ask the first one. >> Okay. >> Um on this page at the top of the page where it says less of, what kind of special uh requests do you get? Oh, sometimes we get requests for uh different amenities and parks that people want to see that say, for example, someone at Roosevelt Park wanted a bulletin board placed, you know, depending on how intricate that is, that could be considered a special request.

>> Um, there usually require more time and effort and sometimes, you know, we have to pour concrete. So, it's just those kind of little little projects that we don't have time for sometimes. So >> funding for >> or funding.

Yeah, we try to get the routine maintenance work done >> and then if there's time left over and some ideas come from the communities, some ideas come from staff. >> Okay. >> A little bit of a mix. >> Okay.

Are there any other questions from the committee? Uh Council Member Hamill. >> Yeah, it's not a question. It's more of acknowledgement for Washington Conservation Corps and just how valuable and important um that crew is.

And I mean, I'm a former Americanore Vista supervisor, so I understand the concept in general. Um, but they put in a lot of unsung unsung uh into this community, and you can see it when you go to our our parks.

You see the the high value that's um that's brought to to this community. So, I just want to say thanks to to that crew. >> Okay. Council member Cotton. Um, I just wanted to uh go back and highlight the impressive urban forestry stats this year.

And I'm um curious about uh capacity within that seems like small but mighty team and um like forward looking in our ambition for um more more trees in our community. What what might be next? >> We're waiting to see what happens with the urban forest plan because that'll have goals, high level goals we can shoot for.

That team right now is holding its own, but um at some point if the street tree count expands or more parks are, you know, open space need work, we're going to probably have to add more staff to that team.

Uh we have one opening right now. We have an arborist opening and we have a tech opening. So that's the other struggles we have with is finding qualified people that can fill those positions that have the training and the skill.

So, they're understaffed right now and they're they're keeping up. So, I I'd like to get them back up to full strength. >> Okay. Are are there any other questions? Uh, Council Member Anderson, >> thank you and thanks for the presentation.

This is a little odd uh question, but I was thinking of the 7,000 native plants and t the season to be going to the green houses to rellandscape yards. Do you guys ever take donations of the plastic pots, the like the 8 inch, you know, the larger, usually a higher quality, or do you just purchase your own?

Just wondering as I plan a weekend of planting soon. >> We will absolutely take donations of plastic pots. We reuse as many as we possibly can to decrease the amount of plastic that we're using in general.

So, um I actually do have a huge shout out to a staff member named Gail Nory who has spent countless hours reorganizing, cleaning pots, throwing away broken pots, um we're happy to recycle pots for anyone who would like to donate those >> followup.

>> Yes, ma'am. >> So, should someone have interest in donating um high quality pots, um how would they reach out to make that donation? You can email me right there at the email on the screen, fsf freightenberg.org, and I'd be more than happy to coordinate that with you.

We can even uh pick them up if there's a lot of them. >> Much appreciated. I will spread the word for you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Anyone else have a question? >> Seeing none, both of our items today were for information and discussion.

And I'll say once again, the thoroughess of the work that you've explained is wonderful. [clears throat] And uh I'm very very appreciative of the um the efforts and the work and the number of volunteers you guys manage and everything.

So, and uh but once again, this was more for our information and the public's information and uh to see the scope of the work that you do. So, seeing no other questions, I am going to adjourn the meeting and turn it back over to President Stone.

>> Thank you very much, Council Member Williams. Thank you to staff for the presentations. Um, with that we will adjourn for the lunch break and the council will reconvene at one o'clock with public health, safety, justice and equity which is chaired by council member Hamill.