City needs to change MPD, vote no | Letter

Published 3:14 pm Friday, October 2, 2015

During a recent discussion with one of our city council members I was informed that language in Kirkland ordinance O-4485, which allows the Metropolitan Park District (MPD) to raise taxes for “other future parks and recreational facilities and programs,” was necessary because you cannot limit the scope of an MPD by law. And that they were advised by councsel that an MPD could not be limited to one project such as the ARC [Aquatics, Recreation and Community] Center.

I was also told that MPDs have been used successfully to fund other aquatics facilities. I looked online and found that of the 17 MPDs formed in Washington state, three were specifically formed for aquatic facilities: Des Moines Pool Metropolitan Park District (resolution No. 1109); Tukwila Pool Metropolitan Park District (resolution No. 1738); and William Shore Memorial Pool Park District (Clallam County) (resolution 2-09).

Of these three MPDs, only Des Moines has words in their resolution that allowed for funding of a non-specific item in that the funds would be used for “the Mt. Rainier [Pool] or other pool facility.” Still a far cry from “other future parks and recreational facilities and programs.” The other two MPDs limited their scope to the specific pool that they were created for.

It’s true that these resolutions, ordinances, and interlocal agreements are not set in stone and can be altered without a vote of the people, but I see them more as a promise to the taxpayers and a declaration of intent. It seems pretty obvious to me what the Kirkland City Council’s intent is.

At this time, I don’t want to vote for a general parks levy and if the city council wants to blame us for throwing out the baby with the bath water. They should realize that some of us just don’t want to get soaked. It’s a shame that after so much effort has gone into this project we can’t have a simple vote that is limited to only funding the ARC Center.

Unless the ordinance and interlocal agreement are changed to specify that the MPD will be used for, the ARC Center only, I will be voting “no” on this issue. And if the council continues to state that the MPD can’t be limited in this way, then I guess someone should inform Des Moines, Port Angeles and Tukwila.

Jim Boril, Kirkland