Category Overview
Local Parks grants help protect these symbols of vibrant communities, providing places for families to gather and play and promoting a healthy and active lifestyle in an era when people spend increasing amounts of their time inside. The WWRP is the largest source of local parks funding in Washington, helping communities fund the acquisition, development, and renovation of vital recreation areas and green spaces.
Project Highlights
The City of Olympia will use this combination acquisition/development grant for Kaiser Woods Park, a multi-use forested hiking and mountain biking park. Kaiser Woods is a currently undeveloped 70-acre forested park in Southwest Olympia just west of Ken Lake. This park has very strong community interest – over 500 people participated in the first on-line survey and over 200 people attended the public meeting at the start of the master planning process. Over 200 people participated in the latest round of community feedback (via zoom attendance and a survey).The acquisition portion of the grant will partially reimburse the acquisition of an approximately 2.5-acre parcel that will serve to provide the primary access point into the park. Currently the only access to the park is via Park Drive, a residential street. This property will provide a dedicated parking area and a primary access directly off a major arterial, Black Lake Boulevard. This access will address the primary concern about the proposed park expressed by neighbors on Park Drive.The development portion of this grant would pay for the construction of dedicated mountain bike trails, walking trails, a paved parking lot trailhead and associated paved access road. Currently Olympia does not have any dedicated mountain bike trails in its park system, so these trails will meet the needs of this rapidly-growing sport. Dedicated walking trails will be provided as well for those interested in hiking or nature viewing.