Park board hammering out details of open space lid lift.

At a Bainbridge Metropolitan Park and Recreation District board meeting Thursday, citizens advised the board to move toward securing funds for open space, while there is still open space left to be had.

“I’d urge you to pursue this with all deliberate haste,” Dwight Sutton said. “(Vacant land) is not going to get any cheaper and it’s going to go away.”

The park district board was seeking comment on a levy lid lift proposal, which would be put before voters in November. Revenue from the rate increase would be used to purchase, develop and maintain new parkland.

If approved, the proposed measure would raise the district’s property tax levy by $0.16 per $1,000 assessed value in 2009.

Only a handful of citizens turned out to comment on the lid lift. All spoke in favor of the park district moving ahead with the levy, though none said it would be easy

“My real concern is that it’s appropriate to get a lid lift now, but it’s going to be hard to pass unless it’s very targeted and very specific,” Chuck Field said.

Field recommended that funds from the lid lift be clearly aimed at acquiring new land, and developing it into accessible parks

Don Willot, chair of the city’s Non-Motorized Transportation Advisory Committee, asked the Park Board to make trail easements linking parks a priority.

Board member Dave Shorett agreed that trail connections have proven to be a cost effective use of capital funds. He pointed to the popular Forest to Sky Trail, which cost roughly $240,000.

“Our opportunities, a lot of them are in trails,” Shorett said. “It’s getting difficult to get a big chunk of land now.”

Board members were still tuning the finer print of the proposal.

It was decided that an advisory committee, much like the city’s Open Space Commission, would be formed to help coordinate purchases. The committee would make annual reports on how the lid lift funds were being spent.

A nagging question was how funds from the lid lift would be allocated, if the levy were passed.

For a first reading of the resolution, they settled on using roughly 75 percent of the revenue for acquisitions and development, with the remainder earmarked for maintenance and operations.

Lee Cross said it was important to set aside a hefty slice of funds for park development. The city’s 2001 open space bond was successful in securing property, Cross said, but did not provide money for development.

“The result is that we have some open space properties that the public cannot enjoy,” Cross said.

A second meeting and possible vote on the proposed lid lift will be held at 6 p.m., July 31, at Strawberry Hill Park.