Thank goodness for Steve Powell’s article (“Petition: Sakai not being developed as promised”) bringing much-needed visibility to an issue that’s been neglected for years.

There are a few key things I’d like to add beyond what was covered in the article.

First, the Bainbridge Island Parks & Recreation District board’s response to our petition. Based on the agenda for the park board’s April 20 meeting, you’d never know that nearly 200 folks had signed a petition demanding action and answers from the board from its last meeting April 6. The only item listed under “general business” was approving skate park improvements at Strawberry Hill Park. No discussions for a turf field (those were tabled at the last meeting). And not a single reference to Sakai Park planning or the petition. In fact, not one request from our petition has been addressed within the timeframe requested. So much for Commissioner Tom Swolgaard’s 2019 campaign pledge to “listen and act on the community’s requests and comments…”

Second, board chairman Jay Kinney’s reliance on unsupported intuition is deeply troubling.

Our community has long supported funding for schools and parks —including the original Sakai Park ballot measure (passed with almost 70% support) and a more-recent measure to raise revenue for ongoing Parks & Rec operations in 2021. Instead of using tools to assess the level of potential support for funding the Sakai Park plan, Kinney refuses to even entertain the possibility that our community would support going big with a bond.

It’s also foolish to refuse convening a citizens advisory committee to further assess the level of private support and charitable giving available for a capital campaign. We’re privileged to live on an island with an abundance of resources, and a history of substantial philanthropic support for important initiatives. Why not explore those options?

Third, the original resolution has essentially been abandoned by the parks board. Three of our five commissioners (Kinney, DeWitt and Swolgaard) signed the original resolution for the Sakai Park ballot measure. The words from that resolution are as relevant today as when it was adopted by the board in 2015: “the park district has for many years considered the Sakai property to be ideally located to facilitate a number of recreation uses due to its central location and close proximity to other public facilities such as library and schools … in the event the voters approve the bond measure to purchase the Sakai property and the property is acquired, the park district will at that time conduct a public process to solicit community input to guide future development of the park.”

Notably, none of these statements or needs were addressed by the board’s multi-million dollar, mid-pandemic BI Recreation Center purchase.

Fourth, only two of the 23 acres at Sakai Park are available for courts, facilities, parking, etc based on the feasibility study from 2019.

For anyone concerned that Sakai Park planning means no open space, that’s simply untrue. Even with the addition of much-needed courts and indoor recreation facilities within walking distance of town and most island schools, over 90% of this public property would remain open space.

As was importantly noted in Powell’s article, the grant agreement with the state “was for active recreation and open space.” This property was truly intended to be a park for everyone on the island. That’s presumably why Parks & Rec paid a professional facilitator $20,000 to run a series of community input sessions in 2016, and create the list of 10 uses incorporated into the Sakai Park Concept Plan adopted in 2018.

Fifth, there is a much broader park board pattern of planning problems at play here. Also of concern to many is the failure to replace the old Ray Williamson pool, built in 1970. A 2017 Pool Assessment Study notes that “given the myriad of safety and maintenance concerns … any project … would require the demolition of the existing Ray Williamson Pool.” Yet after six years of delaying demolition or replacement, the park Board instead voted just last month to spend almost $3 million on the aging pool, with no current plans on the table for replacement.

Absent meaningful engagement, and actual action by our elected officials, it seems that running a recall campaign may be the only way to create the pressure needed for progress at Sakai Park. We need action today, not more waiting for tomorrow.

Adam Hunt of BI started SakaiParkPetition.com and is a main organizer in efforts to renew development of Sakai Park recreation facilities.