*** Charge a Fee? Critics Say Keep Parks Free ***

Yakima, Washington -- 12/11/2003
Plans to start charging parking fees at Ahtanum Youth Park
are stalled — at least for now.

Yakima County commissioners put off acting on a new fee
structure that includes first-ever parking fees at the popular
Ahtanum Road park after parents, coaches and BMX enthusiasts
criticized the plan at a hearing Tuesday.

Citizens told commissioners the county is trying to fund parks
on the backs of children and grandparents who come to watch
them play.

Representatives of Yakima Youth Soccer, which stages soccer
games for 2,000 youngsters on several area fields, including Ahtanum,
said they will look elsewhere to play their games if the fee stands.

Soccer matches also are staged at Chesterley Park, along
North 40th Avenue, and at J.M. Perry at South 16th and
Washington avenues.

But the bulk of the association's players,
some 1,400, play at Ahtanum.

Commissioners told Parks Director Dave Veley
to meet with the user groups to look at other options.

The issue could be back before commissioners for another
hearing in January. Veley has already factored the fee into
his 2004 budget.

The proposed $3 parking fee, intended to take effect in March
and apply to all park users, is designed to offset a $100,000 cut
commissioners imposed on the parks department to balance the
2004 budget. A similar cut occurred this year. The parks budget
has been cut by more than a third in the last two years.

Yakima County already charges a $3 fee at another county park,
Eschbach Park on South Naches Road. The 2003 budget cut
forced the county to turn over SunnyView Park, along Highway
12 between Sunnyside and Grandview, to the city of Sunnyside.

The fourth county park, West Valley Community Park, is being
operated with volunteers and donations along with some county funds.

Some money raised by the Ahtanum Youth Park fee would be set
aside to pave interior park roads over a period of years. Money
also is earmarked to pay off a loan to modify the park entrance in
order to handle the parking fee.

Veley also is proposing to increase rental fees for two buildings
on the park grounds. The higher rental fees won't be charged
until January 2005 because the buildings are already rented at
current rates for all of 2004, he said.

Parents called the fee unfair.

"Parks should be for youth for free just like everywhere else
in the Valley, except you," said Greg Stovall of Yakima, a
soccer parent, coach and soccer association board member.

"If you can sell $30 million in bonds for a new jail, I don't see
why you can't sell a $1 million bond to pave the park," he added.

Frank Rowland of Selah, parent of a BMX rider, told
commissioners the plan should be withdrawn for more study.

He said if the youth groups move elsewhere,
the county won't have the income it expects.

"These programs are going to move. That will blow these numbers
out of the water," he said. "We are talking about money that won't
materialize."

Cheryl Clark of Yakima, a supporter of the BMX track on the
south side of the park, said a fee will cause riders to go elsewhere
or not use the track at all. Should that occur, the track will no longer

be viable.

Mike Bull of Yakima, another BMX track supporter, said
the local BMX association has invested $100,000 into the
track that is drawing riders from all over the state.

"You are asking us to build and maintain the track.
Now you want us to pay $3 on top of the rent. That isn't fair,"
he said.

Mark Fischer, president of the Yakima Youth Soccer Association,
said the group would be willing to consider an increase in current
rental fees when it sets its budget and player registration fees in
early
spring. A $1 parking fee might be more palatable to soccer parents,
he said.

Fischer said the soccer group also has invested money
in the Ahtanum fields and doesn't want to lose that investment.

Commission Chairman Jesse Palacios said it is not
the desire of commissioners to close the park.

"The reality is if this doesn't increase revenues,
you may be looking for another field," he said.

CC - YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
http://www.yakima-herald.com/premium/279900902379527.news

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