Commissioners needed for proposed park district

A special election filing period will open July 16 for commissioners of the proposed Lake Spokane Park and Recreation District in southern Stevens County.

Candidates for the district’s five-member board of commissioners must file at the Stevens County Auditor’s Office in Colville on July 16 through July 18.

Voters will choose commissioners in the Nov. 4 general election, at the same time they decide whether to create the district. The commissioner election will be nullified if the district isn’t created.

The top vote-getter for each commissioner position will be elected.

Among the winners, the top three vote-getters will receive three-year terms and the other two will get one-year terms. Election Supervisor Beverly Lamm said the commissioner positions will have staggered four-year terms when the initial terms expire.

County commissioners agreed to put the park district proposal on the ballot after a May 5 public hearing. Commissioner Tony Delgado said the hearing revealed support and no opposition.

Residents of the proposed district had already satisfied a state requirement for a petition signed by at least 15 percent of the registered voters in the area. Supporters needed 492 signatures and submitted about 700.

The park district would coincide with the Stevens County portion of the Nine Mile Falls School District – including an area to be annexed in 2010. The Spokane County portion of the school district would be outside the park district.

More than 15 percent of the 3,280 registered voters in the proposed district signed a state-required petition to place the park proposal before county commissioners.

The state Department of Natural Resources has set aside 40 acres for park use, but the proposed district would have to purchase the land at market value.

It would be up to the district commissioners to find a way to pay for the land.

The park site is at the corner of State Route 291 and North Villier Road, about 3 1/2 miles northwest of the Outpost shopping center at Suncrest.

It had been included in some 4,300 acres of income-producing trust land state officials hope to trade for land elsewhere. Residents asked for some of the land to be set aside for recreational use.