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For questions about the Parks and Recreation Division, please contact Kathy Nygard, Assistant to the Director.

For questions about the Web site, contact Eli Brownell.

Parks and Recreation Div.
201 S. Jackson St., # 700
Seattle, WA 98104
206-296-8687
TTY: 711

BUSINESS PLAN

The 2002 Parks Business Transition Plan outlined a new way of doing business for King County Parks, increasing sustainability through new business practices and greatly reducing the dependence of our parks system on King County’s general fund. The Park Business Plan was developed by King County Executive Ron Sims and King County Parks, based on the work of two citizen advisory groups, as well as an unprecedented outreach effort involving thousands of participants.

Since 2003, King County Parks has successfully taken many strategic actions that have generated revenue or created efficiencies for the parks systems, including transferring dozens of local, in-city parks and pools, implementing or increasing user fees, and establishing corporate and community partnerships that enhance park amenities and maximize the investment of taxpayers’ dollars.

This new way of doing business has helped King County Parks build a strong foundation on which the legacy of our 25,000-acre system can be preserved and protected for future generations of King County residents.

Helpful links

Parks Business Transition Plan, Phase II Report - full report (Aug 2002) (pdf)

Visit the original Metropolitan Parks Task Force website (not updated since 2003)

“A task force convened several years ago by County Executive Ron Sims offered smart, practical long-range strategies, including the notion that parks at least partly pay for themselve’s. The 25,000-acre park system is one of the largest in the country. Injecting a measure of efficiency and self-reliance into the system was no small challenge. But it is happening.

The county shifted costs for some pools and parks to suburban cities in which the facilities were located. Fees are charged for parking and entrepreneurial opportunities, such as Cirque du Soleil, are plentiful.”

-Seattle Times editorial, June 16, 2006

PRESS