Environment Government
City attempting to buy 23 acres of parkland off of Burnham Drive
If the planets align and the price is right, Gig Harbor might soon add 23 acres of forestland and salmon habitat to its parks inventory.
At Monday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Kit Kuhn presented a slide show of the property and confirmed that the owners had approached the city about a possible purchase.
The property is adjacent to an 11.5-acre piece north of Donkey Creek Park (the North Creek Salmon Heritage Site) that the city acquired recently through a partnership with the Pierce County Conservation Futures program and the Puyallup Tribe.
A small bridge crosses Donkey/North Creek in the property that the city hopes to purchase. Photo courtesty of city of Gig Harbor
Across from the Hy Iu Hee Hee Tavern on Burnham Drive, it contains cedar, bigleaf maple, Douglas fir, alder and pine trees, and is thick with salmonberries, sword ferns and other native plants. Salmon-bearing North Creek/Donkey Creek runs through it.
According to council members Robyn Denson and Tracie Markley, a rough trail meanders through the property and ends just 15 feet from the Cushman Trail.
A clearing where the trail ends is near Cushman Trail, at top. Photo courtesy of city of Gig Harbor
“This kind of forest just doesn’t exist anywhere like this,” Denson said. “And there are very few invasive species like blackberries or Scotch broom. It’s pretty amazing.”
“It’s truly lovely,” Markley added. “And with all the new development that’s planned for Burnham Drive, it’s really important that we try to save this.”
A rough trail meanders through the property the city hopes to acquire from a developer. The city is doing its due-diligence investigation on the land. Photo courtesy of city of Gig Harbor
According to Kuhn, the property is actually six separate parcels, “… and unless we conserve it, work is already underway to acquire permits to build more than 40 homes on this land.”
The land is part of the original sx̌ʷəbabš village, so this is an important opportunity to conserve a culturally significant parcel for the Tribe, as well as an environmentally significant opportunity to have more salmon return to Donkey Creek, Kuhn added.
Dappled light illuminates the forest on a sunny day. If the city isn’t able to purchase the property, it’s slated to be clear-cut and developed with more than 40 homes. Photo courtesy of city of Gig Harbor
The city has made an offer and signed a purchase-and-sale agreement with the owners to try to purchase the property, to save “as is.” Kuhn hopes to close the deal before the end of this year. The 60-day due-diligence period began on Nov. 1. The city is in the process of getting a survey, title report and environmental investigation to complete the process.
Kuhn acknowledged that closing by Dec. 28 is a big challenge, “But these opportunities do not come by often, and once it gets developed, this forested land is gone forever.”
The city wants to hear from the public on the potential acquisition, so the Council conducted a public hearing Monday and will hold another at its Dec. 13 meeting.
The trail continues through the woods, thick with sword ferns and other native plants. Photo courtesy of city of Gig Harbor