Community Government

Kopachuck State Park renovation moving forward without ceding roadway

Pierce County is no longer requiring more road right-of-way as a prerequisite to issuing a building permit to renovate Kopachuck State Park.

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The county had been asking to widen its right-of-way along one side of Kopachuck Drive, which runs the full length of the park’s east boundary; on both sides of 56th Street, which drops down through the middle of the park to the parking lot but also leads to a development of about 20 waterfront homes to the south; and on both sides of 106th Avenue, which cuts across the park’s northeast corner en route to a handful of beachfront homes to the north. It said it needed the property to offset increased traffic it projected will be generated by the improvements. The total land area was 1.15 acres, assessed at $13,580.

Pierce County Council Chairman Derek Young, who represents the Gig Harbor area, said normally right-of-way changes are straightforward, by the book, but the park situation raised special circumstances.

“It seemed like a good opportunity for some sort of exemption, and it turned out we did have a process for it,” he said.

A couple and their dog walk on the Kopachuck beach. Ed Friedrich / Gig Harbor Now

The exemption had to be sponsored by the county executive and comes with the understanding that the county will retain the right to widen the right-of-way and the state can’t build permanent structures there.

“The important part is we maintain future rights without impinging on the park,” Young said. “If everything stays the way we imagine into the future, it can remain that way indefinitely. I totally understand how something like this could get missed because typically these transactions happen at a certain level, and normal rules didn’t apply in this case. The most important thing is getting the permit and getting going. It’s a case of government figuring out a way to do the reasonable thing.”

Peter Herzog, State Parks’ deputy director of planning and park development, said the agency learned of the exemption Friday morning.

“They’re not requiring the transfer of land for right-of-way purposes, but they are asking us to refrain from building permanent developments within those potential expanded right-of-way areas,” he said.

Kopachuck State Park is a 280-acre, day-use park with 5,600 feet of shoreline on Carr Inlet, 6 miles west of downtown Gig Harbor. It features an upper wooded area with picnic tables and hiking trails. The beach is popular for wading, shellfish gathering and watching the sun set over the bay and Olympic Mountains.

A wooden bridge crosses a small stream at Kopachuck State Park. Ed Friedrich / Gig Harbor Now

The campground was closed in 2011 as a safety precaution when mature Douglas fir trees became infected with laminated root rot and hundreds had to be cut down. The state re-envisioned Kopachuck as a day-use-only park, and developed a master plan with much public involvement in 2014. The upper park plan includes a welcome center and lodge-like multipurpose building with adjacent ADA-compliant picnic area, amphitheater, play area, parking, restrooms, and new water, sewer and stormwater management systems. At the beach, plans include an ADA-compliant walkway, stairs, non-motorized boat launching and water trail camping.

The Legislature provided $5.5 million for the project in the 2017-19 capital budget. Because of delays in permitting, required redesign and inflation, that won’t be enough. Another $2.1 million is needed.

The additional money is in this session’s Senate supplemental capital budget, but total House funding comes up about $1 million short, Herzog said. The difference will be hashed out in conference before the final budget is passed. The session ends on March 10. If the project isn’t fully funded, construction would still begin on the upper area.

“We would be starting work on the project as soon as we know what the adopted budget looks like,” with preparatory tasks such as bidding, Herzog said.