Waterfront park added to Key Peninsula’s map

 

By Rodika Tollefson, KP News

At the end of February, Key Peninsula’s park district became the owner of a pristine waterfront property on Taylor Bay. The 39-acre parcel, which includes an eight-acre estuary, has a rich diversity of native flora and fauna. It is one of the few pristine waterfront parcels left in Pierce County. And the Key Peninsula Metropolitan Park got it for as good a bargain as it comes: $7,000 in legal fees. The rest, nearly $1.4 million, was paid by Pierce County Conservation Futures and Salmon Recovery Funding Board grants.

Sold at last: KP Metro Parks commissioners Bruce Nicholson, Ross Bischoff, Elmer Anderson (board president), and Greg Anglemyer, with KPMPD Executive Director Scott Gallacher and real estate agent Dottie Mazza, on the property shortly after the sale closed. Photo by Mindi LaRose

The park, yet to be named but known so far as the Taylor Bay Property, is the district’s first acquisition (not counting the two parks it received through a transfer from the former KP Parks and Recreation District).

“It’s a very significant acquisition,” says KPMPD board President Elmer Anderson. “It’s a wonderful piece of property — an incredible waterfront piece of property that we’ll be able to utilize in a variety of ways.”

The primary use will be conservation, and some covenants restrict the development of the upland piece of the three-parcel property. That portion may see some trail development later on. While commissioners are far from discussing a master plan for the park, Anderson said the waterfront parcel could be suitable for a small campground, picnic area, or kayak/canoe launch.

The idea of the park was first presented by Dottie Mazza, a realtor with Windermere Key Realty. “When I first looked at the property, I starting putting it in the back of my mind that it could be a good piece of conservation,” she says. The sellers, liked the idea, so Mazza approached the Great Peninsula Conservancy first, and was later referred to The Trust for Public Lands.

This nationwide conservancy organization pursued the property as part of the Alliance for Puget Sound, whose plan is to deliver 10 new parks and natural areas around Puget Sound shorelines by 2009. According to TPL, “the Suquamish and Squaxin tribes have long regarded Taylor Bay as important because it supports the complex and fragile life stages of salmon and trout. Recently, both spawning adults and young salmon have been seen in the creek that is home to many species, including Coho, Chinook, and chum salmon, and cutthroat and steelhead trout.”

The park has beautiful scenery and a rich diversity of wildlife. Photo by Mindi LaRose

The seller, Sylvia Schlag and her adult children (through her late husband’s family trust), agreed to give adequate time for the conservation group to secure funding, while knowing the grant process would take time. Sylvia and Jack Schlag lived on the property a few decades ago, and their children grew up there. The home has long been gone, but a garage structure is still standing. “This is a modest income family. It’s very great they chose to do this,” Mazza said. “They were pleased to set the property aside for conservation.”

Anderson said the official opening day is yet to be set, but the park is already accessible to the public.

“There were so many different people who worked so hard on this,” Anderson said. “It was an amazing team effort.”