Frequently Asked Questions
What about the housing requirement on the lease?
The provision to reserve a portion of the property for future housing was a requirement of the City in negotiating the lease. A housing development in the future may or may not happen. It depends largely on whether the city council establishes a legal basis for a housing project, and whether the community supports it.
The first step in developing that area of the park requires a change in its zoning. That change will likely be considered by the Planning Commission and the Council within the Comprehensive Plan update process over the next year, with scheduled adoption of the revised Plan in June of 2025. Officially, no decisions have been made.
Under Washington’s Growth Management Act the City’s Comprehensive plan must be reviewed and updated every 10 years. The last update was in 2014. The plan provides the backbone and legal basis for almost all city policy, especially land use. It defines how property can be developed and used for residential and commercial property, as well as for parks and open space. It’s this process and its product that ultimately determines the underlying zoning of all property in our city. It’s also during this process that existing zoning can be modified or changed completely. The outcome of this update will have a profound effect on the future of our city as well as on Camas Prairie Park.
Whatever your viewpoints on land use policy in Port Townsend, The Friends Board urges you to become informed and get involved. This is your plan, just as this is your community. Good decisions can only arise from good information. Your voices are critical in this process.
The opening meeting of this year long process occurred on May 9th with a Planning Commission visioning workshop. If you were unable to attend that meeting you can participate by completing the visioning survey online at: https://www.pt2045planning.org/surveys
This will also sign you up to receive updates from the City on the process as it develops. The Planning Commission, where much of the process will occur, meets on the second and 4th Thursday of the month. You can find their schedule on the City website.
Port Townsend has always been a place that has honored and highlighted its history. From our Victorian era homes and buildings to our time as wild and raucous western seaport, the story of our past has been an important part of our identity as a community.
While tales of Shanghaiing sailors, Victorian elegance, and the grandiose dreams of the founders grab our 21at century imaginations, there is a quieter and even deeper history of this place that also deserves its due.
For millennia the prairies of Kah Tai, qatáy in S’Klallam, provided portage from the Straits of Juan de Fuca to the protected waters of Port Townsend Bay. Among the myriad native plants that flourished in that valley, there was one, the Common or Blue Camas that, beyond its beauty, was also an important food source for the peoples of the Salish Sea.
While these native prairies were once ubiquitous in western Washington, Over the past two centuries virtually all of these natural treasures in western Washington have disappeared, consumed and superseded by agriculture and development. Only rare isolated vestiges remain.
This 1.5 acre Kah Tai ecological reserve is, by far, the most unique natural component of the park. It is a microcosm of the world that existed when the ice retreated and mastodons roamed our lands. The ancestry of the very plants that thrive there today are more ancient than the oldest of our old growth forests, and on close examination just as beautiful and awe inspiring.
Over the years the Golf Park has had multiple names. It’s been a private club and a municipal course. Along with the expanded use, and increased public availability of the park, the Friends Board made the decision to look beyond our human history and honor the far more ancient, yet oft ignored, natural history that lies beneath our feet.
Why Name It Camas Prairie Park?
Will prices increase?
Our goal is to keep the Golf Park as the most affordable course on the Olympic Peninsula. Unfortunately, the course has decades of deferred maintenance that must be addressed if we are to be successful. Along with regular maintenance and improvements, the irrigation system has failed or is failing in many places, and much of the Park equipment is antiquated and must be repaired or replaced. The clubhouse needs repair and renewal, and the tee boxes and greens need to be restored and refreshed. This is just a partial list.
All of this takes money and labor. While the city has made concessions in rent and water to the Friends organization, as well as providing some in-kind services, they are not providing any direct funding for operations or restoration of the golf course. All of our funding comes from donations or course revenue.
We are grateful that so many members of our community as well as local businesses have stepped up to help through donations and volunteer labor. We will continue to rely on your help for some years to come before we can expect to be fully self supporting. We are also seeking new sources of revenue. Like many courses around the country we are expanding the types of golf being played with the addition of disc and foot golf. Both of these popular activities function well with traditional golf and will help our bottom line. We will also be seeking grants where applicable.
Currently, for the 2024 season, we are offering course passes for members as of 2023 at the same rate they paid last year. The same holds true for active corporate supporters and players. Our per round rates have increased slightly but they are still significantly less than other courses in the area.
Over the next two years, the non-profit Friends organization will be gathering metrics, exploring innovations and developing a business plan that we hope will keep the course affordable, sustainable and carry it forwards for generations.
Why all the changes? Can’t we just leave it alone?
Golf courses are expensive to maintain and, while golf is seeing a resurgence, there are many, nationwide, that shutter their doors every year. Currently, our course is not economically viable for the long term. Without significant changes it would continue to deteriorate and, ultimately, fail. It also has only served a small and declining segment of our community. Because of it’s condition, many golfers and former members have gone elsewhere to play.
Golf is and always will be our core function but, both by the terms of the lease and our own recreational philosophy, we are seeking to expand our sources of revenue and Park availability for the general public. For example: Like many courses around the country we are adding disc golf. It plays at about the same pace as traditional golf, require less capital investment (no greens, just baskets), and unlike traditional golfers, they enjoy playing in the trees. This spring we will be exploring how to meld these two games so that they can both function well together on our course.
Like the venerable Saint Andrews, we will be adding times throughout the year where the non-golfing public can explore the Park and simply enjoy the natural beauty without worrying about being hit by a golf ball. This year it will be the first Sunday of the month.
We are also in the early stages of planning periodic performance events on the driving range. This natural amphitheater will help bring in revenue as well as providing a needed venue in our community.
Our five year plan includes construction of a putt-putt course. As proven elsewhere, this will attract young people and families, add another source of revenue, and build interest in the game itself. Our hope is that by expanding recreational opportunities and public availability, along with increasing revenues, our historic course will become even more beloved then it is today.
What are you doing about environmental concerns?
The Friends organization is committed to operating the golf course in the most environmentally friendly and sustainable manner possible. We will continue to follow best practices and minimize the use of herbicides and fungicides and employ organic methods wherever feasible. For example: In recent weeks, we’ve used goats to clear blackberry bushes instead of herbicides. We are considering using them in other areas of the course as well. As more and effective electric maintenance equipment becomes available we will begin a transition to that technology. We plan on introducing electric golf carts in the very near future.
We are increasing the size of the native camas prairie to protect and enhance this historic resource. We will be adding native plantings where appropriate in the Park to reduce maintenance costs and create more habitat for wildlife. While we will be removing some trees for access and playability, such as for the city playground initiative, we will be replanting with native species on a 2 for one basis in other locations.
