Tacoma City Council to discuss proposed changes to open space program

Tacoma City Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss a proposed organizational change to Tacoma’s open space program.

According to city staff, open space properties, which include both parks and urban forest lands, are managed by the City of Tacoma’s Planning and Development Services Department. Under the proposal before city council, active open spaces, such as the Chinese Reconciliation Park and other small parks, will continue to be managed by Planning and Development Services staff using existing open space funds. Passive open spaces, such as undeveloped urban forest land, will be transferred to the city’s Environmental Services Department to be managed for canopy cover and stormwater benefits. Properties transferred amount to 459 acres and include sites such as Julia’s Gulch, Mason Gulch, and the Stadium-Schuster slope.

Councilmembers will not take public comment during the study session, which will be held on Tues., Feb. 5 at 12 p.m. in Room 16 of Tacoma Municipal Building North, 733 Market St. Audio from the meeting will be broadcast live on TV Tacoma and online at tvtacoma.com. On-demand audio archives are available on the Web within 24 hours of the meeting online at tvtacoma.com.