The Rally for the Rec committee has been hard at work in our effort to establish Lopez Rec. In our early planning, we opted to pursue the establishment of a Metropolitan Parks District (MPD) as it presented the only opportunity to bring the initiative to the April ballot and effect timely relief for the budget crisis currently facing the Lopez Island School District.

We were hopeful that the precedent established by other Washington MPDs would allow us to set the levy capacity in the ballot measure before voters at 37 cents per $1000 of assessed property value. However, after navigating the resolution process with our County Council and the County Prosecuting Attorney’s office, it became clear that voters would be asked to authorize the Lopez MPD at the full levy capacity of 75 cents per $1000 of assessed value. While the elected commissioners would be empowered to limit the levy to 37 cents as is currently proposed by the Rally for the Rec committee, we did not feel comfortable putting the full 75 cent levy capacity before voters.

Consequently, we requested that the County Council rescind the resolution to put an initiative for an MPD on the April ballot and our committee is now pivoting to prepare for establishing a traditional Parks and Recreation District at the November election.

Our committee is very grateful for the significant support we have received from our County Council and County staff in navigating the complexities of this citizen-led initiative.

In the coming months we will file a petition with the County to establish a Lopez Island Parks and Recreation District and then ask registered voters to sign the petition in order to put the initiative on the November general election ballot. In the meantime, we’ll hold our next scheduled town hall on March 19 at the school and continue hosting informational meetings at the library so that we can ensure that voters are fully informed about the necessity of establishing Lopez Rec and the tremendous benefit and opportunity it offers our community.

We want to hear from you, so please reach out to our committee with any questions or feedback. Huge thanks to our community and County supporters – we look forward to your continued support as we bring Lopez Rec to fruition.