DIAMOND POINT – State planners will present four alternatives for the Miller Peninsula State Park to the state Parks Commission on Jan. 12.
State Parks Planner Peter Herzog said Thursday that a Sequim public forum on the park proposal is expected to be set in January for a date to be announced later.
The 2,800-acre expanse of undeveloped state land that stretches across the far east end of Clallam County to the Jefferson County line is proposed for hiking, biking and equestrian trails, campsites, possibly even lodging or family retreat facilities.
Miller Peninsula, between Sequim and Discovery bays, is a second-growth forest criss-crossed with old logging roads used now as primitive hiking trails.
State parks officials hope to begin construction of Miller Peninsula State Park by 2009.
Water access from the park would be along Sequim Bay.
Already planned is a stretch of Olympic Discovery Trail that would connect Clallam to Jefferson County, a non-motorized vehicle trail that would serve as a backbone for smaller, less developed connecting trails in the park.
Two public hearings this year in Sequim drew more than 300 people, and Herzog said the majority made it clear they wanted most of the park to remain in an undeveloped state.
“It’s been really great to see the level of enthusiasm,” Herzog said of the hundreds of people on and off the North Olympic Peninsula who have given their comments thus far.
A Miller Peninsula Exploratory Committee of 19 people, mostly from Sequim, has also been engaged in the planning process.
State Parks officials chose the site for a new park to mark the centennial of the state parks system in 2013.
The state Legislature will be asked next year to allocate about $12 million to develop the park over the next six years.
Already, a $150,000 appropriation has been approved for first-phase development of a vision and initial access to the park.
As planned, $3.5 million will be needed in the park project’s second phase to prepare a master plan and develop administrative and maintenance facilities.
The third phase would construct the park’s infrastructure between 2009 and 2011 for $5 million.
A fourth phase would develop major facilities for $5 million from 2011 to the park’s 2013 opening.