Planning a community park takes time, and Covington wants to make sure residents get in on the ground floor of the planning process.

To that end, the city is hosting an open house next Wednesday to gather input on the master plan for the park land at 180th Avuenue Southeast/Southeast 240th Street.

Covington parks and recreation director Scott Thomas has just started with the city. This is the first thing he has been asked to dive into, and Thomas encourages residents to come out to the meeting at City Hall to learn more about the plan and offer up their ideas and requests.

“This park will be the first time that Covington residents will have the opportunity to design a large, new community park from scratch,” Thomas said. “We are at the very beginning of the design process, so now is the perfect time for citizens to get involved. At the open house, we will be seeking ideas about what features are important to include in the park design, such as restrooms, walking and jogging trails, playground, sports fields, picnic tables and barbecues.”

The property is directly across the street from Tahoma High School.

Earlier this year, the city hired a design consulting firm to help mold a master plan for the site. City officials would like to see it become a recreation site, possibly home to ball fields, among other potential uses.

Covington has $700,000 in state money for the project, as well as $70,000 in grant money from King County that has been put to use to develop a master plan.

In March, city manager Derek Matheson said officials were anticipating potential costs for development of the site to be about $3 million, based on the assumption that there would be two lit, all-weather multi-purpose fields, as well as other facilities like restrooms and parking. That estimate could change as the site plan crystalizes during the coming months.

Ball fields on that site may end up replacing the baseball field at Tahoma High, with the Tahoma School District evaluating the possibility of building a district performing arts center where the field is now.

Covington recently annexed the park site into its city limits. The site covers about 28 acres and is a collection of four parcels purchased by the city in 2003 and then brought into King County’s urban growth boundary (UGA) in 2004.

According to city planning manager Richard Hart, about 12 acres on the southwest portion of the site must be developed as passive recreation, as it is sensitive wetlands.

How the site can be developed is outlined by a conservation easement from the Cascade Land Conservancy. This was required when the land was brought into the UGA, which was approved by the City Council in 2006 in a deed and agreement, then filed with King County in 2007