S-567                 _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 3445

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Senators Fleming, Williams and Talmadge

Read first time 1/30/85 and referred to Committee on Parks and Ecology.

AN ACT Relating to parks and recreation service areas; and amending RCW 36.68.400.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 1, chapter 218, Laws of 1963 as last amended by section 1, chapter 210, Laws of 1981 and RCW 36.68.400 are each amended to read as follows:

          Any county shall have the power to create park and recreation service areas for the purpose of financing the acquisition, construction, improvement, maintenance or operation of ((neighborhood)) any park, senior citizen activities centers, zoos, aquariums, and recreational facilities as defined in RCW 36.69.010 which shall be owned or leased by the county and administered as other county parks or shall be owned or leased and administered by a city or town.  ((The service areas created as hereinafter set forth may finance any of the following park purposes:  (1) Acquisition or lease of park sites and buildings; (2) construction of improvements upon county park allocated lands or city or town park lands which will promote leisure time and recreational activities of residents on a neighborhood basis, including but not limited to the construction of field houses, swimming pools, tennis courts, playfields, and other facilities; (3) maintenance of any park or recreational facility owned or leased by a county, city, or town, including the purchase of athletic equipment and supplies and the upkeep of park buildings, grounds and facilities; and (4) engaging custodial, recreational and park program personnel at any park or recreational facility owned or leased by a county, city, or town.)) A park and recreation service area shall be a quasi-municipal corporation, an independent taxing "authority" within the meaning of section 1, Article 7 of the Constitution, and a "taxing district" within the meaning of section 2, Article 7 of the Constitution.

          A park and recreation service area shall constitute a body corporate and shall possess all the usual powers of a corporation for public purposes as well as all other powers that may now or hereafter be specifically conferred by statute.

          The county legislative authority shall be the governing body of any park and recreation service area which is created within the county:  PROVIDED, That where a park and recreation service area includes an incorporated city or town within the county, the park and recreation service area may be governed as provided in an interlocal agreement adopted pursuant to chapter 39.34 RCW.  The voters of a park and recreation service area shall be all registered voters residing within the service area.

          A multicounty park and recreation service area shall be governed as provided in an interlocal agreement adopted pursuant to chapter 39.34 RCW.