McCormick Village plan gets favorable reviews

Your parents probably told you growing up that if you’re going to do something, you should do it well.

If so, your parents would like the ideas being suggested for the city’s planned McCormick Village Park.

“It’s truly an ambitious project, but nothing ventured nothing gained,” said Dick Davis, a Port Orchard resident who served on a citizen advisory board for the project. “I don’t think I can recall a park anywhere like this on the Kitsap Peninsula.”

Probably not, and that’s a very good thing.

The 27.4-acre park would be situated on a slight ridge between two stream branches adjacent to Old Clifton Road and north of the McCormick Woods golf course development.

The proposed site features a mixture of wetlands, second-growth forest and shady clearings.

The site was designated as park land in the broader McCormick Village development plan.

Previously owned by Kitsap County, the site became city property when the area was annexed by Port Orchard in July 2009.

Since then, the city and volunteers like Davis have been working together to develop a plan that would maximize the property’s assets — and the results have been impressive.

Rather than limiting itself to the vision of nature lovers who wanted the site largely left as is or recreation enthusiasts who envisioned a collection of ballfields and other developments, the group came up with a plan that preserves the property’s natural character but makes it accessible to those wanting to enjoy it.

The signature attraction would be a raised platform that would enable visitors to view the forest canopy from above.

How cool is that?

Again, the park is a long way from completion and many details have yet to be worked out. But the skillful marriage of nature and human use devised by McCormick Village’s planners leaves us optimistic the final product will be something the community will be proud of for generations to come.

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