Apply now for Local Parks Maintenance Grants (Washington) - fundsforNGOs

The Local Parks Maintenance grant program provides funding to address maintenance backlogs in local parks.

Donor Name: Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office

State: Washington

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 09/18/2023

Size of the Grant: $100,000

Details:

This program will focus on helping communities in need address maintenance backlogs for key local parks facilities and capital improvements. Accessed through a simple application process, grants can be used for general maintenance of things such as trails, restrooms, picnic sites, playgrounds, signs, and kiosks.

Typical Projects

Examples of typical projects that likely could be funded through this program include the following:

Staff time to complete priority deferred maintenance projects.
Deferred purchases of maintenance equipment and supplies.
Upkeep and minor repairs of park infrastructure such as kiosks, picnic shelters, or trails.

Funding Information

The Legislature provides funding from general tax dollars: $2.5 million in Fiscal Year 2024 and $2.5 million in Fiscal Year 2025.

Minimum grant request: $35,000
Maximum grant request: $100,000

RCO will award grants between $35,000-$100,000 and will not consider requests outside this range. An organization may submit only one application and may receive no more than $100,000.

Eligible Projects

LPM is specifically focused on supporting deferred maintenance activities at local parks. “Deferred maintenance” means a backlog of maintenance work the organization deems necessary to bring areas or facilities into good repair and/or into compliance with accessibility standards. Generally, this is work that is left undone due to a lack of resources or perceived lower priority than other projects. Failure to perform deferred work may result in the progressive deterioration of the facility condition or performance, and if not addressed, will significantly increase repair or renovation cost.

Eligible Activities

Eligible Tier 1 Activities

Eligible Tier 1 activities include all necessary upkeep, repairs, and minor partial replacements of above-ground elements associated with existing developed landscape features, structures less than fifty years old, and associated infrastructure. Examples of eligible Tier 1 deferred maintenance activities include the following:

Alterations to the interior or exterior of structures less than fifty years, such as repairing roofing, replacing windows and toilets, repainting siding, or installing accessibility elements. The work must not involve any ground-disturbing actions. Eligible structures are limited to those that directly support outdoor recreational use at the site (toilets, maintenance and supply storage, bathhouses, picnic shelters, etc.)
Removal, repair, or partial replacement of above-ground utility infrastructure (electrical, water, telecommunications, etc.) that do not involve ground disturbance.
Removal, repair, or partial replacement of above-ground recreational infrastructure such as backstops on a baseball field, boards on a wooden bridge, a swing set on a playground, drinking fountains or toilets in a bathroom, or pool pumps on a circulation system. Patching, refinishing, restriping, remarking, or partially replacing surfaces such as parking lots, sport courts, or playgrounds.
Leveling of trails, parking lots, pathways, and access roads. This includes curb grading for accessibility or flattening a surface by filling potholes, but surface elevation cannot be lowered, and no new ground disturbance may occur.
Placement of fill and surface materials on existing park roads, trails, and landscaped areas to smooth or level these surfaces, but surface elevation cannot be lowered, and no new ground disturbance may occur.
Removal, disposal, repair, or complete replacement of movable site furnishings such as picnic tables, benches, garbage cans, signs, and lifeguard stands.
Minor above-ground upgrades and new elements that retrofit existing areas or facilities to meet accessibility standards, such as removing curbs, installing handrails, adding signs to an existing pole, widening entrance doors, or adding automatic door openers.

Eligible Tier 2 Activities

Eligible Tier 2 activities include all necessary upkeep, repairs, and minor partial replacements of structures more than fifty years old2 and below-ground elements associated with existing developed landscape features, structures, and associated infrastructure. Examples of eligible Tier 2 deferred maintenance activities include the following:

Above-ground or below-ground alterations to the interior or exterior of structures fifty or more years old, such as repairing roofing, repainting siding, installing accessibility elements, replacing windows and toilets, or fixing foundations. Eligible structures are limited to those that directly support outdoor recreational use at the site (toilets, maintenance and supply storage, bathhouses, picnic shelters, etc.)
Removal, repair, or partial replacement of below-ground utility infrastructure (electrical, water, telecommunications, etc.) such as fixing a leak in a buried waterline or digging out and replacing a broken utility pole.
Removal, repair, or replacement of components of below-ground recreational infrastructure, such as replacing rotted fence posts and signposts or repouring foundation for a light pole or vault toilet. Regrading of trails, parking lots, pathways, or access roads that involves lowering the surface elevation through ground disturbance.
Restoration or landscaping work involving earth moving, such as whole removal (including roots) of diseased trees or replanting of trees or shrubs.
Minor below-ground upgrades and/or minor below-ground new elements that retrofit existing areas or facilities to meet accessibility standards, such as regrading portions of a path or adding a new sign pole.

Eligibility Criteria