A new disc golf course is planned at King County’s Petrovitsky Park in Fairwood, but neighbors do not want it to happen.
The course is set to be built in a forested area within the park. Neighbors worry too many trees must be cleared to make it playable.
“Way too much fun,” Nathan Blackburn, a disc golfer, said. “I played five days a week, and we are already on Friday.”
KIRO 7 caught up with Blackburn and his friends at the Lakewood Disc Golf Course in White Center. When the course opens in Fairwood, he will play there as it is much closer to his home in Issaquah.
“I mean, it’s one of the least expensive hobbies to get into that will get you outdoors,” he said. “What’s not to love?”
According to Fairwood neighbors, there is plenty not to love.
“How do you get a disc to go through without clearing that?” Hugh Brown said of the dense forest at the park. “You can’t.”
Brown, a doctor of soil management who lives near the park, is one of nearly 800 people who have signed a petition against the planned course. He is concerned about the environmental impact.
“Bears, cougars, coyotes, otters, beavers, the whole range of large animals,” he said. “They are going to be very disturbed by a disc golf course.”
Brown has filed multiple public records requests about the project and intends to lodge a formal complaint alleging the planned course does not follow the State Environmental Policy Act.
“There are plenty of disc golf courses available for people who want to play the game,” Brown said. “But taking a 20-something-acre natural area and destroying it for the purposes of a few people- it’s roughly one percent of the total population that plays disc golf- is unfair.”
KIRO 7 reached out to King County about the neighbors’ concerns and received the following statement:
“Environmental stewardship is foundational to our work at King County Parks. It informs all our community-led projects, including one at Petrovitsky Park that will offer disc golf as a healthy, inclusive, family-friendly activity.
In response to concerns from nearby homeowners, Parks is voluntarily conducting a State Environmental Policy Act review, which allows for additional public feedback on the project. The initial analysis indicates there would be insignificant impact on the natural environment.
The course is designed to avoid all identified wetlands and their buffers, use existing natural clearings to minimize vegetation disturbance, and avoid removal of live trees. It also includes buffers from existing trails and neighboring homes, along with measures to keep players and discs within the designated course area.
Construction is scheduled to begin later this year.
Parks will continue to practice environmental stewardship while providing more access to outdoor recreation throughout King County.”