Plans for a mountain bike park with multilevel trail courses at Port Gamble Heritage Park are on their way to becoming reality with $1.7 million in funding from the Kitsap Public Facilities District.

Kitsap County commissioners last week approved an interlocal agreement with the public facilities district, setting the stage for moving ahead on the next phases of the project, which include constructing trails and infrastructure, development of the Stottlemeyer Trailhead and working on linkages as part of the Sound to Olympics Trail.

The mountain bike ride park was one of three projects selected by commissioners of the public facilities district to receive some initial funding. The PFD commissioners last summer gave their blessing to spending money from the district's reserve funds on studies and other expenditures to move its top-ranked projects forward. Those projects were the South Kitsap Community Center, an event center in Poulsbo and the mountain bike ride park.

The design, permitting, and construction of trails, bathrooms, parking, and a training area are estimated to cost about $1.4 million, according to the project summary. An additional $375,000 will be allocated to a master plan for the park. Just over $500,000 will be allocated to design and permitting for the Sound to Olympics Trail and construction of the Stottlemeyer parking area.

The infrastructure that will be put into place initially includes parking, bathrooms and trails.

One of the goals of the master plan is to shed light on the economic benefits of the mountain bike park and connecting trail. Ideas like rental cabins are far off, said Mike Walton, executive director of the public facilities district, but the master plan study will give an idea of what’s doable.

Later phases — to be determined once that master plan is complete — could cost around $8.9 million, Walton said.

The 3,500-acre Port Gamble park will have over 10 miles of new trails for various uses, plus a skills course for mountain bike training. The county is working with the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance to create the park. The organization already maintains many of the trails at Port Gamble. Depending on permitting, construction could begin this spring and wrap up as early as this fall, Walton said.

The park is a culmination of years of efforts from many, said Matthew Slaney of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance.

"We're really stoked, really excited about it," Slaney said. "It finishes off the trail system."

The current trails at Port Gamble Heritage Park are multi-use, meaning hikers, dog-walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers can use them. But many mountain bikers in the area want more serious trails, Slaney said. The ride park will be built so a rider can come in as a novice mountain biker and gradually improve their skills on the various leveled courses.

"I really do expect the next generation of pro riders to come out of Washington state," Slaney said. "This ride park is part of that."

Eric Baker, Kitsap County policy manager, says the park will be a community asset for residents of Kitsap County to use on a daily basis, and the hope with the next steps of the project is to determine how to make the park the most useful for the highest number of people.

“This project will bring a world-class ride park to Port Gamble, which will bring tourists and economic development,” Baker said.

Walton said the development will allow more public to use a greater portion of the park.

“This is kind of an enhancement or improvement to the initial park, which is mostly just forest and trails,” he said.

The initial money from the public facilities district will be used to pay for planning and permitting for the Sound to Olympics Trail, with construction of the trail paid for in future phases, Walton said.

The vision for the Sound to Olympics Trail calls for a two-lane paved trail that will connect with the Discovery Trail on the Olympic Peninsula and run through North Kitsap and onto Bainbridge as a link to the east side of the Puget Sound.

Baker applauded the work of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and other groups in making the bike park proposal a reality.

“PFD and the county are pieces of this,” Baker said. “It wouldn’t have come to fruition without the work of the community as whole, park stewards, Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and conservation groups.”