Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (WA) Grant

The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) program, funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, aims to enhance urban outdoor recreation in communities with populations over 30,000. By providing grants for projects like park renovations and new recreational facilities, it addresses the need for accessible green spaces in disadvantaged areas. Priority is given to projects in economically challenged regions, ensuring sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities for all residents.

Background
The Land and Water Conservation Fund provides funding to preserve and develop outdoor recreation resources, including parks, trails, and wildlife lands. Congress established the Land and Water Conservation Fund Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) program, which provides grants to help urban communities with thirty thousand or more people buy or develop land to create or reinvigorate public parks and other outdoor recreation spaces.
Purpose
The purpose of the ORLP Program is to provide new or significantly improved recreation opportunities in urban, disadvantaged communities lacking access to walkable outdoor recreation (a.k.a. park deserts), consistent with the purposes and requirements of the LWCF Act and LWCF Manual. To meet ORLP objectives and goals, projects must be:
located within an incorporated city or town or unincorporated area having a population of thirty thousand or more in the 2020 census (U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States), andlocated within a community (census tract) that is determined to be disadvantaged per the Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tool (includes tract of project site and communities served)
Typical Projects
Renovating community parksBuilding skate parks, swimming pools, and trailsBuilding athletic fields and sport courtsNature-based projects that support recreation

Eligibility

Who May Apply?Local agenciesSpecial purpose districts, such as park and recreation districtsNative American tribesState agenciesEligible ProjectsLand acquisitionDevelopment or renovationTo apply for this funding, applicants must have completed a comprehensive recreation or conservation plan. See details on the planning page and in Manual 2: Planning Guidelines.Architecture and engineering costs for development and renovation projects are limited to 20 percent of the total development project cost.All property acquired or developed with these grants must be kept forever exclusively for public outdoor recreation use.Match DetailsApplicants must contribute matching resources at least equal to the amount of the grant requested.Match may include the following:Appropriations or cashBondsDonations of cash, land, labor, equipment, and materialsFederal (very limited), state, local, and private grantsApplicant’s labor, equipment, and materialsFor local agencies, at least 10 percent of the total project cost must come from a non state, non-federal contribution.

Ineligibility

Administrative costs are not eligible.Ineligible ProjectsFederal surplus propertyGame refuges or fish production facilitiesHistoric sites and structuresLands acquired from the federal government at less than fair market valueLand and facilities used primarily for semi-professional and professional arts and athleticsLand for indoor facilities, except for covered swimming pools and ice rinksLand for agricultural purposesLand to help meet a public school’s minimum site size requirementRailroad hardware, trestles, stations, yards, etc.Luxury lodges, motels, cabins, and similar elaborate facilities that serve food and have sleeping quartersMuseums and sites to be used for museums or primarily for archaeological excavationsScholastic and intercollegiate facilitiesParks and sites that are receiving an LWCF formula grant, or that received an LWCF formula grant that closed within the past seven years, at the same park, even if the scope of the project is differentParks and sites that already have received two previous ORLP awards, or additional ORLP funds to cover a cost increase of a previous ORLP grant projectIncidental costs relating to acquisition of real property or interests such as permits and surveys