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closeScott Junge to run unopposed for PenMet Parks board seat
Candidate to seek dog park, faster permitting process in next term
Nate Hulings
of the Gateway
Scott Junge is running unopposed for a seat on the Peninsula Metropolitan Parks board of directors.
Junge, who has been on the board for the past five years, has been involved with parks for 15 years. He originally got involved with PenMet parks after he was affiliated with the now-defunct Peninsula Parks and Recreation Department.
Junge’s passion for landscaping also got him interested in parks.
“I do landscaping, and I love the outdoors and working outside,” he said.
Parks provide an important part of a community, Junge said.
“The main goal is to provide an area and get outside and outdoors,” Junge said. “To preserve some open space for trails, and for walking and hiking.”
Junge also said his own kids’ involvement in sports pushed him to try to provide recreational areas for activities.
He said he remembered a time when only schools could facilitate sports.
“We’re beginning, slowly, to change that a bit,” Junge said.
Junge also had his hands in the work to get Rosedale Park started.
“(It’s been) very well maintained. Residents very much appreciate the transformation it made,” he said.
Junge is one of the original PenMet commissioners, and he said getting the district off the ground is one of the things he’s most proud of accomplishing.
Between the hiring of staff and creating policy, building PenMet was challenging but rewarding, he said.
Junge looks to Sehmel Homestead Park as PenMet’s greatest feat.
“The biggest thing we started and accomplished was Homestead Park,” he said. “Being the thing we worked on the most and the most proud of.”
Looking forward, Junge hopes to address the timeliness of the permitting process.
“It just needs to be streamlined more,” Junge said.
He’d also like to see PenMet continue to grow.
Junge is a strong advocate for building an off-leash dog park.
“(It was) something I was working on before it was in the limelight,” Junge said. “I have pets I take, and when the airport closed theirs, it created a greater need.”
He’d also like to see the Cushman Trail project act as a highway for more connector trails.
Junge has owned Rosedale Gardens and Nursery for 23 years. His passion for landscaping bleeds into both his hobbies and his profession. He’s been landscaping for 36 years.
“My hobby is the same as my profession,” he said. “I love what I do.”
Junge and his wife, Lyn, have been married for 25 years and have four children. His other hobbies include hiking and soccer.