Snohomish County Council voted unanimously to donate park to Lake Stevens

Published 1:30 am Saturday, August 30, 2025

EVERETT — A county park that sits within Lake Stevens’ limits will be donated to the city after unanimous approval by the County Council on Wednesday.

Cavalero Hill Park sits off 20th Street just east of the U.S. 2 and Highway 204 junction. The park was annexed into Lake Stevens in 2009 but remained under county control.

At the time, the city was not ready to take on maintaining and developing the park, County Council member Sam Low said in an email. Low was part of the Cavalero Hill Park planning process with the county when he was a Lake Stevens City Council member 2014-16.

Lake Stevens now has a full-time parks and recreation director, Sarah Garceau, and a “robust parks department,” Low said. “The timing made sense to turn over this park to the city so they can tackle the next phases of park development and maintenance.”

Garceau already has a plan in place to take on park maintenance, she said in an email, including more frequent cleanings and quicker graffiti removal and vandalism repairs.

“Additionally, the City will begin evaluating opportunities to further develop the park by adding new amenities and expanding recreational offerings,” Garceau said.

The transfer is a “win-win,” Low said, allowing the county to allocate more funds to other parks and giving Lake Stevens the opportunity to develop Cavalero Hill with community input.

“For me it’s a full circle moment,” Low said, “of being the city representative for the planning of the park over a decade ago, raising money for the skate park while part of Lake Stevens Rotary, getting the Skate Park built as a County Council Member and now putting forward the amended motion to donate the park to Lake Stevens to operate, maintain, and develop with the local community going forward.”

The park includes a basketball court and off-leash dog areas. Renovation completed in 2020 added an 18,000-square-foot skate park. Future plans, with no current timeline, include volleyball courts, expanding the off-leash dog areas, an indoor BMX biking facility and adding three small business storefronts.

The transfer is expected to finalize in mid-to-late September, according to Garceau.

Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay