$850,000 for two Lynnwood parks

LYNNWOOD — Conventional wisdom holds that money is tight these days.

When it comes to parks in northeast Lynnwood, though, conventional wisdom is wrong.

Completely.

Two new neighborhood parks about one mile apart won a combined $850,000 in grants from Olympia this year. They were two of just 21 parks projects funded statewide by the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program.

No other park project in Snohomish County got a grant.

The money should help Lynn­wood open one new neighborhood park later this year, and will revive plans for another neighborhood park, which stalled five years ago.

“It’s really good news,” said Lynn Sordel, the city’s parks and recreation director. “We are looking forward to getting these started.”

Stadler Ridge Park on 33rd Place W. in northeast Lynnwood got a $350,000 grant. Doc Hageman Park is just outside city limits on 178th Street SE and got $500,000.

The city had already set aside $800,000 to help build the parks, including $600,000 for Doc Hageman Park.

It’s unusual for Lynnwood to build a park outside its city limits, Sordel said.

That’s not the only unusual thing about the park, which is east of I-5 in an area that Lynnwood hopes to annex soon.

Take its name, for instance. The park was named after Orwin “Doc” Hageman, who still lives on the 8-acre property. He sold his land to the city in 2002 at a discount price on the condition that the land that was once a farm would become a park.

Hageman will have to move away sometime this summer so that construction can begin. The park could open later this year, Sordel said.

Preserving the land’s heritage is important, though, he said.

“There’s a legacy story on that property,” said Sordel, who said some farm buildings on the property will be incorporated in the new park. “We’ll tell some of the story. We want to preserve that. There’s some really good value there for the community and for history.”

Across I-5, Stadler Ridge Park is a 2-acre parcel in the middle of a single-family neighborhood.

Five years ago, architects worked with the community to design the park. Money dried up.

Now, though, the city will update those plans and figure out what a final park could look like, Sordel said.

That’s something people near the proposed Stadler Ridge Park are anxious for, residents said. The area is now overgrown with imposing blackberry bushes.

“It will be good for the kids,” said Onus Saleh. “When they make the parks, they make them look good.”

Chris Fyall: 425-339-3447, cfyall@heraldnet.com.