Carousel Ranch, a $17 million park long in limbo, has a new blueprint

WOODINVILLE — After 17 years, Carousel Ranch is finally on the cusp of fruition.

The park has switched properties and names — Wellington Hills, Maltby Park and now Carousel Ranch — amid a prolonged debate over where it should be and what it should look like. Now the plan is to build it on its namesake, a 65-acre horse ranch at 21815 Highway 9, about 4 miles north of Woodinville.

In 2005, the county received a $70 million mitigation settlement from King County as part of an agreement to house the Brightwater Treatment Facility in unincorporated Snohomish County. Of that $70 million, $30.4 million was allocated for parks and recreation.

Tambark Creek Park and Miners Corner Park were built using the settlement money, but a third park struggled to manifest. Meanwhile, inflation meant $30.4 million wasn’t worth as much as it was two decades ago.

Now, Carousel Ranch’s budget is about $17 million, featuring sports fields, connections to Brightwater trails and an off-leash dog area. Tom Teigen, the Snohomish County director of conservation and natural resources, has been involved in the park’s development since its inception. He’s excited to see it move forward.

“Parks are really a connective tissue for communities,” Teigen said. “Having open, inviting, welcoming park sites that are well built and well maintained is critical — during the pandemic we really saw that.”

Originally, the plan detailed a new $20 million park, featuring a 50,000-square-foot indoor sports arena; a 60,000-square-foot indoor mountain biking facility; four lighted, synthetic-turf fields; four grass fields; an off-leash dog park; and miles of paved trails. The mitigation stipulated that the parks must be built within a 4-mile radius of the treatment facility, so the county purchased the 100-acre Wellington Hills Golf Course for $9.7 million.

The county hoped to attract sports tournaments and events, but some local residents voiced concerns about the potential traffic and development. Despite resident reservations, the Brightwater settlement specifically called for “active recreation facilities” for sports like baseball, soccer, football or lacrosse. Community backlash halted construction.

Wellington Hills is the first time in Teigen’s 38-year-career when compromise evaded reach, he said.

Snohomish County sold the Wellington Hills property to Northshore School District for $11.2 million — about the equivalent of what the county bought it for, considering inflation. Residents didn’t like that either.

“I don’t think we — the parks and rec division or the county — will ever presume that we know better than anyone else,” Teigen said. “We want to work with our communities across the board and always be listening, accepting input.”

After reassessing available properties, the county purchased Carousel Ranch, a therapeutic horseback riding nonprofit, from Marge Curtis and her late husband Allen Curtis, for $9 million in 2015. The 92-year-old woman still lives on a 4½-acre section of the lush property, and she plans to stay as the park is built. One day, she hopes for her home to become a community center on the park’s property. Teigen called her “the true matriarch.” Ultimately, the county decided to keep the name “Carousel Ranch.”

“It turned out to be a very good location that is well supported by the community and has a limited number of neighbors,” Teigen said.

Parks Division Director Sharon Swan is currently overseeing the construction of the park, which sits just off of Highway 9.

“We adopted the Carousel Ranch title,” Swan said. “It actually simplifies things because there is another park in the area called the Maltby Park.”

The park’s turf fields will be lighted and available to soccer, baseball, softball, football, lacrosse and rugby year-round. They also plan to include an environmental restoration project along Cutthroat Creek on the property.

“Its about 1,000 feet of stream restoration to highlight the opportunities of the site and create some natural resource wins,” Swan said.

The county planned to open Carousel Ranch in 2020, but the grand opening was delayed due to design challenges, permits, funding changes and a lack of consultant availability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials now plan to begin construction in 2023.

Kayla Dunn: 425-339-3449; kayla.dunn@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @KaylaJ_Dunn.