The Snohomish County Council unanimously agreed Wednesday to sell up to 65 acres of 269 acres of landfill property at Cathcart to the Snohomish School District so it can build a new high school and elementary school there.
But the impending sale brought an immediate call to also set aside some of the county’s land at Cathcart for sports fields.
Snohomish-area residents said developing baseball and soccer fields on the property could cure the shortage of sports facilities in the county. And the council should think of saving the land for parks before selling it to developers.
“Please don’t develop it,” said Vicki Creighton, a parent of three children in the Snohomish School District. “Please don’t create new homes and have more children come to the area where they have no place to play.”
Two Snohomish Little Leagues have been caught in the ball field shortage. The organizations have been embroiled in controversy since building ballparks without permits on farmland near Snohomish. The leagues face a deadline of May 31, 2005, to get permits or remove the ball fields.
Community sports supporters have long said there is a shortage of play fields in the county. And parks officials have said the county may need as many as 16 new parks, carrying a price tag of roughly $88.6 million, in the next two decades.
Some familiar faces in the ball fields debate also pressed the county to set aside a portion of the Cathcart land for sports fields.
They said putting more at Cathcart, where the 84-acre Willis D. Tucker Community Park is under construction, is the answer to solve the shortage.
“Imagine if we had a giant ball field complex there,” said Hans Dunshee, a state representative from Snohomish. “The beauty of this place is, you own it already.”
“Think about Central Park in New York; think about Green Lake in Seattle; think about Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. All those places were on the outskirts of the city, when they were purchased,” he said.
“Please don’t sell Central Park.”
The county bought 440 acres of land in the Cathcart area in the late 1980s for a regional landfill. But with the county shipping its trash to Eastern Washington, most of the property is no longer needed for a garbage dump.
Including the land that will be sold to the school district, 269 acres is now considered surplus.
Council members weren’t quick to embrace the ball fields idea.
Councilman Gary Nelson said the county would hire a consultant to evaluate potential uses of the rest of the land.
The council also has asked the county executive for a plan by June 30, 2005, on future public and private uses for the property. The plan could include selling some of it to developers.
The sale to the school district has not been finalized, and negotiations are ongoing.
Voters in the district approved a $141.6 million bond measure to pay for a new high school and elementary school in May. The proposal included money for a land purchase at the Cathcart property.
The land has risen in value in recent years as the area continues to grow.
The county paid $80,000 an acre for 30 acres of land at Cathcart during an internal county sale last year. The value of the property has gone up since then, but the county is not saying how much an April 2004 appraisal says the property is worth.
District officials were grateful for the council’s vote that authorized the start of negotiations for the land sale.
“It certainly represents a major milestone. We’re very pleased,” district superintendent Bill Mester said.
After the sale is complete, Mester said the next hurdle would be getting permits for the new schools.
Getting a new high school built will take four to five years, while the elementary school will take two to three years. Both schools would be built at the same time, he said.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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