SNOHOMISH – In the end, the city chose to have seniors move and let the dead remain at rest at an abandoned pioneer cemetery.
A new senior center will be built on a city-owned lot on Fourth Street, not on top of an old cemetery on Cypress Avenue, where the Snohomish Senior Center has operated in a small pink house since the early 1990s, the City Council decided late Tuesday night.
“We do want to take a step forward. This is the right thing to do,” Mayor Randy Hamlin said before the council voted 7-0 to change sites.
| In the 1940s, the state built a highway through a cemetery where Snohomish pioneers were buried. The state didn’t relocate all the graves. Later, the highway route was changed, and the cemetery was abandoned.
* In the early 1990s, the Snohomish Senior Center opened in a small house on the site. * In the late 1990s, the city acquired the 1.5-acre parcel. An inspection by ground-penetrating radar did not indicate that many human remains were still buried there. * In 2002, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge ruled that the city first needed to decertify the cemetery before building the new $1.2 million senior center. * In December, archaeologists finished inspecting the parcel, and listed 96 locations believed to contain human remains. * On Tuesday, the Snohomish City Council approved a plan to build the senior center on a city-owned lot on Fourth Street instead of the pioneer cemetery site. |
The change settles a dispute between the city and the Tulalip Tribes, who believe American Indian remains are buried at the pioneer cemetery, said Glen Gobin, a Tulalip Tribes board member.
“We certainly welcome the news. That shows the right step to preserve the site as a cemetery,” Gobin said.
The city had planned to build the new senior center on the 1.5-acre former cemetery, assuming that few human remains were left there. But late last year, archaeologists found 96 locations believed to have human remains.
“That was a significant surprise for us,” city manager Larry Bauman said.
The inspection is expected to cost the city about $149,000.
Snohomish pioneers were buried at the site until the early 1900s. In the 1940s, the state built a highway through the cemetery, but didn’t relocate all the graves. Later, the highway route was changed and the cemetery was abandoned.
The number of remains found has raised concerns from some Snohomish residents as well as the tribes.
“In all likelihood, they are our ancestors who lived in the Snohomish area,” Gobin said.
The tribes indicated that they would challenge the city’s plan in court. In 2002, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge ruled that the city first would have to decertify the cemetery site before building the senior center.
The decertification process would have cost the city about $575,000, Bauman said.
Moving the project to the city’s 1.27-acre vacant lot would keep the city out of court, would expedite the project and reduce the cost, Bauman said.
Senior citizens support the site change, said Karen Charnell, the senior center’s executive director. The new site is near a library and a swimming pool, and is a “nearly perfect location” for the center, James McAllister, a senior center member, told the council Tuesday.
McAllister said he opposed the cemetery site because he believes a great-great uncle, Elisha Packwood, is buried there.
“I don’t feel comfortable about it,” he said.
Seniors have raised about $900,000 through grants, donations and fundraising events, and they have secured service and construction materials worth $100,000 for the new $1.2 million center, Charnell said.
A construction start date has yet to be set, Bauman said.
City leaders and tribal members are still discussing options for the use of the cemetery site, Bauman said, which could include preserving the site as a cemetery with a memorial.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
