EDMONDS – The ball is in the school district’s court.
As residents have been pushing the city of Edmonds to do for a year and a half, the city has bid on 11 acres of former school property in the south end of the city.
The Edmonds School District plans to sell the former Woodway Elementary School at 23700 104th Ave. SW, which has been closed for decades. The residents want play fields on the site preserved as a park.
The city awaits an answer from the school district on its bid, the amount of which was not disclosed.
“I’m not excited yet,” Cliff Sanderlin, a member of the Sherwood Park and Playfield Preservation Council, said after Tuesday’s unanimous City Council vote. “I commend them for having the right intention. The proof will be in the purchase.”
The Edmonds School Board had a closed-door meeting on Thursday to discuss the matter. State law allows elected officials to discuss real estate transactions in private.
Marla Miller, finance director for the school district, said the district has advertised that it will accept bids until March 31, and will likely stick to that statement.
The city apparently has some heavy competition for the site.
“We’ve got bids in hand, and they’re good ones,” Miller said.
The property is assessed by Snohomish County at $7.6 million. Edmonds City Council President Deanna Dawson said the city’s bid is “substantially in excess” of the assessed value.
City officials said if the bid is rejected, they will still try to acquire part of the property.
“We’re going to our limit financially to make this proposal,” Dawson said. “If we can’t do it for that amount, we’ll have to do it for some lesser amount.”
The city doesn’t have the cash to cover its bid, she said. It would have to sell bonds backed by a portion of the city’s real-estate excise tax.
Residents repeatedly have reminded officials that the south end is the only part of the city without a major neighborhood park. Dawson said that was a factor in the council’s decision.
About 70 residents staged a demonstration before the meeting. They camped in front of the building holding bright yellow balloons and signs with slogans such as “Save Our Open Spaces,” “All 11 Acres,” “No 60 homes” and “No Child Left Inside.”
Several parents with small children, and even a dog, were among them.
“We walk over there, it’s a great place to be, to have a field to kick a soccer ball around in, to throw a baseball” or enjoy the grassy field, said Susan Bland, accompanied by her daughter, Elena Pierce, 6.
The 11-acre property includes a soccer field, a baseball diamond with a large expanse of grass, and trees along its east and north sides. The fields are used by youth sports teams and neighborhood kids for pickup games. Adults use the park, too.
“There are a lot of people who walk around there,” Bland said.
Part of the former school building on the property is used by a Montessori school, and the remainder is vacant.
The residents like the fields as they are, and are not asking for improvements, Sanderlin said. The building would likely have to be torn down, and perhaps could be replaced by restrooms and a picnic area, he added.
Dawson said the council, which agreed on the bid in a closed-door session before the meeting, decided to make another run at the property after a previous bid was rejected.
“It’s always been the desire of the council to acquire all 11 acres,” she said.
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