Just when they thought they were safely on their way to home plate, Snohomish County ball-field owners fighting to legalize fields built without permits had to pull up at third.
Now they need one more hit.
Legislation signed into law in 2005 gave Snohomish County farmers a one-time opportunity to legalize their ball fields by changing the land’s designation from agriculture to recreation.
The farmers were told they had two years to go through Snohomish County’s permitting process, something the county simplified earlier this year when it agreed to waive the fees for required permits.
The county couldn’t waive the permits themselves, however, and the larger ball field managers are now finding out that’s where the real costs are hiding.
“They were saying that it’s going to be no fees,” said Carol Aichele, past board present of North Snohomish Little League. “At no point did anyone say we would have to do all the studies and surveys.”
The list of required studies is long.
Just ask Dan Reina, a board member for South Snohomish Little League.
“The extensive and time-consuming permits are the shoreline permit, the conditional-use permit, the flood-hazard permit and, of course, the building permit,” said Reina, a land-use consultant by trade. “The big costs are the topographic and site surveys required for both flood-hazard and shoreline permits.”
He estimates it will cost the two leagues together between $35,000 and $45,000 to hire expert consultants to put all the information for those permits together.
Reina and Aichele don’t know how the leagues are going to come up with the money, but both said their members are trying hard to find it. The North and South Snohomish leagues combined have about 1,500 kids playing ball on 17 fields.
Reina was quick to praise the county for waiving the permit fees, which will save the leagues $6,500 to $10,000 each.
“Without that cooperative spirit, we would have never got it done,” he said. “It’s been a combined effort by a lot of people. We’re close to the finish line.”
The permits are necessary to make sure the fields and the structures on them are safe from flooding and that they don’t harm endangered species, said Craig Ladiser, director of Snohomish County Planning and Development Services.
“I think we have been very cooperative with them,” he said. “We’ve worked through all the things that we could. … Had this not been done illegally, it probably would be less expensive.”
Still, he said he would personally review the situation to look for other ways the county can help the ball-field owners.
The ball-field operators have until next spring to get through the county process, but they have been advised to get the permits done by the end of the year, when the county expects to adopt a new set of environmental restrictions.
So far, four smaller fields have received their permits, said Karen Watkins, a senior planner for Snohomish County. The rest are in progress, she said.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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