EVERETT — Nearly eight years after the city paid a Seattle developer $5 million for prime real estate on the shores of Silver Lake, most of the land remains fenced off from the public.
A few old buildings on the property are boarded up and a rotting wood dock on the site has giant clumps of weeds growing out of it.
That could change by summer, as city parks officials move to finally merge the 8.3-acre property with the urban lake’s popular public beach at Thornton A. Sullivan Park.
The additional land will almost double the park’s beachfront while adding nearly a third to the overall size of the 27-acre city park.
Dorthy Vandeventer, chairwoman of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Association, said she’s glad to see attention focused on expanding recreation at the lake.
“We were all delighted when (former Everett) Mayor Ed Hansen directed money to buy it from the developer,” she said. “I’d rather have it in the city’s hands and be patient, rather than battle the developer.”
The city bought the land after the developer, M. R. Mastro, spiked plans for nearly 500 apartments on the property.
Hal Gausman, special projects manager with the city parks department, said roughly five acres remain fenced off. Last year, the city opened some of the park after tearing down an old dance hall with a caved-in roof and a dilapidated guest house.
On Thursday, a proposal to tear down another 1,000-square-foot building, retaining walls, concrete slabs and underground utilities that fed a mobile home park on the site goes before a city hearing examiner and a public land use hearing.
Gausman said the city plans to keep several tall evergreens and a large domed building that was used for church services when the land was owned by the Assembly of God, which ran a summer Bible camp decades ago.
The city’s newly adopted parks strategic plan, which sets development goals for the next decade, found that residents in the south Everett neighborhood are underserved by the city parks.
A series of projects planned around Silver Lake aims to help balance the city’s park system, which the consultant said better served residents on the north end of town.
Earlier this year, Sullivan Park was named as a good site for a multimillion-dollar indoor pool complex and recreation center. City officials are also moving forward with a long-anticipated trail loop around much of the lake.
“It’s got tremendous potential for south Everett,” Gausman said.
Repoter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
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