The biggest piece of the financial puzzle for paying for Snohomish County’s new $41 million Cathcart maintenance center fell into place Tuesday when the county finalized a 23-acre land sale to the city of Monroe.
The deal means Monroe can move forward with plans to develop the former gravel pit as a commercial center.
It’s also another step toward building a firing range at Cathcart for sheriff’s deputies, and the eventual end of the unsightly county maintenance shop in Snohomish.
Monroe will pay $16.1 million for the county property near U.S. 2.
The Monroe sale will give the city 55 acres to develop in the proposed North Kelsey Development, east of the Evergreen State Fairgrounds, said Hiller West, Monroe’s community development director. The city already owns 32 acres in the area.
“It makes our land more valuable and makes it easier to plan and develop the property,” Mayor Donnetta Walser said.
The sale also provides money for to consolidate the county’s public works maintenance shops at Cathcart, which will lead to the county closing its facility in Snohomish and someday selling that 9.1-acre site.
“We’re putting very desirable property back on the tax rolls,” said County Councilman Jeff Sax, whose district includes Monroe and Snohomish.
“It’s a good thing for the county and the city of Monroe,” he said. “And eventually, for the city of Snohomish.”
Monroe considers the development one of the biggest sales tax revenue boosters in its future. The City Council is also discussing whether to build a community center there.
Walser hopes that the North Kelsey area will be a major shopping destination in the Sky Valley area.
“I’m really excited about it. I think this is a once-in-life opportunity for the city,” she said.
Construction of new businesses in the development could start in mid-2006, West said. The city is now interviewing potential brokers.
Carol Grey, Monroe’s finance director, said the city will pay for the county property with a bank loan.
For the county, the finalized sale in Monroe means a major piece of the funding is in place for the county’s continued development of its Cathcart landfill property. A community park is already under construction on the land southwest of Snohomish.
Proceeds from the sale will help pay for the county’s new public works maintenance center.
The expansive project, located at the northwest corner of Highway 9 and Cathcart Way, will include a 105,000-square foot public works building that will house maintenance shops now located in Snohomish and at Paine Field. The project also includes a new indoor firing range and a vehicle impound lot for the county Sheriff’s Department.
The big push to consolidate public works facilities at Cathcart started in 2002.
And the move will eventually mean the county closes its public works facility in Snohomish, something that Snohomish is anxious to see happen.
Many of the buildings at the county’s 9.1-acre Snohomish property were there when the county got the land in the 1930s, and some have called the property an eyesore.
Likewise, the maintenance facility at Paine Field has outdated buildings that were built by the Army in the 1940s.
Construction at Cathcart could wrap up by the end of 2007 if all goes as planned, said project manager Steve Dickson.
Because the current zoning wouldn’t allow outright development of the new facilities, the county would need to get a conditional use permit before building.
A public hearing on that permit is tentatively planned for June.
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