EVERETT — For decades, families came to south Everett to ride a small-scale train or play a round of miniature golf at Jazwieck’s Golfette and Trainland.
Now the wooded land the train used to wend through is up for sale. The 8 acres will probably end up sold to a developer, said owner Phil Jazwieck. The golf course closed last year.
It’s the end to a beloved mom-and-pop operation that attracted thousands of local families for more than half a century.
Jazwieck isn’t enthusiastic about the land turning into condos or apartments, but he said he has no other choice. He can’t afford the taxes.
In the past five years, his property taxes have nearly tripled. In 2006, the tax bill was $14,065, according to Snohomish County Assessor’s Office records. His tax bill this year: $40,698.
“They just think whatever they value the land at people are supposed to earn enough money to pay for it,” Phil Jazwieck said. “If they don’t, they can hit the road.”
By state law, the assessor’s office is required to appraise property at its “highest and best use.” In 2005, county appraisers determined the highest and best use for the land is condos or apartments, said Cindy Portmann, the Snohomish County assessor. That change is part of the reason the land was assigned a higher assessed value, which led to a higher bill.
Phil Jazwieck could apply for an open-space exemption that would limit the assessed value to its current use, rather than its potential use, Portmann said. That could save thousands of dollars. But there’s a catch. If the property owner decides to sell the property too soon, he would have to pay back taxes and penalties.
Phil Jazwieck’s parents bought the land in 1948. His father, Edward Jazwieck, worked as a meat cutter by day, but he was a natural with mechanical things. The train, dubbed the Bumblebee Special, was his project. At night, he built the train from parts salvaged from the wrecking yard, including a 1946 DeSoto. He painted it bright orange and black.
When the train first opened to paying customers in 1955, it made just a modest circle around the property. Over time, Edward Jazwieck laid more tracks and he built attractions along the route: the Statue of Liberty, a 15-foot-tall Mount Rushmore, a mechanized Humpty Dumpty teetering on a log.
Eventually, a mile of track meandered through the woods. Edward Jazwieck was usually at the train’s controls, a locomotive engineer’s cap on his head.
His daughter, Mara Brophy, remembers the joy of the passengers — and of her dad.
“At the very end of the train ride he’d always say, ‘I thank you and all the animals and the squirrels in the forest thank you,’ ” she said.
Sparky Taft of Mukilteo used to ride the Bumblebee Special as a kid.
“For many, many years, it gave a lot of pleasure to families and kids,” he said.
It wasn’t taxes, but time that put an end to the train rides.
In 1994, the Bumblebee Special was put permanently into storage after the death of Edward Jazwieck. After nearly 40 years of continuous use, the wooden train tracks were beginning to rot and the family couldn’t afford to replace them.
Brophy mounted a campaign a decade ago to replace the tracks, but while many people were generous enough to offer labor, nobody donated the money needed to buy new railroad ties.
The family kept operating the golf course until last season. The venture was barely breaking even and customers complained the course needed maintenance, Phil Jazwieck said. There just wasn’t the money to keep up.
Today the tracks are disappearing into the underbrush and the dirt. The train is stored in a metal shed on the property. The family tried offering it to Disneyland as well as other public organizations but there were no takers. Phil Jazwieck doesn’t want to sell his father’s pride and joy to a private collector.
One of his neighbors, Kim Carlson, mounted a campaign last year to get the city to buy the land and turn it into a park. Creating more parks in south Everett is a stated goal of the city.
Carlson figured the Jazwiecks had probably the only large undeveloped piece of land left in south Everett. The city should snap it up now when real estate prices are down, he said. Last year, he began passing out petitions to people around town.
City officials briefly considered the idea in June, then the parks director jettisoned it because it didn’t meet the city’s current or future needs.
The price tag then was $11.1 million. Since then, Jazwieck dropped the price to $8.1 million. The property — actually three lots — is assessed this year at $3.9 million. The land includes three homes and the building where Phil Jazwieck runs a Western apparel store.
The property has had a few nibbles from developers and interest has picked up since the price dropped in February, said Brad Albertsen, an agent with Windermere Commercial NW.
When the land does sell, Jazwieck and his sister plan to move to New Mexico. They don’t plan to look back.
“I don’t want to see what happens to it,” Jazwieck said. “I’ll just take my money and go.”
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
Tax help
To learn more about tax relief programs for property owners, go to the Snohomish County Assessor’s Web site, http://tinyurl.com/propertytaxhelp, or call 425-388-3433.
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