The Little Leaguers of Snohomish County are in a real pickle.
Based on terrible advice from the county, they spent more than $500,000 to build ballfields on designated farmland, a violation of local and state law. Now, in an absurd twist, the same county government that gave its wink-and-a-nod approval while the fields were being built has ordered the Little Leagues off the fields by spring 2005. Who is going to buy this overpriced farmland? And then where are the kids to play?
The problem is not a conflict between kids and farmers. The truth is that this is yet another example of the county failing to do its job. Farming and baseball are both an important part of Snohomish County’s quality of life. The County Council has repeatedly failed to protect and plan for either.
The sensible approach at this point is to focus on solutions that will allow kids to play and farmers to farm. Lasting solutions must be based on the following common sense points:
First, the real solution is to get the money to put ballfields in the right places. We know there are funding options that can make that happen. The County Council has inexplicably failed in the past to pursue available state money to help buy land for baseball and soccer fields. We want to work with the county to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Our own state Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, serves as chairman of the powerful House Capital Budget Committee. Dunshee has said he will fight to secure some of the $25 million in state recreation funding to help acquire and develop more than a dozen recreation sites identified by the county Parks Department but not pursued by the council. The North and South Snohomish Little League Associations will surely do their part to assist in funding, as well as continue to maintain and improve the fields.
Second, it doesn’t make sense to locate ballfields on designated farmland, for several reasons:
* Pesticides used on neighboring fields could harm children.
* Playfield traffic and farm vehicles are not safely compatible.
* Ballfields should be in neighborhoods where kids can ride their bikes or walk to games and practices, not on farmland outside town that requires everyone to drive.
* Less than 5 percent of the county remains farmland. We need to save it for farming, especially when alternatives exist.
* Finally, once farmland has been graded, compacted and built on, it’s not economically or ecologically viable to return it to farming. Not surprisingly, these reasons are why it’s illegal to build ballfields on designated farmland.
Third, we should work out a deal that allows the existing fields to stay while ensuring farmland isn’t illegally sacrificed again. Building these fields was illegal, a fact no one disputes. But they’re built now, and it doesn’t make sense to kick the kids off.
The folks who say we have to change the Growth Management Act to rezone the Little League land are wrong; many of them are just looking for an excuse to weaken protections against sprawl development. The Act works well for its intended purpose of directing growth in existing communities and protecting farmland and forests from sprawl. As a community, we should defend the Growth Management Act. 1000 Friends of Washington will vigorously lead the way.
Finally, we should insist that people learn from their mistakes, and make sure that ballfields are not built on designated farmland in the future. If we want farming to continue to be a part of the our county’s culture, we have to stop sacrificing our last remaining farmland every time people need cheap land.
Snohomish County officials, public interest groups like 1000 Friends of Washington, and Little League and soccer parents should put their energy into fighting in Olympia for money to buy land and build fields in neighborhoods where kids can ride their bikes or walk to games and practices. We will be in Olympia when the Legislature convenes in January, supporting Rep. Dunshee and lobbying his colleagues to help Snohomish County do the right thing by our children and our farmers. We hope you will join us.
At the same time, the citizens of Snohomish County should train their attention on the Snohomish County Council and demand that its members begin to take seriously their responsibility to protect our quality of life. That means both providing high-quality ballfields and protecting our scarce farmland for future generations.
Kristin Kelly is a soccer mom and the Snohomish County organizer for 1000 Friends of Washington, a statewide public interest group working to keep overdevelopment from consuming our rural areas while making our existing cities and towns great places to live.
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