Brier, home to horse stables, ballfields and sea cucumbers will soon have another mark of distinction: its first skate park.

The Snohomish County June 11 authorized $250,000 in park mitigation fees for the project, which is planned for Brier Park, 2903 228th St. SW, near the tennis courts and next to City Hall.

The city has budgeted the remaining $200,000 to cover the project’s $450,000 budget, said Mayor Bob Colinas.

With county funds in hand, the project will go out for bids this summer and the skate park should be in place in time for spring 2009 use.

Colinas said Brier officials view the planned skate park as a regional draw. The city of Mountlake Terrace, which had considered adding a skate park of its own, let County Executive Aaron Reardon know that it supports the skate park for its neighbors in Brier.

“The Cities of Mountlake Terrace and Brier have discussed the possibility of building a skate park for our local youth for some years,” wrote Mountlake Terrace Mayor Jerry Smith in an April 22 letter. “We share the goal of establishing places for our youth to recreate by developing recreational centers and activities for youth in our communities.”

Brier updated its parks master plan several years ago and included a skate park as an improvement option.

In March, Colinas, whose day job is with the city of Lynnwood’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department, wrote to county parks director Tom Teigen urging the county plug the financial gap Brier needed to make the skate park a reality.

Colinas told Teigen that the skate park “was not in the highest ranking” in a grant request the city submitted to the Washington State Recreation Conservation Office.

Teigen said Tuesday, June 10, that the skate park is “a quality project that we’d like to see built sooner rather than later.” He said Reardon and the County Council have made parks a priority, particularly recreational amenities that focus on youth.

“In that park mitigation area, there was literally $450,000 available,” he said. “It isn’t a grant. Basically, those mitigation dollars should and can be used to fund recreational amenities.”

In 2005, 25 teens and young adults asked Colinas to bring a skate park to the city.