The City of Edmonds said Friday is it proposing acquisition of a one-acre property in southeast Edmonds that will allow for the expansion of Mathay Ballinger Park.
In a press release, the city said the acquisition — which would be funded through the parks department’s land acqusition capital program and possible Snohomish County grant dollars — will preserve existing open space, a well-established tree canopy, expand the only small park in the underserved southern area of Edmonds and support a trailhead for regional Interurban trail.
The potential parkland acquisition is on the agenda for the Tuesday, Oct. 17 Edmonds City Council meeting.
“Acquiring more parkland has been a top priority for my administration,” said Mayor Mike Nelson. “This wonderful opportunity will double the size of Mathay Ballinger Park and we have received initial grant funding to pay for a significant portion of it.” Nelson praised the dedication of Edmonds Parks, Recreation and Human Services Director Angie Feser “and her continued efforts to identify more open space for our residents.” The mayor also thanked the Edmonds City Council, “who had the foresight to set aside park funds for several years ensuring that there were sufficient funds available when a potential opportunity like this one arose.”
Two parcels, known as the Mee property, would provide a significant expansion of Mathay Ballinger Park, which is the only city-owned park in south Edmonds. The shared 260-foot-long property line would offer easy access to the adjacent park and a seamless transition between the existing park and the heavily treed site with an open lawn area, the city said.
With some minor improvements and demolition of existing small, older buildings, the site could accommodate a 55% expansion of the existing city park. The willing owner, who has lived on the site 50 years, has asked a purchase price of $925,000, which is below the value provided from a city-ordered appraisal, the city announcement said.
The acquisition will be funded through the parks land acquisition capital program, which has more than $1 million in restricted funds available for purchasing parkland. In addition, the city has received preliminary funding for 75% of the purchase and related costs — up to $880,000 — through the Snohomish County Conservation Futures Grant Program. Those dollars are pending Snohomish County Council approval scheduled for December this year.
“The 2022 Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan, which reflects significant community input, prioritized the acquisition of additional parkland in the southeast area of Edmonds,” Feser said. We are so appreciative of the Mee Family and their generosity, which will ensure their neighbors are able to enjoy their beautiful property for years to come. Feser also offered thanks to the Snohomish County Conservation Futures Program “for encouraging and supporting opens space acquisition,” adding “their support was key to making this happen.”
Mathay Ballinger Park has a playground, basketball courts and parking and currently is in the permitting process for $450,000 in improvements, including the addition of a permanent restroom and drinking fountain, paved path through the park connecting to the Interurban trail, picnic shelter, benches and picnic tables. With these improvements — set for completion in 2024 — the Mee property also would help create a new trailhead for the Interurban trail.
This seems like a slam dunk. Below cost land acquisition and more parkland for Edmonds. Love it!
This would be a great addition for our neighborhood. Glad to see the city invest where it will be very appreciated.
This is great news – I think everyone supports more Parks in Edmonds. The bad news though is that the Parks Director has used her search for new Parks to claim her “plate is full” and with the support of the current Mayor continues to ignore serious problems in existing City parks – – such as the urgency for removing an old concrete weir in Yost Park that has pushed Shell Creek under a hillside bluff causing serious erosion and sediment flow that is killing salmon downstream (see https://myedmondsnews.com/2023/08/reader-view-can-we-stop-the-demise-of-edmonds-salmon-streams/). It should also be noted that this City administration has provided NO support for the successful community volunteer restoration project at another very-popular Edmonds Park – – the Edmonds Marsh.
Yes please.
This seems to be a good move. I did some poking around about what the average distance between your home and the nearest park the study included a bunch of cities across the country Seattle being one. The average distance was about 2/3 of a mile looking at the map using Google would indicate most people in Edmonds have a park or open space within this range with no one being more than a mile and if you include schools we are pretty well covered. From my place there are at least a dozen parks or open spaces within a mile. So in conclusion we are not short in parks or open spaces in the city of Edmonds so there is no real need for more plus some apartments have open spaces and playgrounds also some housing developments also have small open spaces. About all we have missing is sidewalks to get there.
So on the one hand we are being told that we need to try to tie up this Landmark Property because potential public park property and future public building property is so scarce in this “under served” area and on the other hand we are told that this other magnificent piece of park property is being offered to us for under market value by a benevolent citizen seller and we already have the funding pretty much nailed down for it. My head is spinning with all these wonderful October surprise windfalls the Nelson Administration has conjured up. Attention all local Real Estate Brokers. Our current Real Estate Development Dabbling Mayor, may soon be on the job market for you to snap up. He seems to have a lot of good “ins” going for him and he might be a good catch.
Yes please.
This seems like a very wise purchase to consider and one that could substantially improve this park and the Interurban trail in Edmonds. We have appreciated the current park very much as residents of Lake Ballinger, but that has not come without its own public safety issues that would be required to be addressed, I would think, as part of this plan. The lighting issues along the entire Interurban and this area as well, have created situations in the past that have made the park unusable. I was part of a volunteer cleanup sponsored by a local church and the Edmonds Park Dept. about a year and a half ago that resulted in numerous found needles in the park, a weapon (in this case, a knife), and other related trash and garbage. The Interurban trailhead shelter on 76th was vandalized four days in a row last week, again, due to lack of lighting and patrol of the trail which are exasperated by the fact that shelter is the end-of-the-line so to speak of the Edmonds section from 228th to 76th. Purchasing this extra land, solving the lighting and patrol issues, and siting a REAL police substation along 99 in the area, seems like the wise and fiscally appropriate approach to take versus other proposals currently being considered.
The current tally on the shelter being vandalized and left completely unusable is now at six in 1.5 to 2 weeks (I have lost track). While some folks might be wondering why this might be an issue of focus on one structure/bench/water fountain, the reasons are as follows: the shelter is directly adjacent to an ESD school bus pickup, it the gateway to the Interurban in Edmonds and to this newly suggested park acquisition (again, this is great news but please read my comment above about safety considerations), and is directly adjacent to multiple homes. While I am very fortunate to have this available for my own child to wait for the bus under shelter in times of bad weather and to take a break when we are out walking our dog or going for bike rides, it is beyond disheartening and aggravating to find human feces for instance in the morning while waiting for the bus, in addition to the concern it causes these young people about the circumstances in their neighborhood at night so close to their homes.
The additional lighting in this area would be a wise spent investment.