Snoqualmie approves park site on the Ridge
October 30, 2008
By Ed Farrell
Arguing that any delay in approval would jeopardize the city’s chances in later securing desired changes, the Snoqualmie City Council Monday granted unanimous approval for a 16-acre community park site that will allow for the construction of the final homes in the Snoqualmie Ridge II development agreement.
Spencer Aston speaks at the Snoqualmie City Council meeting about his desire to see a skate park constructed in the area.
The park, known as “Parcel S-15 Community Park,” is located on the west side of Snoqualmie Parkway, at the extreme southern end of the ongoing SRII development.
The council’s approval came despite requests from both skateboard enthusiasts and pet lovers — who each covet a portion of the park for dedicated sites to practice their recreational choices — to delay a vote until more detailed plans were available.
City officials said the park development is the result of a series of agreements negotiated with Quadrant Homes going back as far as 2004.
Under the terms of the original agreement, the developer would be limited in the number of homes that could be constructed on adjacent parcels until the improvements to the park site were completed.
The land’s current owner, the Murray Franklyn Family of Companies, wants to move forward with the development of some 60 properties, which has triggered the park development agreement, according to city officials.
Subsequently, in a series of hearings in both 2007 and 2008, the city’s Parks Board has signed off on the types of improvements that will be required on the site — chiefly sports fields and tennis courts — which are integral to the agreement approved on Monday.
Proponents of a skate park, however, along with advocates of a second off-leash dog park, have both been negotiating with the city for land for their chosen endeavors, and representatives of both groups urged the council to delay any vote on approving the park site until dedicated portions for both could be secured.
“This vote tonight seals the deal, despite all our pleadings,” said Marcus Morissette, an attorney who is affiliated with the RidgeRovers, a group of pet owners who claim the city has long acknowledged the need for a second off-leash park.
References to the need for both an off-leash facility and a skate park can be found, advocates said, in city plans going back at least as far as 2002. Advocates claim the city was in violation of its own guidelines by not including them in the original plans for the park.
The city currently offers an off-leash park at Meadowbrook Slough, and is nearing completion of fencing and other improvements that would, city officials said, satisfy the city’s obligation to meet that particular need.
Morissette asked the council to table its vote until a later date to allow continued negotiations that could possibly guarantee an off-leash park.
RidgeRover leader George Isaacs, who is a member of a city-endorsed off-leash subcommittee, said the approval agreement violated the “good faith” efforts of the special panel.
Isaacs also said he was not satisfied with promises to revisit the idea of creating an off-leash park at a later date.
“I want to hear it in a public venue where we can count on it,” Isaacs said.
Spencer Aston, a ninth-grade student at Mount Si High School, likewise urged the board to acknowledge the need for a skate park.
“We really need one on the Ridge … it has really become an issue,” Spencer said, noting the skaters continually are at risk of running afoul of both law enforcement and private property owners.
“I’m 14-years-old. I’m not a criminal,” Spencer said.
City officials told both groups that approval of the agreement would not hinder future discussions to address their needs, but that any delay could make any future changes more difficult to secure.
City Attorney Pat Anderson told the council “there is a time line” that must be met per the original development agreement, adding the city presently “does not have the ability to tell the developer” it wants either a skate or an off-leash park.
Thom Gebhard, representing the developer, agreed and stated the agreement before the council “set the terms” both parties would be expected to adhere to.
Mayor Matt Larson, who implored both groups to not “lose heart,” insisted “there was no reneging on promises.”
The council, Larson said, was presently “not in the position to affect much difference,” but that once the agreement was in place could always go back to the developer and recommend changes.
Anderson said the developer had expressed a “willingness” to negotiate in the future, provided “there were no delays or additional cost of money.”
In earlier discussions, city officials stated the developers might entertain a deal that would allow for a swap of a tennis court for a future skate park, provided the “footprint” of land were identical and no additional charges be placed on the developer.
On Monday, however, Anderson acknowledged that the negotiations never included an off-leash dog park.
“An off-leash park? I just don’t know, because we’ve never had that discussion,” Anderson said.
Reach reporter Ed Farrell at efarrell@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.
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