Plan to dedicate Smokey Point Drive property for city park finds traction

ARLINGTON – A business association is in talks with the city to dedicate 1.2 acresfor a park and walkway.

The Smokey Point (Drive) Business Association is interested in gifting the area on the backside of the Community Transit Station, Village Community Center and a building owned by the Stillaguamish Tribe.

“This has the makings for a great public-private partnership, and turning the property into something the community can benefit from and get some enjoyment out of,” City Administrator Paul Ellis said. The wooded property was dedicated as open space while it was still in unincorporated Snohomish County. The property has served as an “attractive nuisance” and source of illicit activities at times, but the association has been vigilant keeping it under watch. A proposed park would create an ADA-accessible connector trail that clients from VCS and the public could use to access the transit station. There are no sidewalks on Smokey Point Drive, and the speed limit is 10 mph.

Another idea is a recreation area suitable for all ages and abilities, Ellis reported at a City Council briefing recently.

VCS helps adults with disabilities with residential support and job services so they can became active community members.

In preliminary discussions, VCS has offered to help apply for a block grant through Snohomish County in the fall to help build and outfit the park with amenities, development executive Michelle Dietz said. Funding and maintenance pose perhaps the biggest obstacles, Ellis added.

He said the city was pleased to hear the offer that the association would roll park maintenance into its regular schedule for their own mall properties, rather than adding anotheracre for city parks crews to maintain. For its part, the city would look at types of park fixtures and lighting required, and policing needs.

In April, the Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission recommended that the city accept dedication of the property for a park.

A priority in the Parks Master Plan is to obtain property in Smokey Point. J. Rudy York Memorial Park is Arlington’s only city park in Smokey Point.

“The city’s all for parks, especially in Smokey Point, but it would really be more for the people that use the shopping center,” Ellis said. “What a wonderful place it would be for a park,” Mayor Barb Tolbert said. “It could be a real asset to Smokey Point,” City Councilwoman Marilyn Oertle said.