Last year I wrote that the Wayne Golf Course was bought by the land conservancy Forterra. The stipulation was that the city of Bothell would raise the money to buy it from Forterra. Over half the money has been raised through contributions and grants. It was time for the city to put some money on the table. The City Council vote to seek funding was held last Tuesday night.
City Hall was packed with supporters of the purchase. Audio was piped into the lobby for those who couldn’t squeeze into the meeting room. The One Bothell group mobilized the community to send letters and emails to council members and attend the council meeting. Representatives of Forterra were also in attendance. Two Council members were “absent and excused”, one of whom was the former mayor who’d secretly bought the back 9 and planned to develop it. During the public forum section of the meeting, every speaker supported the purchase. One powerful speech was given by a gentleman who asked all of the people under 18 years of age to stand in front of the council. I’m paraphrasing his words: “These are the people you should buy this land for. And if you don’t, you’ll have to answer to them.”
During the Council deliberations, there was a potential poison pill amendment. This was defeated. When the final motion came to a vote, the result was UNANIMOUS IN FAVOR. The council got a standing ovation. Hugs, handshakes, and high fives rippled through the crowd. This victory was a long time coming, and sets the stage for preserving other areas of open space in town from rampant development. Another battle on the horizon may be over the Country Village shopping center. The owners have sold a portion of the property for development of townhouses, and the rest may be up for sale. One woman was circulating a petition at the Council meeting Tuesday night to preserve the center. Her comment was, “Maybe I can interest Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) in buying and preserving it.” Maybe he’ll put his drone delivery station there…
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