As you may recall from my earlier post, Victory, the Forterra Land Conservancy has agreed to buy the Wayne Golf Course and sell it to the city of Bothell. Grants have been secured for over half of the final sales price. Now comes the hard part: What do we do with the land once we have it?
The city of Bothell sponsored an online survey and two “visioning” sessions to solicit input from citizens regarding land use. The City Council held a study session on July 12 to hear the report on the survey and visioning meetings. The overwhelming consensus of the citizenry is to keep much of the land as open space with a minimum of active use (play fields and the like). In addition, restoring the Sammamish River so it can sustain fish and wildlife was a high priority. It was therefore disconcerting to hear the comments of some of the City Council members going in an opposite direction. A few examples:
- One Council member advocated keeping it as a golf course that the city would run.
- Another member suggested keeping part of it as an “executive” or “disk” golf course.
- The former mayor (who, as you recall, secretly bought the back nine and wanted to develop luxury homes on it) is now advocating for a swimming pool and play fields on the property.
Allow me to give a reality check to our elected leaders, based on my vantage point as a neighbor of the golf course:
- The original owners of the Wayne Golf Course wanted to sell because they were losing money on golf. Most of the front nine is covered by a conservation easement. The back nine is not covered by a conservation easement (although that may be an option to gain funds from King County); however, much of the land is quite boggy. The number and location of the water hazards change with every rainfall. It would take yards of fill to support a structure such as a swimming pool or a soccer field. The presence of Waynita Creek imposes a boundary on and limitation to development.
- Most golf courses make their real money through drinks, meals, and catering events such as weddings. The current clubhouse requires significant improvements to bring it up to code and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. The current kitchen is far too small for a catering operation.
- Golf courses are environmentally unfriendly due to the use of pesticides and fertilizers. This goes against the goal of salmon habitat restoration.
- Extensive infrastructure improvements are needed to allow access to the golf course/future park. Waynita Drive is already clogged with traffic.The city has no plans to widen the street, replace the woefully inadequate wood-foundation bridge, or add a crosswalk for people to travel safely between the front and back 9. Unless these improvements are made, putting anything more than a low-impact park there will be fraught with frustration for people who arrive by car.
- Much ado is made about parking. There is an existing parking lot on the front 9, along with parking associated with Red Brick Road Park. While having a few paved parking spaces is optimal for disabled access, limiting the amount of impermeable surfaces is necessary to reduce runoff into the river.
Citizens of Bothell need to make their voices heard loud and clear to the City Council. Otherwise, the Wayne Golf Course may meet the fate outlined in Joni Mitchell’s song, Big Yellow Taxi:
“Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?
They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot.”
Recent Comments