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 THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010 9:48 pm |
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Local News 
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Arlington to buy 150 acres for conservation park ARLINGTON — As a kid, Bill Blake would cut through Hank Graafstra’s dairy farm to get to a sand bar on the Stillaguamish River.Forty years later, Blake has helped broker a deal with the Graafstra family to make sure kids can forever find a path to the Stilly. The Arlington City Council is expected to vote tonight to buy nearly 150 acres of the lowland portions of the Graafstra farm for $4 million. The property, including 2.5 miles of riverfront, grows to about 200 acres in the drier summer months. Uses will include river access, sports fields, hiking trails, seasonal camping and community gardens, said Blake, the city’s natural resource manager and assistant community development director. “The vote tonight marks a milestone for the city of Arlington,” said Blake, who studied biology in part because of his childhood experiences along the river. “This is a rare occasion for a small city, to get a huge area of green space for a long list of uses. This is visionary.” Hank and Betty Graafstra plan to carry the note on the deal, requiring an $800,000 down payment from the city, $274,000 of which comes from a state Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant. The deal also comes with the water rights to the property, which should allow the city to grow and provide its own water to residents well into the future. “I am truly excited to acquire this important piece of property. It will be our crown jewel,” Mayor Margaret Larson said. “We’re very thankful that Hank and Betty thought of the city and gave us this opportunity. When Hank told us he had a deal for us, he wasn’t joking.” The Graafstras said over the years they have had many offers and many chances to sell their property. “We done real well over the years, and I’ve done more in my life than I ever deserved. We want the people of Arlington to get some good out this,” Hank Graafstra said. “It’ll give kids something else to do besides run in the street.” n n n Hank, 82, and Betty, 81, grew up in Snohomish County and first met when they were students at Shoultes Elementary School in Marysville. Married for 62 years, they bought their farm on the edge of Arlington in the 1950s from a son of the original homesteader, Jasper Sill. The Graafstras raised their children on the farm while Hank worked years for the state Department of Social and Health Services. In 1969, he quit his state job and opened the Country Charm Dairy on his farm. He put in his own bottling plant and delivered his milk within a 30-mile radius. In its heyday, the Country Charm Dairy had 800 head of Holstein cattle, employed 35 people and sold homemade ice cream from its shop out behind the Graafstra house. “It was a dream come true,” Graafstra said. “A lot of people thought we would fall on our rear ends, but we ran it for 37 years.” Betty Graafstra remembers wonderful years of hard work and good play. Her children rode horses, caught bullfrogs to eat for lunch and went swimming in the river. She also remembers when they learned Hank had cancer, and then when they decided a few years ago to close the dairy. “Selling the cows just about killed him,” Betty said. n n n It didn’t take long for the Graafstras to decide to offer up part of the farm to the city. The acreage had been in the city’s urban growth area since 1995. “Not every family can afford Seahawks tickets, but everybody can go play down by the river,” Hank said. “Society needs to change. People need that open space. We can’t just keep putting people in prison.” If in 100 years the city needs to use it only for farmland, that can happen, Blake said. Until then, the Country Charm Conservation Area will be a place for wildlife habitat and human recreation. Volunteers will play a key role in developing the park. “And we’ll just let it flood in the winter,” Blake said. “All the uses we have planned are compatible with the natural process. The eagles will fly, the fish will swim and the kids will play.” Working the last five years to negotiate the purchase for the city has been a special project, Blake said. “For me, being a kid and playing here, becoming a biologist because of that and then getting to tie this all up, well, it means a lot,” Blake said. “It’s about the quality of our lives in Arlington. We’ll be able to share that country charm character with generations to come, and you can’t put a price on that.” Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Vote planned The Arlington City Council meets at 7 tonight to vote on the purchase of the Country Charm Conservation Area. The meeting is in the council chambers, 110 E. Third St. A vote to annex the property is scheduled for a later date. Future park The Country Charm Conservation Area and Park could be used for: n Outdoor education n Nature trails and wildlife viewing n Sports and recreation fields n Summer campground n Swimming beach n Community garden n Food bank garden n Fishing pond for kids n Off-leash pet area n Festival use and parking |
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COMMENTS
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very nice!!
Darla Lehman | Feb 3, 2010 8:42 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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I like this plan. But it would be nice if the authorities would police the area for litter and illegal dumping. The amount of junk left at other public sites along the river is disgusting. It's sad to see our riverbanks being treated like a dump.
william edmunds | Feb 1, 2010 3:20 am | 2 replies | Request removal
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Well by golly William, lets u and me set up a meeting to join forces and start a VOLUNTEERS group to care for the beauty being preserved for US. THANK YOU Bill Blake, and THANK YOU to the Graafstra family. My main concern is the future politics that will be offered big money so new 'homesteaders' (folks from far away drawn to the beauty of Arlington) may hold rank and take over.
Carolina Blue | Feb 01, 2010 6:26 am | Request removal
most the garbage will be buried or float into the Puget sound after the next flood, so riverbank garbage can't be considered a dump.
m l | Feb 02, 2010 5:21 pm | Request removal
This is the right way the government should take control and purchase other people land. Pay more than market value and defray the costs over a long period of time. Graafstra was nice to the city to accept the note, but he got paid an excellent price by a willing buyer.
Secondly, This flood plain land and "farmland" is worth $8,000 - $12000 and acre, on the low side for parcels over 40 acres.
Do the comparisons, 4 farms changed hands within 4 miles of this place since 2005, price per acre is $8400 - 12,000 ( raw farmland ) no houses or barns. Check the Snoco assesors office.
Now, I'm a farmer, the break even price to purchase farmland in the best market is $5,000 - $8000 / acre. And I'm not dumb either, so now all of us in Arlington will consider our land to be worth $26,000. This has 1 large negative effect on farmers in our area because it puts the price of land outside the reach of using the land for farmland. This will mean more - "hobby farms" and more large parcels being broken up to afford the high price per acre price.
Good the city paid, but bad they set a price so much higher than the market. Good for the future of the town to save farmland for the next generation.
m l | Feb 2, 2010 4:23 pm | 1 replies | Request removal
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I forgot to mention the water rights. This is the kicker arguement on the price. Depending on how many rights they have, these could easily be worth 1 million per acre foot, based on sales comparisons for Arlington area river rights. I would assume this parcel holds at least 4 acre feet.
Why our city needs to be buying water rights and not recieve free rights from our Dept. of Ecology is another issue all together in my opinion.
Its a sad state when the water the land holds is worth more than the land itself. This is not California, and this is not Eastern Washington.
m l | Feb 02, 2010 5:16 pm | Request removal
Space will be the premium as overpopulation continues. Once the land is gone, it will never be recovered. If you look at the use our local "Centennial Trail" gets on weekends, it's easy to see that people still crave places to be out-of-doors~
Connie Hoge | Feb 2, 2010 9:06 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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OVER $266,000 AN ACRE? FOR MOSTLY WETLANDS?? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING.
IN THE MIDDLE OF A PENDING DEPRESSION?
IS NO ONE PAYING ATTENTION??
Dick Thorsen | Feb 1, 2010 8:38 am | 2 replies | Request removal
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Learn to do some math before you get on your soapbox. $4 mil divided by is 150 acres is $26,600 per acre.
Joel St.Marie | Feb 01, 2010 9:33 am | Request removal
Go back to school....IDIOT
Ron Hanks | Feb 01, 2010 5:24 pm | Request removal
Using simple Math, I can see that someone has a serious math problem $4,000,000 divided by 150 equals $26,667 an acre. Not the claimed $267,000 as claimed.
Just because you don't like something that your city, county, or federal government are doing, its not necessary to over inflate the actual costs.
I personally do not the idea of wasting this type of money, in the time of severe economic problems, and do not think Arlington needs a 150-200 acre park. And I certainly do not like having to sacrifice Police and Fire protection to pay for it.
Dan
djh98282 | Feb 1, 2010 10:24 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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At 4m for the entire acreage + riverfront the total cost is $20K to $26K (can be rounded up to 27K) an acre, not 266K. I agree it's spendy, especially for a location in flood area. Government only knows how to write checks with other people's money.
That said, I'm not entirely poo-pooing the idea of more parks. If the land is open for public events it could generate a small amount of revenue for both local businesses and the city. After 25 to 30 years the revenue could pay for the cost of the purchase. Then down the line, as most governments do, it'll probably be auctioned off to a Big Box developer.
Laura Reed | Feb 1, 2010 9:58 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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Thank you Henry and Betty.
Bobby Elliott | Feb 1, 2010 6:58 am | 0 replies | Request removal
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