SNOHOMISH — Over the past two years, the county has secured some 82 acres southeast of Flowing Lake Park to hold on to for preservation.
This summer, the county used its conservation grants to buy the remaining 60 acres of rolling slopes of a former golf course for $2.2 million. It pairs with 21 acres bordering the park which the county bought with the same grant program in 2021 for $630,000.
Dotted with big timber, in due time, Flowing Lake Park will eventually become a 300-acre scenic recreational space with these additions, parks planners describe. The county bought 157 acres to the north using the same grant program in 2014.
Once a tree farm in the 1970s, the Laz family opened the Flowing Lake Golf Course here in 1995, and this had a near-20 year run before ending its operations in 2013.
The county’s deal makes the site a lifetime estate where the owner will continue living on the land before it becomes available for public use.
A person who picked up the landowner’s home phone Dec. 1 said the owner had no comments.
County parks spokeswoman Rose Intveld said “these are long-term investments and are not actively being developed or even planned for development.”
The purchases prevent losing property adjacent to the park. Just south of this site are recent housing cul-de-sacs that branch off of Weber Road. County parks planners characterized the land as facing “development pressure” in a presentation earlier this year.
The county’s conservation grant program accumulates its money by taking a small sliver of property taxes paid to the county. Land purchase prices adhere close to appraisal prices.
