SNOHOMISH — The City Council last week said yes to moving the first phase of construction at Averill Field forward, approving a $1 million contract with a Snohomish-area firm.
To be built are the concrete walking trail circling the park and a playground that replaces the 30-year-old equipment there, plus more. The Snohomish Kiwanis Club raised and is donating $129,000 toward it.
Plans for pickleball courts and basketball courts, though, will have to wait due to cost.
The lowest bid filed to the city was roughly $600,000 above what the city predicted for the base necessities, which led to postponing building the sports courts for now. The sport courts would have been another $500,000, which would have widened the funding gap by $1.1 million.
The city is rearranging money and using freed-up cash to get the project off the ground.
It saved $180,000 from the Pilchuck Park bank stabilization project, is holding off on spending $100,000 to improve the current City Hall and Police Department as well as shifting other project funding around to line up $417,000 in capital funds for Averill Field.
The city plans to eventually relocate City Hall and the Police Department to a future campus on Pine Avenue by Third Street. The future fire station will be next door.
Snohomish had already dedicated $850,600 in its park-building account for the project. It’s also established a contract for the playground equipment and has that budgeted.
The formal construction start date isn’t known yet, city spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
Averill Field will get three plaques honoring hometown Major League Baseball player Earl Averill, Hal Moe and the Kiwanis. Hal Moe was a Snohomish School District superintendent; a longstanding pool at the corner of Pine and Third was named for him before it was demolished in 2018 to make way. The Snohomish Aquatic Center functions as the city pool today; it opened in 2014.
The field used to feature a baseball diamond until the early 2000s.
