SNOHOMISH — The cost of signage, including bronze plaques honoring Earl Averill, Hal Moe and the Kiwanis service group that funded the new playground at Averill Field, at Third and Pine, raised a couple of eyebrows at council last week.
Three signs and the stands they’d be on priced to be $20,411, and more signs around the park including a large gateway entry sign and two column signs came to $60,000.
The Kiwanis raised approximately $129,000 for the park’s new playground. It’s anticipated the city will install the Kiwanis playground in the coming weeks.
Councilwoman Lea Anne Burke and others on council asked last week whether the city can pause on the signs to further discuss costs.
Burke said she’d like a review of the whole package.
“I approve of the large gateway, but have concerns about the two large column signs and the plaques,” Burke said by email.
A decision point will be whether the bronze plaques have already started being manufactured. If not, council would get some pricing options at its Dec. 5 meeting, city administrator Heather Thomas said.
If they did pause, though, the signs and plaques are part of the $1 million construction contract the council approved in August. A pause could cause the contractor to ask for more money if the construction work order changes, Thomas said.
Council President Tom Merrill said last week he doesn’t want to hold that timing up.
The first phase of the whole project redevelops approximately 1.2 acres of the block to add a concrete walking trail circling the park and the Kiwanis playground.
Much of the underground infrastructure work is already complete. The old Tillicum Kiwanis playground equipment is currently in storage if a group wants to take it.
A Snohomish-area firm is building this phase of Averill Field. It’s intended that the first phase of the park is complete by March.
Averill is named for hometown Major League Baseball player Earl Averill. Hal Moe was a Snohomish School District superintendent who died suddenly in 1968; a pool that opened in 1970 through a community fund drive was named for his memory. It closed in the 1990s and was demolished in 2018 to make way for revitalizing the park.
