SNOHOMISH — A formal design for the city’s future 10-acre westside park at 2000 Ludwig Road is being developed.
The overarching plan is to keep it a natural space.
In a draft idea shown to the parks board last week, the home originating from the 1900s on the site would be demolished.
The historic barn would be kept, but might be repurposed.
The many groves of mature cedar trees — big timber — would stay.
A small playground would go on the park’s front, facing Ludwig.
A disc golf course amid the trees would be nestled back in the southwest corner. An eight-foot walking trail would loop around it.
A man-made pond is sited dead-center at the park. Benches could be put alongside the water.
The city shows a map of its concept at www.snohomishwa.gov/homesteadpark and will be putting a survey up
asking what people think.
A consulting firm will be developing a detailed plan. In August, the city won a state grant worth $147,324 to design the park.
Money to construct isn’t there at the moment. A design is expected to be done in the spring.
A prior idea to set up affordable housing buildings on half the parksite is not in this plan.
The city bought the 10 acres under the goal to add at least five acres of parklands for Snohomish’s west side. This became a priority in 2007, a weekly Friday Newsletter from then-City Manager Larry Bauman noted.
The city used its parks impact fee, real estate excise taxes and the general fund to make the $699,000 purchase back in 2013.
The city began renting the home to a tenant in 2016 who could help be the property’s guardian. The approximately $2,000 a month in rent money feeds back to the general fund. The renter remains in the house at the moment, the project’s manager Brennan Collins said.
