Citizen’s group wants Hedlin’s Ballfield for open space

The Town Council last week amended La Conner’s Comprehensive Plan to rezone historic Hedlin’s Ballfield for residential use.

But the unanimous action does not prevent the nearly two-acre site from remaining an open public use area.

Town Planner Marianne Manville-Ailles told Council during its almost two-hour Jan. 12 Zoom meeting that public uses are allowed within residential zones.

That has kept the door at least slightly ajar for a recently formed local citizen’s advisory group to raise funds and work toward retaining the present status of the Hedlin property as a youth sports field and public open space.

“We could rezone,” Manville-Ailles explained, “and nothing would preclude the committee from making all that happen.”

Her assessment bolstered those who logged onto the public hearing portion of the Council session.

“We’re not here to oppose the zoning change,” said La Conner native Mike Ritchie. “We’re just asking for time.”

Ritchie and his sister, Catey, joined an alliance of residents committed to exploring funding options and partnership opportunities that would allow the Town to maintain a significant amount or all the property as public space.

The Ritchies and several other members of the group spoke during the teleconferenced Council hearing last week, mirroring the December Planning Commission forum.

They cited the integral role Hedlin’s Ballfield has played in the community for seven decades.

“We all grew up here playing on those fields – soccer, baseball, any sport we could make up,” Mike Ritchie said.

The Maple Avenue location has also been used by residents and visitors for kite-flying, frisbee tossing and dog walking.

But economics and zoning issues have been overriding factors to date when it comes to planning future uses for the property.

The Hedlin family has purchased surrounding farmland to help sustain its diversified agricultural business well into the future. To help defray costs related to that purchase, the Hedlins last year offered to sell the ballfield to the Town at a reduced price provided at least some of the property be set aside for public use.

The Town, which last spring paid $37,000 for a one-year option on the property, has pledged to reserve 25 per cent of the ballfield – about 20,000 square feet – as a park and play area should it buy the land outright.

Under that scenario, a residential development would occupy 60,000 square feet, allowing the Town to recoup a $662,000 outlay and address its housing shortage.

If the Town does not immediately purchase the property, it can take out another one-year option, though that appears unlikely to happen.

Mayor Ramon Hayes said that if the Town buys Hedlin’s Ballfield it would proceed with its initial mixed-use plan for the property, though he is sympathetic to the citizen’s advisory group’s cause.

“I want to encourage the citizen’s committee,” Hayes said near the close of last week’s public hearing. “Nothing has been excluded.

“Anytime citizens organize,” he added, “I’m a fan, for the common good.”

Still, he struck a more cautionary tone afterward.

“I wish them well,” he said. “I totally understand. But the Town also has to go with the facts on the ground.”

Council member Jacques Brunisholz echoed a similar sentiment.

“I would be totally okay keeping it public use,” Brunisholz said. “The problem is financing. If the citizen’s group can come up with the $600,000-plus then we don’t have to build on it. If the citizens come up with that money, it would be perfect.”

La Conner resident Amy McFeely has urged Town officials to prioritize land stewardship as well as its bottom line.

“Keeping it in public use meets the goals of the Comp Plan,” said McFeely, during the public hearing and, like others, had a letter entered into the record. “Hedlin’s Family Farm is an exemplary example of stewardship. We have an obligation to look at the best impact – beyond economics.”

Looming in the background, though, is the prospect that if the property is sold to a private developer, the ballfield could be fenced off or devoted entirely to housing.

Town leaders have vowed to work with La Conner Schools and/or the Swinomish Tribal Community to develop a local athletic complex should Hedlin’s Ballfield no longer be in play for youth sports. Hayes said he and Swinomish Senator Joe Williams have discussed such a joint venture.

“Something like that,” Hayes said, “would be tremendous for our communities.”