Group seeks ballfield property public forum

The game plan for historic Hedlin’s Ballfield on Maple Avenue continues to evolve.

The latest pitch is a request by local citizens that the Town Council host a public Zoom meeting and question-and-answer session to present the various concepts for developing the nearly two-acre site, which for decades has served as a youth sports venue.

The Town last year secured an option to purchase the property at a reduced price from the Hedlin family to develop it as a mixed-use residential and public park area. Town officials have committed to a second one-year option that allows them to market the property, which was rezoned from public use to residential last month to conform to La Conner’s Comprehensive Plan.

The public use designation no longer complied with the Comp Plan once the Town no longer leased the property as a ballfield.

The Town proposes setting aside 25 per cent of the ballfield for a public park and play area, with the remainder being sold for residential construction to recoup the purchase price and provide long-sought additional housing here.

A preliminary plan for utilizing the new park space was drafted by designer Curt Miller and reviewed by the Town Parks Commission last year. Since then, outgoing Town Planner Marianne Manville-Ailles has submitted analyses for the number of housing units fitting on the property if the area designated for public use was increased to 30 or 40 percent.

A Town Council consensus, prior to the panel’s Feb. 23 meeting, supported a 75-25 residential-public park ratio and expeditious marketing of the property to take advantage of present real estate conditions and a potentially full construction season.

Members of a citizens’ advisory group, are asking that marketing the property be delayed until the public has a chance to again view and discuss plans with La Conner’s administration and elected leaders.Over the weekend they submitted a formal letter seeking a town hall-type meeting to the Council,

“We’d like to see as much of it preserved as park as possible and the development done in a way that keeps with the character of the town,” said Catey Ritchie, among those who signed the letter requesting a town hall-type public forum. “But the biggest bottom line is that we want all of it to be out in the public conversation before the decision is made.”

Mayor Ramon Hayes, who facilitates Council meetings but cannot speak for its members, told the Weekly News on Monday that the Town has considered and embraced much of the public input provided thus far in the process.

“We allow for public comments during each meeting,” he said, “and I never stifle that, and we especially encourage new information.”