No good deed goes unpunished

For over 65 years, the Hedlin play field has been enjoyed by multiple generations of local residents playing little league baseball, softball, soccer and many other activities. It was the only venue in La Conner configured to accommodate little league baseball.

This nearly two acre play field was made available by the generosity of the Hedlin Family – and aside from a lease for a utilities assessment, the only expenses incurred by the Town were property taxes and maintenance.

Early in 2019 the Hedlins had an opportunity to acquire farmland adjacent to their existing properties, which necessitated they sell off the play field. In the summer of 2019, members of the Hedlin family approached the Town, offering to sell the property at below market value, with the clearly expressed preference that the play field remain in its existing configuration if possible.

The Town had the financial wherewithal to pay the Hedlins for the property, in order to buy time to explore various grants, setting up a nonprofit corporation to sell shares to the local community or other means for the Town to recoup the cash outlay. The need to buy time was also expressed multiple times by local citizens and dismissed.

Based on the marketplace, if adequate financing did not materialize after a mutually agreed upon period of time between the seller and buyer, the Town could sell the property for a profit and still set aside 24,000 square feet for a park. This was, in my opinion, the fair and proper approach as an acknowledgement of the Hedlin’s generosity over 65 years.

But no, the Town felt compelled to develop the property and benefit from a hot real estate market! Very sad, short sighted and self-serving by our local representatives.

Best regards,

Bill Allen

La Conner