Dec. 7, 2010

For more information:

Mike Gunn, 425-385-4190

School district to give county first rights on forested property in Eastmont

Neighbors hope for regional park and green space on school district property

During its Nov. 16 board meeting Everett Public Schools directors authorized Superintendent Gary

Cohn to draw up papers allowing Snohomish County

right of first refusal

on district property near

Jefferson Elementary School.

Approximately eight acres of forested land is considered by many in the Eastmont neighborhood to

be a prime location for a park or environmental classroom. Neighborhood representatives have

expressed concerns that the district would someday sell the property to developers. Neighbors have

expressed a desire for the district to develop the land into a park or to transfer the property to the

county for use as a park.

“We have no current plans for the property,” Mike Gunn, executive director of facilities and planning

for the district, has said. “We are in the business of education, not in the business of parks. We have

a responsibility to our taxpayers to manage their assets in a way that maximizes our ability to educate

students. For those reasons, we cannot build park spaces or give away land. What we can do is

demonstrate our history of and intention to remain good neighbors by giving the county the first right

to buy the property at fair market rates from the district if we should ever decide to sell.”

The district and the county will begin soon to draw up documents for such an agreement. Once

complete, the documents will be reviewed by the board of directors before approval.

“We too value open space and forest as learning laboratories for students and neighborhoods,” said

Superintendent Cohn during the discussion. “We also value the relationship our district and Jefferson

Elementary has enjoyed over the years with the residents of Eastmont. We consider this pending

agreement with the county to future cement that relationship and end any worries residents might

have that the district desires to turn the forest into a development. This arrangement is good for the

district, good for the community, good for now and good for the future.”

---end---