King County partners with Forterra, Bothell residents to preserve Wayne Golf Course

Published 4:32 pm Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Current and former King County leaders joined with citizen group OneBothell, conservation non-profit Forterra, and local Bothell City Councilmembers at Wayne Golf Course in Bothell today to announce an agreement with the owners of the 90-acre golf course that straddles the Sammamish River to acquire it for conservation purposes.

“Today is the culmination of more than 20 years of work to forever preserve the Wayne Golf Course for conservation purposes,” said King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski, who represents Bothell. “Following news of a proposed development for the site early January of last year, I began meeting and working with local residents to protect this special land from developers. King County has prioritized protection of the land since the early 1990’s and I felt strongly that we should finish the vision to protect all of the property, including its more than 4,500 feet of shoreline along the Sammamish River.

“In the past year, we have been able to secure $1 million in King County Conservation Futures dollars and supported the successful efforts of Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe and Rep. Derek Stanford to appropriate an additional $1 million in state funding,” Dembowski said. “I am thrilled about the funding acquired to date and am confident that there is more to come.”

The public funding is expected to gradually reimburse Forterra for the acquisition moneys being advanced upfront to acquire the land today.

“This has been a rewarding and inspiring experience,” McAuliffe said. “This has been a shining example of what happens when a small group of people get together and fight for something they believe in. I wouldn’t have been able to secure capital budget funding for this project if it weren’t for the advocacy and passion of OneBothell, Forterra, and the many other citizen activists from Bothell who wanted to see this land preserved.”

The back nine has already been saved from development by a company associated with Bothell City Councilman Joshua Freed as a housing subdivision. Now, citizen group OneBothell and non-profit organization Forterra are trying to work with civic leaders to protect the front nine.

“I will continue to do everything I can at the state level to ensure that Wayne land is transformed into a place for education, play and environmental stewardship for generations to come,” McAuliffe said.

Dembowski’s office has partnered with OneBothell for the past 13 months, as they have worked to grow community support to permanently protect Wayne Golf Course.

“I thank and commend the local residents who took the lead to protect this land forever. Together we built a strong coalition of partners, and today’s announcement is the result of this hard work,” Dembowski said.

“As we move into the next phase of this process, purchasing the land from Forterra and planning long term use, I know we will continue to need community involvement and support,” Dembowski said. “I want to give special thanks to Garrett Holbrook on my staff and Bob Burns, Deputy Director of King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks, for their tireless work on this project and their ongoing efforts to help develop the vision for the long-term uses on this property.”

King County started its protection of the Wayne land more than 20 years ago. Through the Conservation Futures bond measure passed by King County voters in 1993, King County provided the city of Bothell with nearly $1 million to acquire a robust conservation easement that has to-date protected roughly half the course from development.

These early efforts were led by former County Councilmembers Larry Phillips and Louise Miller, who both attended the press conference announcing today’s agreement.