The Bothell City Council voted 5-1 on May 5 to direct city staff to start conversations with the Richards family, the buyers of the back-nine, and Forterra concerning the purchasing of both the front and back nine for the citizens of Bothell. Councilmember Tom Agnew was the only dissenting vote and Mayor Joshua Freed recused himself from the vote.

Forterra has come out as interested in financing the city’s purchase the Wayne Golf Course by making the initial transaction and being repaid through grant and governmental funding over a certain timeframe. Even if the city has funding gaps, Forterra will work with the city to ensure that the open spaces are held for citizens of the city.

“We want to sit down, if there is a gap, and work with the community to optimize the outcomes, so the city has a choice and we’re not just forced to sell it out to the open market place,” said Forterra Executive Vice President Michelle Connor. “It gives the city and the community more control, and we want to craft an agreement that allows that.”

Connor also noted that this is a line of credit subject to repayment by the city, however Forterra will work with the city to obtain local, state and federal grants and other restoration funding.

Part of the reason for wanting to keep the Wayne Golf Course an open space isn’t just for the public’s sake, but also for the sake of endangered salmon and killer whale populations.

“Over the last year, we’ve held six restoration events around the sound totaling around 1,000 hours…mostly in Bothell,” Director of local non-profit Whale Scout Whitney Neugebauer said. “We do this in recognition that the salmon is the only thing that will bring back the population of endangered killer whales, which currently number 83.”

According to Neugebauer, killer whales are on the brink of extinction and that it will many more volunteers and improved watersheds to allow salmon to reproduce in order to feed future generations of orca.

The Sammamish River has been identified as a salmon spawning stream and it’s ecology is tantamount to the protection of salmon and the predators who feed off them.

The Sammamish River’s primary importance is as a migratory corridor for adult and juvenile salmon as they return to the watershed to spawn and leave as juveniles to grow in the ocean. The WRIA 8 Plan identifies habitat restoration along the Sammamish River as critical to restoring Chinook to the North Lake Washington basin,” WRIA 8 wrote in a letter of support to OneBothell. “This site offers a unique opportunity to protect a large undeveloped space in a primarily urban area, and protection would set the stage for potentially noteworthy habitat restoration work benefitting ESA-listed Chinook salmon and other fish and wildlife.”

Having the discussion this far, wouldn’t have been possible without the community support that OneBothell has organized to preserve the Wayne Golf Course land for citizens.

“That’s the fantastic news from tonight, actually making the conversation be the entire Wayne land instead of just the front-nine is a big win,” said vice president of OneBothell Jonty Barnes. “Seeing a change in the city council’s enthusiasm is a real win. Now that we have all the parties working together… it’s a great step in the right direction.”

The discussion during the May 5 council meeting was not a final decision to work with Forterra to purchase the Wayne but was a question and answer session to better inform the council about the terms agreement set forth by Forterra.

The council also voted to direct city staff to begin speaking with, first, the Richards family, and then with the Richards, Forterra, and the buyer of the back-nine in order to ascertain the ability of the City to purchase both the front and the back nine portions of the golf course.

Freed, once again, recused himself from the discussion of either the front- or the back-nine due to his financial interest in the back-nine property.