What do you want at Averill Field?
A child nicknamed “Hay Hay,” along with her father Jim Wojnarowski, both of Everett, go for a spin while playing at the Tillicum Kiwanis Playground at Averill Field in Snohomish on Saturday, Feb 27. The young girl and her parents were exploring Snohomish for the afternoon when she spotted the playground and the family stopped for a little playtime. The Tillicum Kiwanis Playground is in the footprint of the Averill Field redevelopment plan, and the play equipment will be “retired” when a new park space replaces it later this decade.
SNOHOMISH — The green space at Third Street and Pine Avenue is destined to become a city park, and the next step is to identify what people want to be in it.
Last week, consultants gave a menu of ideas, such as sports courts, a pavilion, open space for outdoor movies, playground equipment and more.
Some special options for the site could be a walking path loop, exercise equipment, an outdoor ice rink, a water-play feature or a band shell for small shows.
They’re looking for opinions through an online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/R/AverillField
The survey asks for everything from general questions about how to best use the space to details such as picking restroom building styles.
The next Averill Field meeting on March 24 will be a chance for people to voice ideas. Consultants intend to present more formal site plans at the meeting later this month, consultant Curtis LaPierre of the firm Otak said.
Under the plan, the Tillicum Kiwanis playground will be removed. The equipment there from the 1990s is being retired, city project manager Brennan Collins said, because “with so much use, we know its lifespan is coming to an end.”
The skate park is staying put, as will the Boys & Girls Club.
This leaves about 1.2 acres of space which designers are seeing as a canvas.
Designers want the new space to have opportunities for social gathering, but also to be sustainable, low-maintenance and adaptable in the future, said Lindsay Martin, a landscape architect with Otak. They also want what goes in the park to consider there are neighbors in houses across the road.
The spot is sort of a designer’s dream. It is “large, flat, open, sunny, unencumbered,” LaPierre said, with the Centennial Trail alongside and 95 parking spaces for visitors.
The Tillicum Kiwanis fundraised for the slides and swings at the playground. The service group, which was different than the Snohomish Kiwanis but shared many members, disbanded in the late 2010s.
The site once included Hal Moe Memorial Pool, which closed in 2007 and was demolished in spring 2018.
The overall block is named Averill Field for Earl Averill, a hometown Major League Baseball hall of famer. Ninety years ago, the block featured the town baseball field, complete with grandstand, where Hal Moe Pool was erected in 1970, local historian Warner Blake found through Tribune archives. A better baseball field came along until that site was converted into the home of the Boys & Girls Club.
Blake advocates for adding a historical sign to help tell the site’s past.
The next Averill Field meeting will be 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 24. Watch for meeting details in a future Tribune or monitor the city’s website.
A third and final Averill Field meeting is anticipated in April.
Past coverage:
SNOHOMISH — The city has scheduled a town hall for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24 to present ideas for what the community park at the former Hal Moe Pool site could look like.
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