Snohomish Parks Dept Considering Changes to Lord Hill Park

Only folks attending the open house will be able to fill out a questionnaire. The Parks Dept. will strongly consider input from the questionnaire as they come up with their plan.

The Parks Dept will have maps and displays regarding the park history, planning process, timeline and conceptual alternatives being considered.

Some equestrian and hiking groups are working together to preserve the park as it is now.

Some points to Preserve Lord Hill Park;

• Preserve the quiet nature of the park for all users and the flora and fauna.
• Avoid any plans that will substantially increase trail traffic and neighborhood traffic.
• Do not build a type of bike system or anything else that will attract a significantly larger number of bikes. This will throw multi-use out of whack and negatively impact the park environment and also create safety issues for other users.
• Limit the number of miles for designated bike and equestrian trails to avoid criss crossing trails throughout the park. Allow for wildlife corridors.
• Although the plan has been downsized to bike skills areas, EMBA has estimated the new system could bring in 50K a year at most. They’ve also said that might take 20 years. 50K would be a HUGE increase over current overall park traffic. Given the long history at Lord Hill of unauthorized trail building, it seems likely that these areas will eventually be expanded, attracting even more bike traffic.
• Maintain the current equestrian access for trails and parking, except for bike-only trails;
• Preserve the SE section of the park which was designated in 2013 for equestrians/ hikers. Don’t allow bikes into the SE section, not even the proposed bypass trail. That would defeat the purpose of a safe zone.
• Preserve the equestrian parking area at the south end of the park near the reclaimed quarry where there’s enough room to park 60 horse trailers for equestrian events.