Snohomish County prepares Twin Lakes Park transfer to Marysville; officials mark handoff

Snohomish County and the City of Marysville marked the forthcoming transfer of Twin Lakes Park during the Snohomish County Council General Legislative Session on Jan. 15, 2025. County staff described a multi-year effort to prepare the park for city ownership, and Marysville officials said they intend to continue stewardship.

Tom Tigran, director of the Conservation and Natural Resources Department for Snohomish County, told the council the county has worked with cities for years to hand parks to municipalities when growth brings parklands inside city limits. “We’ve been investing some money to make sure that it’s ready to go for them as they take it on,” Tigran said, adding the county had addressed hazard trees and other maintenance needs during the last three years.

Why it matters: transfers shift maintenance and operational responsibility to the city that contains the park, affecting budgeting, staffing and local programming. In this case, county staff described the transfer as part of a routine process when municipal boundaries expand around a park.

Marysville officials attended the session and thanked the county. “Our goal is to continue the environmental stewardship and the stewardship in general of this resource for our community,” Mayor John Nearing of Marysville said, noting the park is commonly known as Gisberg Twin Lakes Park and referencing Bill Gisberg, a former Marysville city attorney and state senator. City staff who attended included Jennifer Stapleton (city administrator), Tara Meisel (parks director), Dave Hall (assistant parks director), Skip Knudson (public works) and Connie Metti (communications). Council members from Marysville who joined the delegation included Kelly Richards, Tom King and Peter Kandelius; Jody Kandelius represented the city parks board.

County staff said the transfer is the product of a long coordination process. Tigran said that in his nearly 19 years as a department head, the county has handed off only a few parks, and that the county expects Marysville’s parks team to manage Twin Lakes Park going forward.

After brief remarks the council recessed for a short photo opportunity with city officials before returning to the remainder of the meeting.

No formal vote or ordinance transferring title was recorded on the Jan. 15 transcript; council and city attendees characterized the event as a formal handoff and public recognition of the planned transfer.