ARLINGTON — Just because Hank Graafstra’s former dairy land is changing hands doesn’t mean it’s role will totally change.

The former owner of Country Charm Dairy Farm, Graafstra, 82, said he’d like for the city to one day help renovate his old dairy facility into a community food processing plant.

Residents could grow their own crops in a nearby field, and use a nearby 14,000-square-foot facility that was once used by dairy farmers to either freeze or package local produce.

“I think Arlington could be the leading entity with that sort of thing,” Graafstra said. “It would make this area really self-sustaining.”

Graafstra’s idea has not fallen on deaf ears — Bill Blake, the city of Arlington’s natural resource manager, is currently exploring a variety of land uses for the 150 acres of property the city recently purchased from Hank and his wife, Betty.

The Arlington City Council approved the $4 million purchase of the Graafstra property to the city at its Feb. 1 meeting. The stretch of land contains about 2.5 miles of riverfront property, and could be used for a number of recreational activities, Blake said.

One of those land uses could come in the form of a community garden, Blake said.

The city’s current Country Charm Conservation area map has about 18 acres of land set aside for a garden in which residents could plant seeds and harvest them.

“A normal community garden is a block or two,” Blake said. “This is 18 acres. It could actually help farmers in the valley if people get into this and would be a big learning tool for residents.”

Other uses the city is pursuing include a city-run seasonal campground, a safe-swim area with access to the Stillaguamish River, a hiking trail, a fishing pond and even an off-leash pet area.

“I think that this is something that everybody in Arlington and even north county can enjoy,” Hank Graafstra said. “The city has been very cooperative — I have no complaints.”

Graafstra said he had received a lot of interest in his dairy farm acreage since the couple decided to close down Country Charm in 2006 after health problems limited their ability to run the farm.

The Graafstras opened Country Charm in 1969, and raised their four children there, which made that decision very difficult, Betty Graafstra said.

Since then, the couple has been working with Blake and the city of Arlington to hash out the terms of sale for the property.

“We could have gone residential with this area,” Blake said, referring to how the property was originally zoned by the city. “But we’re going to give it back to the people.”

Earlier this month the city was scheduled to make its $800,000 down payment to the Graafstras for the property. Of that payment, $274,000 is coming from a Washington state Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant.

While the acreage remains mostly vacant now, with the exception of the Graafstra’s family home, Blake said the city will begin to go after grants to pay for improvements to the land.

He said donations and volunteers will shape how quickly the property takes shape as a recreational area.

Blake already has hand-drawn sketches of how the campground spaces could look once the area opens up for public use. He said he’s working on a grant to pay for an access road to the campground, but said he’s already ordered trees to plant in between the camp sites.

“It’s all preliminary right now,” he said. “But it would be a place you’d want to come back to year after year.”