06/28/2006: "CC Buys Gravel Pit, Gives It To SJI Rec"

With little discussion, and less public comment, the County Council went forward on Tuesday with the purchase of the LaFarge gravel pit and shoreline, then after a short executive session, "gave" the gravel pit portion to San Juan Island Park and Recreation District, a junior taxing district on San Juan Island. What the park district will do with the property was not discussed, but in any case it will now be the responsibility of the district, and not the County Council or Public Works, and that means any costs that may be involved in ownership, or development, will be up to the District to fund.

When the possible ownership of the land by the district was first discussed over five years ago, it included plans to build a park there, and when the public was told the plan included a number of ball fields that would required passage of a new tax levy, it created a great deal of controversy, and the levy was soundly defeated by the voters.

The beach portion of the LaFarge property (which in reality is fill from the gravel pit operation that had portions replaced after each winter storm) will be retained by the County, and it too has generated intense controversy and legal action against the County; action that may very well escalate now that the Council has moved on the purchase.

The Original proposal for the property from the former Board of County Commissioners was to develop the land into a County owned and operated commercial barge landing and gravel storage area for Public Works that would also be open to private commercial use. That proposal raised concerns, not the least of which is the waterfront property is not designated ("zoned") as commercial property, which was intended to protect it from future development. Since the County wants to use the property, they have proposed to simply change the land use designation to Industrial, or Commercial, which would allow use of it.

All of the above has generate the controversy, and prior to the discussion by the Council last Tuesday to move forward with the purchase, Lee Sturdivant, local resident, and a member of the affordable housing group that had put forward their own levy that was also soundly rejected by the voters, addressed the Council and suggested that some portion of the LaFarge property could be used for the construction of affordable housing. It was not clear if there was a relationship between the Sturdivant proposal and the executive session, but after the Council came out of the session the public was told they discussed what the implications might be if the Council did not transfer the gavel pit to SJI Park & Recreation.