Public comment overwhelmingly opposed to selling property near Paradise Point State Park
The Columbian
Published: December 15, 2015, 6:45pm
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Opponents of a land sale near the East Fork of the Lewis River look over the property recently. The Clark County council voted 2-1 Tuesday to move forward with the sale. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian)
In the face of almost uniformly negative public comment, the Clark County Council voted Tuesday to move ahead with a proposed land swap near Paradise Point State Park in north Clark County.
After a brief discussion, the council voted 2-1 to move to the next phase of selling 20 acres of county property between Paradise Point State Park and La Center. Councilor Jeanne Stewart cast the no vote.
“This conversation is not over,” she said.
There are a few steps the county must go through before the properties, a 15-acre parcel and a 5-acre parcel, go back on the county tax rolls. Both properties were purchased in 1996 as part of a larger 243-acre deal. Because the transaction was paid for with state conservation grants, the county must replace the properties with land of similar financial and recreational value.
Tuesday’s action allows the county to narrow down properties that might replace the 20 acres, said Patrick Lee, coordinator for Clark County’s Legacy Lands program. Currently, the county has identified 30 properties that could be contenders, he said.
The decision by David Madore and Tom Mielke to dispose of the land comes despite a vast majority of public comment opposing the sale. Of the 22 letters Clark County received, 21 were opposed to selling the property, Lee said.
And while the vote came with little debate or discussion — though Stewart, a longtime critic of the land swap, said she had no interest in seeing the sale go forward — it prompted heated criticism during a public comment period after the decision was made.
Bill Dygert, an independent land consultant who helped the county identify and secure funding for the property in the 1990s, urged the council to wait to convert the property, as well as to create an improved plan for converting parks and recreation land.
“It’s a wonderful spot,” Dygert said. “The uplands area, including the conversion site, provides prime opportunities for viewpoints, trailheads, picnic shelters (and) support facilities.”
Mielke, who has been the loudest voice on the county council in support of selling the property, combated Dygert’s assertion that the county is selling land designated for parks. “We are not surplussing parks,” he told Dygert.
While the county has not pursued development, a proposal from 1996 shows it was intended to someday be used for trails, viewpoints and other recreational facilities along the East Fork of the Lewis River.
Val Alexander, a member of conservation group Friends of Clark County, also spoke out against the sale.
“Trying to sell off a beautiful piece of property … that was bought under a plan to give public access to the East Fork of the Lewis River is a direct attempt to cheat the taxpayers out of a critical portion of the plan to develop trails along the river,” Alexander said.
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