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WEATHERWAX UPDATE, July 2010
John Clark, the founder of Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth, passed away in his winter home in Summerland Key, Florida on Tuesday April 6, 2010. John spent his life studying and protecting marine coastal areas, and was the author of many books on the subject. In Ocean Shores he saw the Weatherwax property, not only in the present, but also how it was formed in the past and what it had to offer in the future. When it appeared that the Weatherwax property might be sold for development, John took action. He was critical in gathering people together to work towards a common goal of preserving the Weatherwax property in its natural evolving state. He founded OSCBG and passionately supported the cause politically, financially, and with his many contacts in the scientific world. Because of his professional background, his expertise was helpful in educating others about the flora and fauna of the land. John respected the environment and encouraged everyone around him to do the same. John and his devoted wife Catie spent many days each summer enjoying the Weatherwax and encouraging others to enjoy its beauty and serenity. John will be sorely missed, but those who worked with him will find comfort remembering him in this peaceful urban forest which he worked so diligently to preserve. OSCBG Newsletter December 2009
OCEAN SHORES CITIZENS FOR BALANCED GROWTH NEWSLETTER click here for PDF download version of the newsletter Weatherwax Report About a year ago, the citizens of Ocean Shores voted with a 66 percent majority to "Retain" the entire Weatherwax property. This was an advisory ballot to the City Council. They could follow that advice by preserving the property, by retaining the property but putting it to a different use, or they could ignore the advice. We must remain alert for any proposed city action that could have an adverse effect on Weatherwax. Before you vote this year we suggest you ask the four candidates running (Nick Johnson vs. Jackie Farra, John Lynn - unopposed, Garland French - unopposed) some pertinent questions. (1) Have they fully supported the preservation of Weatherwax for the past 5 years (since OSCBG formed)? (2) Will they support the people's vote and how? (3) Will they vote to include in the budget the money needed to have Weatherwax preserved as a wetland mitigation bank? Budgets for 2010 are being drafted now, so please also ask the rest of your Council members and the Mayor the same questions. Contact info is listed on page 2. The current status on our banking application is that the second draft Prospectus was submitted to Ecology and returned with very few comments, relatively easy to fix. The next step is a public review period of the final Prospectus. The City sent out a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the expert work needed for the following step: preparing the Mitigation Banking Instrument document. The Planning Department selected the top 3 or 4 candidates and will be asking for money from the City Council to hire one of these consultants. We will ask for an OSCBG representative to be on the final selection panel. Other News The Parks Board has gotten the Adopt-A-Park program off the drawing board. OSCBG has applied to adopt Chinook Park, across Duck Lake from the south end of Weatherwax. OSCBG was invited to participate in the city's Vision Committee meetings. We readily accepted. This shows that our balanced growth organization has earned the respect of our city government. A kick-off meeting October 8th explained the processes used by the committee. Most significant was recognition that it is residents who provide the base of the pyramid and the lion‘s share of revenue for our city. Two near term events will serve as models for future projects. The first is creating a common communication plan for all citizen organizations in the city. The second is planning for our 50 year celebration; the desire is to make this an integral part of all events and activities for 2010. The celebration effort will be led by Director of Tourism/Business Development Ken Mercer, but will involve all city groups. In our last newsletter we mentioned a citizen who reported wetlands being cleared and filled on an 8-acre tract of land on the southwest side of town. Since then the Army Corps of Engineers has directed the owner to hire a wetland consultant company to do a new wetland delineation and a wetland restoration plan. These are expensive steps for the owner; the restoration will be even more expensive. Nature is already reclaiming the portion of the wetlands that were cleared but not filled, with native plants showing 2-4 foot growth this year. Membership and Donations Our general dues are $10 per year and additional donations are always welcome! If you do not want to join but want to donate, provide that information with your check. Our address is OSCBG; PO Box 443; Ocean Shores, WA 98569. You can also make a donation using Paypal on our website, http://www.weatherwax.info/. At this time dues and donations are going towards brochure printing and keeping a stable amount in our treasury for any unexpected issues concerning Weatherwax. Meeting Times OSCBG meets the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 3 PM in the Library conference room. Please join us! City Contacts Mike Patrick John Lynn (candidate) Garland French (candidate) Dave Creighton Peggy Berry Nick Johnson (incumbent candidate) Jackie Farra (opposing candidate) Dick Skewis Bob Crumpacker Mayor Dean Bunkers Once again, it was only a year ago November 3rd that 66 percent of the voters of Ocean Shores voted to retain the entire Weatherwax Property. This was a most successful effort and we thank all of you who supported the retention of this very valuable property. People will continue to benefit from your effort for years to come. OSCBG Newsletter July 2009 click here for PDF download version of the newsletter
OCEAN SHORES CITIZENS FOR BALANCED GROWTH NEWSLETTER Issue: Number 14 Date: July 2009 CLICK HERE to download in pdf format Weatherwax Report As stated in our last newsletter, the current plan to preserve Weatherwax is to designate it as a wetland mitigation bank. If you want to understand more about wetland banking, there is a MEETING ON MONDAY JULY 27th at 3PM at the Convention Center. There will be representatives of the Department of Ecology and the Army Corps of Engineers to describe wetland banking in detail. Some people have expressed concern that a Weatherwax wetland bank will mean all other wetlands in the City will be destroyed. This is not accurate. Any development on land with a wetland and buffer must be designed to (1) avoid it if possible; (2) minimize impact if possible; and (3) only then will mitigation be considered. The other positive note on mitigation is that most of our wetlands are small, scattered, and Category III or IV on a scale with IV being lowest value. By mitigating them with the highest value Category I wetlands in Weatherwax, we are preserving a large contiguous ecosystem of high quality wetlands, thus improving the overall quality of wetlands in Ocean Shores. The process of creating a wetland bank involves a lot of paperwork. The City has submitted a first draft of the "prospectus" which is a document describing the property and why it has value as a wetland bank. The Mitigation Banking Review Team (MBRT) commented on the first draft and returned it. The MBRT consists of representatives from Ecology and the Corps. The City is now working on version 2 in response to those comments. Fourth of July This Fourth of July was considered a terrific success in many ways, but what we want to talk about is litter. Lillian Broadbent, our acting president, took on the task of a money drive to put a full page ad in the North Coast News about litter pickup. OSCBG as a whole got credit for that. The City bought litter bags for volunteers to hand out at beach approach roads. Some of the volunteers were from OSCBG. Countless bags were collected and collection sites were overflowing on the morning of the 5th. Of course some beach cleanup was still required and again we had some OSCBG volunteers. All in all, this Fourth of July was a great step towards future clean beaches. Thank you to all who got involved and helped! One Voice Last fall, a single citizen made a lot of noise about wetlands being cleared and filled on an 8 acre tract of land on the southwest side of town. The vegetation at the front of the tract was left standing until the end of the job, so the extent of destruction was unfortunately unseen until after the damage was done. Many problems led up to this situation: inadequate wetland flagging, inadequate information on the clearing permit, oral rather than written agreements of what was being cleared, initial lack of response to the citizen, etc. But this one citizen did not give up and finally got a meeting with the Mayor and Ken Lanfear. Mistakes were made all around, but the Department of Ecology and Army Corps of Engineers were finally called in for site visits. This triggered an investigation that is ongoing, but to date has resulted in the owner being told to clear all of the fill and restore/recreate the wetlands that were destroyed. Out of 8 acres of land, 6.4 were found to be wetlands and will be restored, leaving the owner with much less development space and much more landscaping cost than he anticipated. In other words, he didn't get away with it, and he may have more mitigation costs still to come. So why did we tell you this story? Because one voice, yours, can make a difference. Government entities did respond and the owner is paying for it. This destruction was caught after the fact, but if a lot of citizens are watching, some destruction can be prevented. Many citizens are concerned about the "clear everything to the sand" work that regularly occurs in Ocean Shores. The City of Ocean Shores Planning and Building departments cannot monitor every clearing permit, and some clearing is happening without permits. They can only give the contractors the rules and trust they will follow them. If you see clearing that you think is wrong, report it: CALL 289-2754 (Permit Center) or the Police. Ask them to get back to you after they investigate. Stay on top of it with more calls if you don't get a response. Here are some things you can look for:
Membership Our general dues are $10 per year and additional donations are always welcome! If you do not want to join but want to donate, provide that information with your check. Our address is OSCBG; PO Box 443; Ocean Shores, WA 98569. You can also make a donation using Paypal on our website, http://www.weatherwax.info/. At this time dues and donations are going towards brochure printing and keeping a stable amount in our treasury for any unexpected issues concerning Weatherwax. Meeting Times OSCBG meets the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 3 PM in the Library conference room. Please join us! Thank you for your continued support and desire to preserve the Weatherwax ecosystem.
Issue: Number 13 Date: May 4, 2009 Welcome to our slightly modified newsletter format. From now on we will be publishing as the OSCBG newsletter, which includes information on the status of Weatherwax plus other projects we are involved in. Weatherwax continues to be our top priority project, but we have some breathing room based on last November’s vote and want to start working on other things too. Weatherwax Report Three very important actions have been taken regarding Weatherwax in the past few City Council meetings. On February 23rd, the Council voted to approve, 7-0, the required deposit to the Department of Ecology to proceed with the application for making Weatherwax a wetland bank. On March 9th, the City Council approved, 6-0, a Resolution to instruct the Mayor to proceed in “meeting the objectives of formally designating the Weatherwax property as a wetland mitigation bank and habitat preserve.” In a related action on April 13th, the City Council approved, 7-0, that Weatherwax Resolution to be on its top priority list for 2009. Weatherwax has wetlands west of the Pole Line Road and along some of its lake frontage. The westernmost wetlands are rated Category 1, the highest quality possible. Last fall, representatives of the Department of Ecology, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Army Corps of Engineers toured Weatherwax and were very impressed, not only with the wetlands but also with the uplands (non-wetlands) adjacent to them. They stated the entire 120-acre property was a good candidate for a wetland mitigation bank. Let’s take a moment to describe in simple terms how wetland banking works. First and foremost to our goals, the property must be preserved in perpetuity. A team of state and federal employees works with the City to define the characteristics of the property and how many “credits” are available in the bank. Once established, the City can sell those “credits” (not the land itself) to developers who cannot avoid impacting a wetland or wetland buffer on a property they are developing. The credits are sold using a ratio, for example, 1 acre impacted = 2 acres preserved. We do not yet know what ratios will be set for the Weatherwax bank or how much each credit will cost. The proceeds from the sale of credits will provide some much needed revenue for the City. So the Weatherwax gets preserved and the City gets money for doing it. We will have more details on the wetland bank as the process moves forward. Ocean City State Park As stated in December’s newsletter, we have held several Board meetings and a group workshop to define other projects that affect Balanced Growth. We revisited our mission statement, which now is “To ensure that quality of life and environmental considerations are protected in concert with Ocean Shores growth.” Weatherwax is involved in all aspects of our mission. Other activities we are considering fall into environmental, civic, or educational categories. Some projects have already been suggested but need City approval before we move forward with them. As soon as the projects are approved we will be looking for volunteers. We are always open to ideas. Please contact us at oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com with your ideas on what we should work on next. One project we are taking on is Volunteer Litter Pickup. We will be covering the streets that surround Weatherwax. We will be setting a work date in May or June and need volunteers. Please contact us if you are willing to help. We are also supporting the upcoming Friends of the Library Sale. Some of us have volunteered to work at the sale. We want to encourage all of you to donate items and come to shop. Here are the details from FOL: We are starting to make our final efforts to collect for our 3 SALES on Memorial Day Weekend Saturday, 23 May 2009, from 9 am to 3 pm: Call me at 289-1211 for pickup or to drop off your items. We made about $2300 last year on our sales and hope to increase that amount this year. * Garage Sale at 764 Sea Horse Ave- we need good new and used items. Sorry, we cannot take large appliances, TVs, computers, or clothing (except coats); Please donate and encourage your friends and neighbors to donate as well. Also, mark the SALE on your calendar and don't forget to come. Everything will be at terrific prices. Thanks for your help. Membership Our membership drive is coming soon. Our general dues are $10 a year and additional donations are always welcome! If you do not want to join but want to donate, provide that information with your check. Our address is OSCBG; PO Box 443; Ocean Shores, WA 98569. You can also make a donation using Paypal on our website, http://www.weatherwax.info/. Meeting Times OSCBG now meets the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 3 PM in the Library conference room. Please join us! Thank you for your continued support and desire to preserve the Weatherwax ecosystem. WEATHERWAX TO BECOME WETLANDS BANK On Monday, February 23, 2009 the Ocean Shores City Council voted 7-0 to deposit $5,000 with the Department of Ecology to begin work on establishing a Wetlands Bank and habitat preserve of the Entire 120 Acre Weatherwax parcel. This will preserve The Weatherwax in its entirety in perpetuity. This is a solution which provides an opportunity for the city to recoup its investment in the land without destruction of the very things that make the Weatherwax unique. Thanks to everyone who has supported this effort! We will remain vigilant as this process crawls through the bureaucracy. WEATHERWAX NEWSLETTER click here for PDF download version of the newsletter Monthly Report ("Monthly" is rather a misstatement! We apologize that it has been so long since our last newsletter. We were a little busy working on "Retain!") The Holidays are upon us and the Weatherwax is appropriately dressed in its winter attire, draped moss and colorful mushrooms on display. Thanks to your support and the hard work of our active members, the Weatherwax is more secure than it has been since its purchase by the City of Ocean Shores in 1999. The election on November 4th sent a clear message to our city leaders that the voters of Ocean Shores wish to retain this incredible piece of property. The margin was 2-1 in favor of keeping it all. At the last city council meeting the Mayor announced that city staff was seriously pursuing turning the entire property into a wetlands bank. That process could be a real win for our city, its citizens and the Weatherwax property itself. We will keep you posted. Current Activities We have pledged to maintain the existing trails, continue our efforts to promote low impact use of this property and produce the brochure that is now carried by more than 50 businesses in town. We will continue to be active in all things that affect the Weatherwax. Unfortunately, we still have some work to do on the Critical Areas Ordinance. With the deadline looming, our city council voted 5-2 to accept the ordinance pretty much as written. While some of our concerns were addressed, others particularly dealing with wetlands were not. Despite a great effort by the State Department of Ecology, we did not get to an ordinance that protects wetlands adequately while balancing individual property rights. We will have to see how this unfolds. We will need to be especially vigilant with SEPA (State Environmental Protection Act) notices and perhaps work to get them more prominently displayed and published for public comment. We will also be actively involved with the process of getting Weatherwax designated as a wetland bank. This will involve a conservation deed in perpetuity while also providing income for the City as developers mitigate their wetland impacts by "buying credits" in the bank. The bank stays completely in City ownership. The current board is taking most of December off for some much-needed rest. We will resume meetings the second Wednesday in January. If you would like more information on our meetings, please contact us at Oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com. After the New Year January brings election of OSCBG officers. Due to family obligations and the time they spend in Florida, the Clarks will not be available to hold office, but we expect to call on their expertise as needed. The offices of President, Vice-President, and Secretary are up for election. If you have a few hours a month to serve, please contact a board member and volunteer your services. As soon as new officers are elected, they will plan an off-site meeting where we re-focus our energies from saving the Weatherwax to preserving the Weatherwax. We will also have the opportunity to focus on other projects that affect Balanced Growth. We encourage everyone who can to attend these sessions.
Thank you for your continued support and desire to preserve the Weatherwax ecosystem. We wish you, and those you love, a Joyous and Safe Holiday Season and a Happy and Prosperous New Year. IMPORTANT CAO PUBLIC HEARING Issue: Number 10 Date: July 19, 2008 Monthly Report The photographs in the Word document are credited to Steven Simmons. Tours and Trails: Our tour guides and guests can enjoy the work of our Trail Maintenance Many thanks to the City for allowing us to continue to conduct tours Weatherwax Town Hall Meeting: Sand and Sawdust Festival: Mayoral and City Council Elections: Current Activities Ballot Wording: The word Retain is less specific than Preserve and we are concerned We have our work cut out for us in the area of voter education for the Special Topics For several months the Planning Commission has been working on a There has been significant debate over critical areas protection vs. The State Department of Ecology, Fish & Wildlife, and Community, On June 10th the Planning Commission held a public hearing on draft The main ways that this ordinance applies to Weatherwax is on the size How You Can Help We really need more tour guides. Training is available. If you can We always need volunteers to help maintain the trails. If you can Write Letters to the Editor of the North Coast News and The Daily Please attend our meetings Wednesdays at the Ocean Shores Library at Thank you for your continued support and desire to preserve the download/print this newsletter Issue: Number 9 Date: May 16, 2008 Monthly Report A special welcome to all of our New Members. We hope to see you soon. April and May have continued to be action packed months for us. We expect this pace to continue as we march forward to the November election. No, not the Presidential election, the Weatherwax ballot issue! We have our rough times, but also our morale-boosting times as you will read below. The next six months are critical to achieve our long-term goal of preserving the Weatherwax property for wildlife, people, and the environment. Tours: Ocean Shores Elementary Field Trip: Grays Harbor Audubon Society: Another Audubon board member is a retired biologist/botanist. After our March presentation to their Board, she came out for her first visit to Weatherwax and was amazed. She confirmed for us that it does indeed have the features necessary to be called an old growth forest. She also commented that the forest "represents the natural history of the whole Ocean Shores peninsula" and how fortunate Ocean Shores is to have an "irreplaceable natural treasure." See the Signs: Current Activities Mayoral and City Council Elections: Membership Drive: Speaking of donations, we just received notice from the IRS that our 501c3 non-profit application was approved, retroactive to April 6, 2006. That means you no longer have to write checks to us via FOGH if you want a tax deduction; simply write them directly to OSCBG. All money or materials you donated to OSCBG since that date are tax-deductible. Claiming donations from prior years requires filing a modified tax return. See the Big Sign: Special Topics: Golf course issues: Last month we described how the City gets no direct revenue from the golf course other than sales and business taxes, and that the recorded rounds of golf played are down 25% since 2001. Reports provided to the City from the Golf Course also show total revenue for punchcards and green fees for 2007 was less than in 2001, despite an increase in green fee prices and increased population. (In that same time period Wildlife Viewing, a $1.1 billion industry in our state - per a 2001 US Fish and Wildlife study -- is up 8%. The vast majority of Wildlife Viewers are birders and nature walkers.) In April, Mr. Garland French presented the City Council his layman's look at a redesign of the golf course holes on their downtown property. His layout provided similar yardage to the current holes and freed up the north 14.6-acres of the property for commercial development. A professional designer is needed to look at this and other options for rearranging the downtown holes. In 2005 the City Council allocated $40,000 for golf course designs. The Weatherwax golf hole sketches cost about $6000. OSCBG recently made a formal request to the Council to contract for downtown golf hole designs using monies from that fund. The City Finance Director reported the money is no longer in the budget; it is unclear where it went. The Council voted 4-1 (Mayor Creighton approving) to REJECT our request. This leaves us with ideas for redesigning the downtown tract of land for both golf and commercial use, but no professional work to back those ideas. We will continue to pursue this in every way possible, but the Council decision was a setback. We strongly believe that a preserved Weatherwax, a revitalized downtown, AND an improved golf course can co-exist. We can have it all. How You Can Help As we get into our busier season, we need "on call" tour guides. Training is available. If you can help guide tours on weekends, please contact Sue at 589-5116 (a local call.) We also need volunteers to help maintain the trails. If you can help, contact Jerry at oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com. Write Letters to the Editor of the North Coast News and The Daily World. Contact Mayor and Council candidates before you vote. Contact City Council members and the City Manager. Attend and speak up at City Council, Planning Commission, and Park Board meetings. Please attend our meetings Wednesdays at the Ocean Shores Library at 3PM. You can also send your comments, concerns, and ideas to oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com or PO Box 443. Thank you for your continued support and desire to preserve the Weatherwax ecosystem. download/print this newsletter Issue: Number 8 Date: March 27, 2008 Monthly Report A special welcome to all of our New Supporters. We hope to see you soon. March has been one of our busiest months yet; eventful, positive and a real boost for those who have been working so long on this project. We have won some battles, but the war wages on. (See “Special Topic” below.) The next few months will be critical to our long-term success. We need all of your continued support, both physically in helping with our many activities, and financially so that we can maintain our presence and if necessary fund a campaign for the Weatherwax issue on the ballot. Finally, we need you to have the patience to make it through this record-length newsletter! Town Hall Meeting: The majority of the current council seems willing to take this issue to a vote of the people. The sticking point is how the ballot would be worded. Another Town Hall Meeting is scheduled June 11th. We requested that the City have the golf course architect proceed with drawings of an improved golf course without relocation to the Weatherwax. We have also asked for city support in forming working groups to look at the real issue – downtown revitalization. Audubon: Razor Clam Festival: Friends of Grays Harbor: Current ActivitiesMembership Drive: Mayoral and Council Elections: How You Can HelpAs we get into our busier season, we need “on call” tour guides. Training is available. If you can help with these tours on weekends, please contact Andy at oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com. We will also soon need volunteers to help maintain the trails. Please attend our meetings Wednesdays at the Ocean Shores Library at 3PM and/or send your comments, concerns and ideas to oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com. Write Letters to the Editor of the North Coast News and The Daily World. Contact Mayor and Council Candidates. Contact City Council members and the City Manager. Attend and speak up at City Council meetings and Planning Commission meetings. Special TopicGolf Course Issues: Mr. Zander has recently switched into high gear, actively promoting not only the move of golf course holes to Weatherwax but also full scale development of the property. We mentioned earlier his presentation at the Town Hall meeting. If you weren’t there, you missed him donning his “target” t-shirt as he announced his change in direction, that he had previously stayed on the sidelines, but no more. Golf course aside, he felt duty bound to make sure the public had his version of the full picture. He showed a map with the entire Weatherwax property, except where his golf course holes would go, platted into single-family housing lots. He quoted a list of numbers provided by local realtors resulting in something like $16-$18 million dollars that the Weatherwax property is worth if developed into single-family residences. He then told the Council that if THEY did not put his option on the ballot, then he would gather the necessary petition signatures and HE would put it on the ballot. It is unclear what suddenly made Mr. Zander become a spokesperson for the local real estate industry, but he indicated the people had the right to know how much money was involved and how much good it could do Ocean Shores. Through his own admission, he is not a real estate professional. What he presented was raw data that was not put in context of past and present real estate sales. For example: The Weatherwax Point, appraised and marketed for single-family houses, had no bids while it was for sale; hundreds of Ocean Shores lots and newly built houses are vacant and for sale, and they, unlike the Weatherwax property, have streets and utilities available to them; the City has never indicated any intent to sell all of Weatherwax. If we must consider selling all of the Weatherwax property for the money single-family housing will supposedly bring in, then must we not also consider selling all of the golf course property for the same reason? No. This huge sum of money sounds like a nice realtor’s fantasy, but it is not likely. It is simply a shortsighted “fire sale, everything must go” viewpoint. And what price do you put on the loss of our last, best natural space? None, according to this plan. Last week Mr. Zander approached OSCBG with what he seemed to think was a reasonable request for our membership list, because “our people should be informed” of his important information. We refused. We are not required to disclose our supporter information. Mr. Zander stated in a City Council meeting in late January that he wanted to get his message out to EVERYBODY, not just a few hundred people at a Town Hall meeting. Was he looking for a large free mailing list, or looking for a list of the “opposition” to try and convert? We don’t know. He then asked for a list of our contributors, for what reason we do not know. We refused. You can be assured your personal information is safe with us. Mr. Zander’s recent change in behavior has forced us to also step up to the plate with arguments about why the City (you) should spend $1.2 million dollars to move 5 golf course holes, and lose a 25 acre swath through the middle of the West Weatherwax forest in the process. We will analyze this in more detail in later months, but here are some starting points for you to consider. We constantly hear how important a golf course is to attract visitors to town and that is why we must maintain an 18-hole golf course. We hear from Mr. Zander that the golf course brings in a tremendous amount of tourist dollars every year. Elusive tourist dollars are the only way to measure the economic worth of the golf course to the City (you) because NO percentage of the revenues collected at the golf course comes back to the City. Although Mr. Zander leases the golf course from the City, he makes NO lease payments. If you are aware of the $15,000/year he pays, that is a loan repayment to the City for financing the construction of his driving range. (And Mr. Zander recently received a 2-year suspension of those payments, which the City continues to make in the meantime.) His leasehold taxes go mainly to the state. He does pay sales and business taxes like any other business in town. How can we determine how much tourist money the golf course really brings in? How do we know if people are coming to town just to play golf or if they play golf because they are in town? How do we know if they are in town and stay longer (thus generate hotel, restaurant, and retail income) to play golf? How do we know how many golfers are residents vs. tourists? We don’t. All we can do is look at the reports provided to the City by Mr. Zander. An initial review of “individual paid rounds of golf” shows a 25% decrease since 2001. In 2007, that figure averages 29 rounds per day, about half 18-hole and half 9-hole. Mr. Zander stated in a recent newspaper article that about 80% of his business comes from outside the Grays Harbor area, but the data he reports to the City does not appear to be separated by resident and visitor rounds. At any rate, the numbers we have seen so far seem insignificant compared to the estimated 3 million annual visitors to the City. You will be hearing more from us on this issue over the next few months. We are working diligently to have the City consider redesign of the existing downtown golf course holes into a creative downtown revitalization package. We think it is a good idea to give this less expensive improvement to the golf course lessee. Why? Because it means a TRIPLE WIN for the City, citizens, visitors, and wildlife: Saving the Weatherwax, Revitalizing the downtown area, AND Improving the golf course. OSCBG has no possible monetary gain to make by preserving Weatherwax. We care only about this marvelous natural place remaining intact for current and future generations of people and wildlife in Ocean Shores. In one way, Weatherwax and the golf course are alike. Today, neither one is likely to be the sole reason to bring someone to visit or live here, but both are an added attraction, one more thing to do once people get here, and that adds value to the City of Ocean Shores. They need to co-exist peacefully for the good of the City. Thank you for your continued support and desire to preserve the Weatherwax ecosystem. Issue: Number 7 Date: February 20, 2008 Current Activities:Our only current activity for the next few weeks is preparing for the March 3rd Weatherwax Town Hall Meeting! We are not sure of the format yet, but there might be several short presentations on options for using the Weatherwax property. We need you there to voice your support for preserving the entire Weatherwax property for current and future generations of residents, visitors, and wildlife. If you cannot be at the Town Hall meeting, please email or call City Council members and the interim City Manager to express your desire to preserve this incredible ecosystem. Our vision is to provide for low-impact human use and enjoyment, with little or no disruption to the ecosystem or bird and wildlife habitat. Our vision is a Weatherwax nature preserve . Current Status:Good things have been happening already in 2008! At the January 14th City Council Meeting, the Council repealed the September 10th Resolution to surplus and sell the Weatherwax Point. This means our legal appeal is resolved without having to go to court. The Council has stated they will take no action on Weatherwax until a public information process takes place. They are working towards putting the future of Weatherwax in our hands on the November ballot. Two Weatherwax Town Hall meetings are currently scheduled: March 3rd and June 11th. We are working on expanding the public process between those dates so full discussion of all options can occur before ballot wording is determined. On February 12th, the Planning Commission completed its final draft of the Critical Areas Ordinance, which now starts its review cycle to the State, public hearing, and City Council. By state law, the City must have a CAO in place by December 2008. The final draft defines any land in the City that was not platted in the original City layout to be a critical area. That includes the entire Weatherwax property and the tract land adjacent to the Oyehut Wildlife Area. Being a critical area requires using “best available science” to determine area buffers and development restrictions. This is good news, although we must remain diligent and vocal as this document proceeds. On January 30th, our core group held a Strategy Session to start laying out our plan of action for the next few months. Our priorities, with Weatherwax safe for the moment, are: defining our vision of how the property could be used; interfacing with other groups that have an interest in the property; proposing options for the downtown property that do not require moving golf course holes; increasing active membership; and fundraising. Things have been somewhat modified by the early scheduling of the first Weatherwax Town Hall meeting, but we plan to continue down this path. Please provide us with feedback on this direction. How You Can Help:If you are receiving this newsletter by postal mail and have access to email, please consider changing your mailing option. Sending you future announcements and newsletters by email will save us funds. We will not share your personal information or use it for anything but the OSCBG contact list. Please register for our email list, or send your name, address, telephone number, and email address to Oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com and indicate that we can switch you to our email list. We always welcome donations! Please donation online, or send what you can, along with your name, address, telephone number, and email address to: OSCBG, PO Box 443, Ocean Shores, WA 98569. Please attend the March 3rd Town Hall Meeting and bring your friends and neighbors. If you cannot attend, please contact one or more of the following people, expressing your desire to preserve Weatherwax. If you wish, please CC us at Oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com. Interim City Manager: Dennis Morrisette 360-289-3099 City Council: Mayor Dave Creighton dcreighton@osgov.com 360-289-0680 Thank you for your continued support and desire to preserve the Weatherwax ecosystem. Issue: Number 6 Date: December 21, 2007 WE WISH YOU A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!!!! This newsletter is very overdue, but it has been an exciting couple of The good news is: Weatherwax is still officially a single unplatted parcel, So what has OSCBG been doing all year? Here are some of the highlights: * Distributed over 1000 color brochures that describe the Weatherwax * Were a very visible presence at the Razor Clam Festival. Slideshow of * Conducted tours of Weatherwax for Native Plant Appreciation Week. * Started email newsletter for those who have expressed interest in keeping * Due to the generosity of member Wilma Spike's son Pat, created a new * Created an alliance with FOGH (Friends of Grays Harbor) who have been * Member Geoff Glover purchased and installed three benches on the * Most importantly, with your help we have remained a PRESENCE in the What's in store for 2008? * Hold a strategy meeting in January with our new Officers/Board of * Until then, expect our general actions to continue to be (1) research and Please join us at our next general meeting January 9, 2008 at the Library at Please keep your calls and letters coming, and help us if you can by sending HAPPY HOLIDAYS! YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW - - - - Although we are excited about the changes recently in the election of the new council members, and also the change in government, we realize that we are not finished in our efforts. We must continue with our legal as well as our watchdog efforts to stop the steamroller this current council seems to be on. It appears they continue to move on and are trying to get the Weatherwax cut up and ready to sell (or sold) before the new government takes over the first of the year. Our goal is still the same - to stop them until we get people in our city to listen and realize what a treasure we have in this rain forest, and how important it is to the eco-system and animals future. Be assured that we are in there fighting to make sure your children and grandchildren will be able to walk through the Weatherwax and marvel of having this wonderful and peaceful area right in the middle of Ocean Shores. We appreciate your confidence and any monetary help you are able to give to our mission. We need to show our support of Weatherwax. City planner Email is abridges@osgov.comSend it now! Thank you. Current Status: Issue: Number 5 Date: October 24, 2007 Published By: Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth (OSCBG) There have been letters and reports (City Manager Monthly Report) recently in the local press which misrepresent both the actions and the purpose of Citizens for Balanced Growth. The following has been submitted to the media as our response: Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth (OSCBG) submits the following information for clarification: * OSCBG is not a political group; it is a community conservation group currently focused on preserving the 120-acre Weatherwax property. * OSCBG believes the forest, wetland, and waterfront Weatherwax ecosystem to be one of our community's greatest assets for the future, especially considering the rapid development of the city. * OSCBG does not and has not endorsed or donated to, nor have we received donations from, any campaign on the November ballot. Individual supporters of OSCBG have the right to state their personal opinions regarding elections. Unless a person declares they are speaking for the OSCBG organization, they are not. * OSCBG does and always has supported a new fire station. * OSCBG does not claim to speak for all Ocean Shores residents. We are a state-incorporated non-profit grassroots citizens' organization with supporters, both residents and other property owners. * OSCBG has worked with supporters, State agencies, colleges, and conservation groups for over two years in our attempt to promote dialog with the City about preservation of the Weatherwax property for future generations and for wildlife. * The so-called "Weatherwax compromise" was not an OSCBG action. It was not the result of any dialog between OSCBG and City officials. * OSCBG is not against the golf course or downtown revitalization. However, we do not believe all options have been explored or publicly discussed. No options have been considered that would not develop portions of the Weatherwax property, thus fragmenting the ecosystem. * OSCBG has filed legal action against the City. This action is specific; it is an appeal to reverse the City Council's passage of Resolution 572 to surplus and sell the Weatherwax Point. We entered into this process with great reluctance only after we felt we had no other options. The City Council did not keep its 2005-2006 promises to hold a Town Hall meeting for open discussion with the community on the possible land use or preservation options for the entire Weatherwax property. There is no new word on the status of our appeal to the resolution which surplussed the Weatherwax point. We want to thank everyone for their continued support and will keep you posted on breaking news. If you would like more information, please visit www.weatherwax.info or call our President, John Clark, at 289-4295. If you, too, want to preserve the Weatherwax ecosystem for future generations and for wildlife, please help by sending your name, address, email address, and donation to OSCBG, PO Box 443, Ocean Shores WA 98569. You can also donate using Paypal on our website. Thank you. Paid for by Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth PO Box 443, Ocean Shores WA 98569 Current Activities: General meetings are the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 3:00 pm at the Ocean Shores Library. The alternate weeks will be committee work sessions. How You Can Help: * We always need additional supporters to help with our increased workload. There is a great variety of work to be done. Fresh faces and input are always welcome. * We always need donations to help pay our increasing organizational costs. We need you to think about your contacts who might also make donations. Please send your generous donation, along with your name, address, telephone number, and email address to: OSCBG, PO Box 443, Ocean Shores, WA 98569. You also have the option to make a credit card, debit card, or PayPal donation from our website (see below.) * We need ideas for large potential donors and grants, along with grant writers. * Visit our newly redesigned website, www.weatherwax.info and urge your friends and neighbors to do the same. * Call, write, or email the City Manager, City Council, and candidates. Express your concerns about recent Council actions. Tell them you want all of Weatherwax preserved, and that to keep any area pristine they must include enforceable protection. Please join us at our next general meeting October 24th. You can contact us at any time via email at Oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com. Thank you again for your support, and your valuable feedback, ideas, and desire in saving our pristine rainforest - Weatherwax. Sincerely, Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth (OSCBG) PRESS RELEASE FROM: Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth To: Aberdeen Daily World, North Coast News For immediate release-- September 28, 2007 CITIZENS FILE APPEAL TO SALE OF WEATHERWAX Since 1999, the disposition of the 120-acre Weatherwax rainforest On September 10, 2007 the Ocean Shores City Council, in a single On Friday, Smith and Lowney, PLLC, attorneys for Ocean Shores Citizens OSCBG is a local non-profit citizens' group that has been working to Issue: Number 4 Date: September 18, 2007 Current Status: The "Save the Weatherwax" battle has not been lost despite recent City Council decisions. Increased development in and around our community is drawing more recruits, both long-standing citizens and new citizens, to our cause. Our objective continues to be to save all 120 acres of the forest/ At the City Council meeting on August 27th, an ordinance was proposed At the City Council meeting September 10th, despite much public comment Current Activities: We continue to pursue saving the forested wetlands area of Weatherwax where NOTE: OSCBG has changed its meeting schedules. Effective immediately, we How You Can Help: It is time NOW for more of the 800+ signers of our Save the Weatherwax * We always need additional supporters to help with our increased workload. Please join us at our next general meeting September 26th. You can contact Thank you again for your support, and your valuable feedback, ideas, and Fight brewing over Weatherwax OCEAN SHORES — The City Council voted Monday to "surplus" a portion of the hotly debated Weatherwax property and begin marketing it to interested developers. But a group of residents working to preserve all of the Weatherwax property has hired a well-known environmental lawyer in an attempt to slow — and perhaps prevent altogether — any development inside the forested tract. At issue is "The Point" portion of the property — a small peninsula jutting out into Duck Lake. Selling "The Point" is part of the council-approved plan to move downtown golf course holes to the western portion of the Weatherwax property and sell several city-owned parcels in order to finance city facilities upgrades. During last night's meeting, disgruntled residents asked the council to slow down the process or put the issue on the ballot, but the council voted 3-1 to surplus the point. Dave Creighton cast the dissenting vote. Mayor Mike Patrick was ill and did not attend the meeting. Citizens for Balanced Growth has hired Knoll Lowney, a Seattle attorney who helped the Friends of Grays Harbor delay the Links at Half Moon Bay project in Westport for years. In a letter to the council and City Manager Rich McEachin, Lowney wrote, "If the city continues down its current path, we plan to use all resources and legal tools at our disposal to prevent development of the point property. We are confident that this irresponsible development can be forestalled for several years, if not indefinitely. "The city's rush to offer this property for sale will be of little benefit if potential developers understand that their proposed development will be subject to intense legal scrutiny." McEachin told The Daily World the hiring of Lowney was a threat directed primarily toward developers. "It's my understanding that they anticipate fighting any developer who plans to develop the property." McEachin said the city would have to inform prospective buyers of the attorney's letter, adding, "(Lowney) doesn't do anything unless he's paid. ... They had big bucks to do what they did in Westport, and I don't know how much money (Citizens For Balanced Growth) has." "The Point" was recently appraised at $2.35 million, up from McEachin's initial estimate of $1.8 million. The city is in the process of surveying all of the Weatherwax property in order to establish individual parcels zoned for single-family homes. Lillian Broadbent said the city is putting the cart before the horse. "The citizens have paid for a new Comprehensive Plan that is in its final stages. The citizens have paid a consultant to draw up a critical areas ordinance ... and the Weatherwax (property) has not yet been subdivided." The "surplus" declaration should wait until those items are completed, she said. Lowney's letter also said the council's decision was made "before the Planning Commission has even made final decisions about the appropriate uses of the property, before the property has been platted and before an adequate legal description is even completed." The Comprehensive Plan, the survey and the critical areas ordinance are all nearly completed, McEachin said, and they wouldn't put a stop to development of the Weatherwax property anyway. The city doesn't have an offer or an interested party, the city manager said this morning, but many residents are concerned about a gated community or condominiums being built. In order for a developer to build anything other than homes, he would need to petition the council for a zoning change, McEachin added. Councilman Nick Johnson said he would not vote for a zoning change, but added, "This council can't restrict a future council from doing whatever they want." Some residents debated whether houses on "The Point" would upset the ecosystem of the Weatherwax property. "The Weatherwax (property) is not going to be destroyed by what we do here," Larry Phoenix said. "I say we move forward and put this issue behind us." But Marlene Penry said the city didn't need any more lots for sale. "We have 1,122 parcels for sale; 368 of them are waterfront. Do we need to create any more single-family lots?" McEachin said he and City Attorney Art Blauvelt, who has experience with property transactions as the attorney for the Port of Grays Harbor, will begin advertising "The Point" soon. "We anticipate it taking a while before it's all said and done," he said. http://www.thedailyworld.com/articles/2007/09/11/local_news/02news.prt WEATHERWAX NEWSLETTER Published By: Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth (OSCBG) Thank you for your continuing support of our efforts to preserve the pristine area of Ocean Shores, known as Weatherwax. While we have been very busy in our efforts, it continues to be quite a challenge to keep this property in the public's hands, and not sold off to developers, or for re-arrangement of golf holes. This is a longer newsletter than normal, but please take the time to read it as many very important things are happening right now. WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW MORE THAN EVER. Current Status: NOW IS THE MOST CRITICAL TIME EVER FOR OUR GROUP. ALL SECTIONS OF THE WEATHERWAX PROPERTY ARE CURRENTLY BEING SURVEYED TO ESTABLISH PROPERTY LINES AND GET AN APPRAISAL ON THE POINT. PORTIONS OF THE PROPERTY ARE IN IMMINENT DANGER OF BEING DEVELOPED. In our last newsletter we described the City Manager's "City Facilities Plan" which included selling the Weatherwax point (shorelands) to developers and moving 4 or 5 golf course holes to the Weatherwax property west of the Pole Line road (forested wetlands.) It also included an "intent to preserve" the east parcel of Weatherwax and the central old growth forest area. This plan has become known in local jargon as "The Weatherwax Compromise." Our goal continues to be to save all 120 acres of the forest ecosystem intact. This property is an irreplaceable ecosystem with our only remaining large public access area to Duck Lake. Even if a compromise is someday inevitable, we do not think the City's current proposal is a compromise at all. Here's why: Sale of City property is supposed to provide much of the funding for new City buildings, yet the plan is based on "guesstimate" prices that make no sense. The 2 lots of the old City Hall are valued at $0.5 million, but 25 acres of downtown property are valued at only $3-$4 million. New appraisals are part of the plan. If the City sells the downtown property for what it is really worth, they won't need the money from selling the Point to accomplish their plan. Selling or modifying any part of Weatherwax should be the last resort. As written and presented to the Council, the plan had a sequence of five phases; selling the Point was in phase 3. Unfortunately, Councilmember Johnson requested a change to sell the Point and downtown property simultaneously as soon as the phase 1 appraisals are complete. He has stated many times how strongly he feels about getting the Point developed. We don't need 10-20 more housing lots in the City; we already have about 10,000. The council voted 4 to 1 (Creighton against) to approve the plan as amended. We need to have the Council rethink this. Not one golf course hole should be moved until residents and businesses have their say about what kind of development they want on the downtown property the holes currently occupy, until we have a solid purchase/sale agreement (not like Jerry Ward's aquarium deal) for the downtown property, and until golf course redesigns utilizing current golf course land are considered and presented to the citizens. No Weatherwax property should be sold to pay for moving golf course holes. That expense should be the downtown developer's problem, should this ever come to pass. The City has stated they will pass an ordinance to leave the central trail area and east shoreline alone for 8-10 years. An ordinance can be overturned at any time by Council action. The City has not responded to our suggestions to truly preserve the land through a conservation easement or land trust. Current Activities: We have been keeping close watch on City Council elections. Primary election ballots are in your hands. We know the City Council elections concern much more than the single issue of saving Weatherwax, so we are not endorsing any candidates. If you missed the Candidate's forums or newspaper articles, we strongly suggest you talk to the candidates before voting, and ask questions about all of your concerns. From what we have gathered from forums, newspapers, candidate statements, and conversations, here is where the candidates stand on Weatherwax: Position 2 Eleanor Dorman: Not only supports "The Weatherwax Compromise" but was instrumental in creating it. Says golf course move to forested wetlands would be "minimally invasive." Now says the Point should be sold to pay part of Fire Station loan, which is not part of the original "compromise." Eleonor Mayo: Unclear. Not in favor of selling due to sentimental reasons [ed. not our reasons], but also must consider budget. Or, City Council has already made decision, can't do anything about it. [ed. any City Council action can be overturned, and this one isn't even an ordinance or resolution.] Doug Thaut: No opinion expressed. Position 3 George Borrelli: Preserve as much as we can. Golf course hole move is problematic. Willing to support "The Weatherwax Compromise." Richard Mayo: Weatherwax is being used to pay for [City's] errors and poor judgments. Protect the critical areas [ed. not stated what those areas are.] Dennis Sumption: Supports "The Weatherwax Compromise." Wildlife habitat is not being ruined. The city has plenty of open space, flora and fauna – just drive around. [ed. other than Weatherwax and small parks, what you see driving around is privately owned property to be developed.] Position 4 We have also been working diligently to monitor all aspects of city development. We have spent two years pleading our case to the City. It has mostly fallen on deaf ears. We are getting familiar with local and state laws and agencies to help in slowing down this rush of activity on what was supposed to be a 3-5 year plan. We are contacting environmental lawyers to help us as we wade through a sea of environmental processes (SEPA, CAO, Comp Plans, Corps of Engineers, Departments of Ecology and Fish & Wildlife, etc.) and issues (wetlands, setbacks, conservation, etc.) How You Can Help: We continue to meet weekly on Wednesdays at 3:00 pm at the Ocean Shores Library. We need additional active members to help with our increased workload. There is a great variety of work to be done. All work is done on a volunteer basis. We need contacts for access to services from environmental/land use lawyers specializing in conserving land. Discounts and pro bono work for our non-profit organization would be a great plus. We need ideas for large potential donors to help with legal fees. Call, write, or email the City Manager and City Council expressing your concerns and/or the reasons we do not think "The Weatherwax Compromise" is satisfactory (see above.) We need YOU! Please join us at our next meeting. Our email is Oceanshorescbg@yahoo.com. Thank you again for your support, and your valuable feedback, ideas, and desire in saving our pristine rainforest – Weatherwax. < return to top
Published By: Ocean Shores Citizens for Balanced Growth (OSCBG) Thank you for your continuing support of our efforts to preserve the pristine area of Ocean Shores, known as Weatherwax. While we have been very busy in our efforts, it has continued to be quite a challenge to keep this property in property owner’s hands and not sold off to developers, or for re-arrangement of golf holes. Current Status The City Manager has recently come forward with a “Facilities Plan” approved by 4 of 5 City Council members which calls for:
You may have read, or heard, that a former member of our group endorsed the City’s new plan as an acceptable “compromise”. This was her opinion only and does not represent the wishes of our group, or supporters, as a whole. New officers have been elected who continue with the commitment to “Save the Weatherwax”. The new officers are: President and Founder – John Clark, Vice-President – Lillian Broadbent, Treasurer – Gene Swygard, Secretary – Catie Clark. Board Member at Large – Andy Gruse. Diane Beckley will be the official spokesperson for OSCBG. Current Activities We are in the process of getting essential records turned over to the new Officers. At this time, our web-site (Weatherwax.info) is not available for our group to update; contains information which does not represent the group; and is missing all the data which the group had placed on the site. We are working to resolve that situation. The City’s Facilities Plan contains many dependencies, any one of which could cause the entire plan to collapse. Our group is firmly behind the desire to build a much needed fire station. We do not believe it is necessary to destroy the Weatherwax ecosystem to accomplish the City’s real needs. We are working on options to present to the City which accomplishes what is needed by the City at this time, yet prevents the sale of any of the Weatherwax property. How You Can Help
Thank you again for your support, and your valuable feedback, ideas, and desire in saving our pristine rainforest – Weatherwax. < return to topPublisher: OSCBG Volume Number I Issue Number I Date: May 2007
Thank you again for your support. Together, we can make a difference. This unique urban rainforest must be preserved for all of us and future generations in Ocean Shores. < return to top |
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WEATHERWAX NEWSLETTER
WEATHERWAX NEWSLETTER
WEATHERWAX NEWSLETTER
