Hearing Tuesday on dredge sand law

Wahkiakum County officials will hold a public hearing next Tuesday 6 p.m. in the courthouse meeting room, to discuss a proposed ordinance regarding use of potential dredge spoils along East Sunny Sands.

The county and Puget Island residents have been working for years to get dredge spoils placed along the beach to ease the effects of erosion.

The county and state and federal agencies have developed a plan to place the spoils this summer.

In a letter sent to area residents earlier this month county Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow said the ordinance is one of the prerequisites set by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington Department of Natural Resources. The agencies say the beach that will be created will eventually erode away so any structure built on it is doomed.

The proposed ordinance would prohibit construction on the new land, and it would designate the land a public beach maintained under the jurisdiction of the DNR.

Also under the ordinance, the county would recognize that title to the land from present, past and future beach nourishment projects would rest with the DNR.

Commissioners will take public input on the ordinance but likely won't act on it until a subsequent meeting.