Board to vote on spoils ordinance

Wahkiakum County commissioners will vote next Tuesday on a proposed new ordinance prohibiting construction on dredged sand dumped along the county's shorelines.

The county must pass the ordinance to obtain a permit from the state Department of Natural Resources to place sand along eroding Puget Island shorelines.

Officials and Islanders discussed the ordinance at a public hearing March 4, and those discussions continued at the commission's regular meeting on Tuesday.

At both meetings, Islanders expressed strong concern about ceding property rights or titles to the DNR. The agency claims it owns tidelands to the high water line, but many Islanders say their deeds date from before statehood and give them ownership to the low water line or beyond.

Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow had modified the ordinance following the March 4 meeting to remove sections in which the county would have acknowledged DNR rights to the dredge spoils. The revised ordinance contained one enforcement section stating that no structure could be constructed or placed on the lands created by the Pancake Point, Sand Pit or any future beach nourishment projects of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Further, the ordinance stated that its applicability shall not prohibit either the county or the property owner from exercising any other right or remedy provided by law, ordinance or equity.

Several Islands still had concerns with the wording.

East Sunny Sands resident Douglas Fleming objected to the term "beach nourishment" and to other language which he felt the DNR could use to bolster its claims to the lands.

"The private landowner has lost ground," Fleming said. "They'll just take advantage of this. I'm the one who will have to hire a land use lawyer."

The concern of the DNR and other permitting agencies is that no structures should be built on the deposited dredge spoils, said Commissioner George Trott.

After discussion, Bigelow said he would amend the ordinance again to emphasize that it applies to new spoils and not sand that was deposited in the past.

A copy of the second revision will be made available during the week, and commissioners put it on the agenda for action at their March 18 meeting.