Video: Maury Island shoreline deal announced in West Seattle

As you’ll hear in our video, State Rep. and Sen.-elect Sharon Nelson says this is a day she has awaited for 13 years – a day bringing real hope that a section of industrial-company-owned shoreline on her home island, Maury, will be preserved forever.

She, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and dozens of other state and King County leaders, environmental advocates, and Maury/Vashon residents gathered on the Beach Drive shore across from Me-Kwa-Mooks, with the islands visible to the southwest, to formally announce a deal to purchase that mile of shoreline, and 250 adjacent acres of madrone forest. What’s currently been compiled includes $15 million in state money and $19 million in county money – with about $2 million that will have to be raised from other sources to close the deal by year’s end. The land has been the subject of controversy in recent years, with environmental advocates and nearby residents trying to stop it from being mined. The site holds importance for the ecology of all of Puget Sound, say supporters – West Seattleite Donna Sandstrom of The Whale Trail was at the announcement and told us, “It’s a great day for the whales” – the orcas about whom her group seeks to educate. And for Puget Sound salmon, as underscored by the giant prop brought by the Vashon-based Backbone Campaign:

(You might remember Backbone for the “flash mob” video protest inside West Seattle’s Target store.) According to the county’s announcement, the site is adjacent to the 320-acre Maury Island Marine Park already owned by the county. Opening the news conference, Constantine made a point of saying that the $19 million the county would advance for the $36 million purchase is from the King County Conservation Futures Fund, and that state law says that money can only be used for open-space or resource-land purchases.

The private fundraising work begins now, with various groups involved, and donations being taken at www.cascadeland.org. (Thursday PS: Here’s the official county news release with yet more details.)

CB November 10, 2010 (5:53 pm)

Funny how out elected officials complain there is no money, then blow $36 million on an old mine.

Maggie Sudduth November 10, 2010 (6:56 pm)

Fantastic news for us islanders! Congrats, Sharon!

M November 11, 2010 (8:13 am)

I’m with ya CB – and just so happens it’s in a politicians back yard! Funny how the money gets “found”

This reminds me of when Rosellini wanted to put a bridge to Vashon – where he owned property.

Ex-Westwood Resident November 11, 2010 (9:25 am)

$36 Million to buy an old mine in the backyard of a politician, but yet there isn’t enough money to pay or keep public safety officers at the current level or increase their staffing.
All I can say is don’t blame me…I voted for the other person.
I REALLY wish we had the ability to determine where our tax dollars were spent instead of “trusting” the idiots that get elected by progressives and socialists to spend them where they will do the most good.

T November 11, 2010 (12:02 pm)

This has been an issue for a long time and it isn’t a case of the money suddenly appearing because it is in a politician’s back yard.

The $36 million dollars is not available to put towards other needs, such as public safety, and is not coming from tax dollars. If you read a little bit more about the issue, you would see where a good portion of the money is coming from. Here’s information from the Cascade Land Conservancy website:

$14.5 million is presently set aside in the state budget from ASARCO settlement funds, as the property lies within the bulls-eye of the plume from the old copper smelter in Ruston.

$19.1 million is proposed to be advanced from the King County Conservation Futures Fund, which by state law can only be used to purchase open space or resource lands – with the expectation that $2 million will be paid back into the fund through private fundraising. (This comes from individuals making contributions.)

$2.4 million is attributed to the value of extending CalPortland’s existing mining lease on another part of the island, royalty-free, from 2020 to 2030, to meet the island’s own gravel needs.

It’s a much more complicated issue than just finding the money. It is not an “idiot” deciding where the money would do the most good, but allocating funds that have been set aside for this type of purchase.

WSB November 11, 2010 (12:07 pm)

Thanks, T. We do need to find a link to the official news release that was handed out, but we did mention the info about the county $ in the story itself, since that seemed likely to be an issue of confusion for some folks, given the county’s budget crisis … TR

WSB November 11, 2010 (12:08 pm)

Aforementioned link:
http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/news/release/2010/November/10Maury.aspx

MKS November 13, 2010 (12:27 am)

Press releases are always at least part spin. So looking to them for fact is folly. Though the funds may be set aside for environmental work, I doubt the money was just sitting around. Something somewhere is losing by this move.

For instance, where is the $19M in Conservation Futures money coming from? Those are grant funds competed for across the region annually to fund all kinds of open space and restoration needs. Which projects reviewed and prioritized by an independent technical panel are losing by Constantine’s proposal? Great to save shoreline – add it to the County’s other neglected park of Scots Broom down the beach – super. But is the consequence that the funds will be pulled from more technically important projects that will now be lost to development forever?

It’s never as simple as it seems.

WSB November 13, 2010 (12:51 am)

Do you have any particular knowledge of what was in the running for that money? I have just tried some preliminary research. Not coming up with anything easily … so far.

Sorry, comment time is over.