Residents Say Land Swap Not Even Deal Area Will Be Clearcut If State Trades With Builder, Critics Say

Nine Mile residents fighting a land swap between the state and a Kirkland, Wash., developer say taxpayers will be the big losers.

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission has underestimated the value of 295 acres in Riverside State Park by more than half, they say.

After approving the swap last fall, the commission has backed off because of discrepancies in appraisals.

Citizens have one more chance - a public hearing Monday night - to protest the deal, although state officials still are recommending the exchange.

The parks agency is trying to acquire 160 acres on Quartz Mountain near Mount Spokane to beef up cross-country ski trails.

To get the parcel, officials want to give Mike Mitchell of Wildlife Land & Holding Co. nearly 300 acres just outside the boundary of Riverside State Park.

The Riverside land is appraised at $875,000, said Dick Fankhauser, the park agency’s chief of site planning.

But homeowner Daniel Whicker said a timber cruise commissioned by residents shows the value of timber, alone, at $2 million.

He and others are afraid Mitchell wants the land so he can clear-cut it, profit from the trees and then sell the land to home builders.

“It’s irrelevant what the developer plans to do,” Fankhauser said.

Telephone calls to Mitchell were not returned. A woman who answered his office phone Thursday said timber is the company’s primary business.

“We just flat don’t want to see this land clearcut,” said Whicker, 45. “I don’t want to live with 900 houses next to me.”

Nine Mile residents have a new ally in state Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient.

He will attend Monday night’s hearing to fight the deal.

“The land swap is terribly one-sided, and it could end up costing taxpayers millions of dollars in lost timber and other recreational resources,” Morton said.

His constituency includes Nine Mile in northern Spokane County.

“This is very valuable land which shouldn’t be squandered,” he said. “This property, with its majestic timber and old trails, is irreplaceable … This is the type of land the commission ought to be fighting to keep.”

Fankhauser said the parks commissionis convinced the Quartz Mountain site is equal in value to the Riverside parcel, even though appraisals are contradictory.

The original proposal called for 308 acres, but because the initial appraisal inflated the Riverside property’s value, the state’s end of the swap was reduced to 268 acres.

Then appraisers determined that the Riverside land is worth less than they thought, so they increased the acreage back to nearly its original size.

“We discovered an error,” Fankhauser said.

The parks commission will get the final say at its April 21 meeting in Olympia. A Spokane task force formed in the late 1970s recommended trading the Riverside land so Quartz Mountain holdings could be consolidated, Fankhauser said.

“They always have a chance to stop it,” he said of Nine Mile property owners.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PUBLIC HEARING What: Public hearing on the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission’s proposal to swap land at Riverside State Park for a parcel on Quartz Mountain. When: 7 p.m. Monday Where: Building 17 at Fort Wright Campus of Spokane Falls Community College, 3410 W. Fort George Wright Drive. More information: (206) 902-8656