Usk Residents Resolved To Stop Resort Plans Dozens Gather, Indicate Opposition To Diamond Pine Co. Hopes For 3 Sites

Recent reports that their farms and fields were being eyed for a future golf course didn’t sit well with several property owners around here.

They were particularly galled by statements from the developer that he would include the public early on in the planning process.

They all claimed to hear about it first from the newspaper.

“Nobody’s going to sell him any land, we’ve all agreed on that,” said Charlie Hoisington, who moved to Usk in the 1930s and still farms his grandfather’s land.

“I didn’t work all my life there and my granddad and my kids to hand it over to some foreigners to make into a playground,” Hoisington said.

He summed up the sentiments of nearly 50 residents and property owners who gathered last week in the Usk Community Hall to denounce Diamond Pine Co.’s resort plans.

Residents called the meeting themselves, pre-empting Diamond Pine’s own plans to start involving the community in the potential development of three destination resorts: one along Skookum Creek in Pend Oreille County, one in Stevens County and one across the state line in Bonner County.

“This is a slice of heaven here,” said Jerry Hendershott. “Everywhere you go, a big corporation comes in and pushes everybody out. Just leave it alone.”

Diamond Pine isn’t a big corporation, yet.

Partners Pat Witkowski of Usk and Andrew Barber of London are seeking big investors for their proposed resorts - which are estimated to cost about $140 million each to develop.

Witkowski is semiretired from a career in the aircraft industry. He worked for Hughes Helicopters and McDonnell-Douglas, and in the late ‘70s administered civil engineering contracts to build subways in Hong Kong.

Barber owns Barber Asia, a financial consulting company with offices in London and Hong Kong.

For three years, Diamond Pine has worked quietly on its resort plans, Witkowski said. “One thing we didn’t want to do was raise the anxieties of the community unnecessarily,” he said.

On Super Bowl Sunday, they launched a Web site to attract investors by advertising the area as “spectacular” and “pristine.”

“We’re looking for a specific type of individual who might be willing to invest,” Witkowski said. “They have family or business interests all over the world.”

Each of the proposed resorts would have a golf course, but a slightly different focus, according to Gary Driver, a real estate salesman who’s working with Witkowski.

The proposed 1,040-acre site in Bonner County is just a few miles east of Priest River, where the Kaniksu Stock Ranch now sits. Rancher Tom Anselmo is resigned to the fact that change is coming. He’s interested in selling to Diamond Pine, provided the development is good for the community, he said.

“I’m looking out for the future of my family, and farming is starting to be a tougher enterprise,” Anselmo said Friday. “Would I rather see a subdivision with 400 homes or would I rather see a well-manicured golf course?”

The resort planned for that site is intended primarily as a corporate retreat, and would include several corporate “chalets,” a convention center and duty-free shops. The Stevens County site, near Hunters, would be more of a dude ranch, Driver said.

The 880-acre Usk site is intended more for individuals and families interested in an outdoor haven. All golf courses would be open to the public.

Residents in the Usk area fear many of those folks will want to stay and build homes, destroying their rural atmosphere and increasing property taxes.

Diamond Pine has found an ally in the Upper Columbia Resource Conservation and Development Council, or RC&D, which is seeking private foundation grants for a feasibility study that takes a “holistic” approach.

The study would look at the environmental, sociological and economic impacts of the proposed resorts, and gauge public acceptance for them. The study will help determine which of the three projects, if any, Diamond Pine pursues.

Anselmo said he wants to see the results of the feasibility study before deciding to sell; “I want it to be positive. If it’s not, I’m going to keep on raising my cattle.”

Tim King of the RC&D tried to explain the study to the skeptical crowd in Usk. With the RC&D administering the independent study, the community can be assured it will get an honest assessment of the development’s impacts, he said.

“The idea of getting the community involved up front is our key issue,” King said. “If it’s determined up front it’s not going to work, you save everyone a lot of problems.”

After King described the plan, which may be funded by the Bullitt or Kellogg foundations, Hoisington piped up.

“Right here’s the time to stop it,” he said.

“It’s not feasible,” someone else said.

“Someone go find a bull trout and put it in Skookum Creek,” suggested Danny Sheridan, earning laughter from his longtime neighbors who understand how a threatened species can bring a project to a halt.

Sitting quietly in the back of the hall was Joel Jacobson, a Pend Oreille County commissioner who signed a letter in support of the grant proposal for the feasibility study.

“It doesn’t sound like the feasibility study’s going to come off all that well for this site,” Jacobsen observed. He urged residents to get involved in the county’s comprehensive plan process, if they want to keep their agricultural lands from turning into recreational developments.

“Living in a county like ours, it’s going to be looked at not just by Diamond Pines,” he said. “The county’s sitting here like a plum, just about to get ripe and about to be picked by someone.”

This sidebar appeared with the story:

BACKGROUND

Resort plans

Each of the proposed resorts would have a golf course, but a slightly different focus, according to Gary Driver, a real estate salesman who’s working with Witkowski.

The resort planned for the Bonner County site is intended primarily as a corporate retreat, and would include several corporate “chalets,” a convention center and duty-free shops. The Stevens County site, near Hunters, would be more of a dude ranch, Driver said.

The 880-acre Usk site is intended more for individuals and families interested in an outdoor haven. All golf courses would be open to the public.