State will keep Valley parkland

After two months of angst on the part of landowners, environmental groups and river users, the board that oversees state parks on Thursday decided that about 100 acres of riverfront property won’t be going to the highest bidder but will stay in public hands.

“We’re not talking about auctioning anymore,” said Joan Thomas, vice chairwoman of the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.

The potential sale was initially noted in a nondescript, 3 1/2-by-5-inch legal ad buried in the sports section of The Spokesman-Review in April announcing that Washington State Parks was pondering the sale of eight riverfront properties across from the Centennial Trail.

That triggered protests.

A public hearing last month drew about 80 residents, and all but one opposed the sale of any parkland to developers.

After learning of the possible land sale, the Spokane Valley and Spokane County parks departments scrambled to submit letters to the state showing their interest in obtaining the land and keeping it available to the public as parks or open space.

Local governments get first dibs at attaining surplus state parks property. Accordingly, the state parks staff Thursday proposed that the land be transferred to the city and the county, including a small piece directly along the river near Plantes Ferry Park that was not included in the original group of properties.

Five of the six board members present at Thursday’s meeting voted against that measure, which keeps the land under state control for the foreseeable future.

“What’s most important is that it’s still public land,” said Spokane Valley parks Director Mike Jackson.

The night before the newspaper notice came out, the Spokane Valley City Council passed the city’s first 20-year parks plan, which lists adding riverfront parkland specifically as one of its goals.

“I’m a little disappointed because we would have liked to add that to our parks system,” Jackson said.

Ten people from various groups associated with the river testified at Thursday’s meeting. Most said they preferred that the state parks agency retain ownership of the land, but that it would be acceptable to deed it to the city and the county if the state did not want it.

The state park system is in the process of taking an inventory of land it owns and selling pieces of it that aren’t in line with the agency’s recreational priorities. Money from the sales is used to buy other parkland.

The eight properties along the river listed in the legal advertisement are assessed at about $5.6 million and amount to more than 100 acres of riverfront property. Six of the parcels are in the city of Spokane Valley. One of the two properties in Spokane County is next to Plantes Ferry Park, the other in Otis Orchards.

State parks officials said later that only parts of those properties, about 50 acres, were actually being considered for sale, none of which fronted the river. None of the lots had been subdivided, though, and legal questions arose as to whether a state agency can sell only part of a property it owns.

While opponents to the sale were relieved that the property ultimately stayed out of private hands, some openly expressed their dissatisfaction in how the agency handled the proposal.

“I think this is a good example of how not to do this in the future,” Rich Eichstaedt, a lawyer with the Center for Justice who was representing the Sierra Club, said at the meeting.