PORT TOWNSEND — About 10 years in the making, the three Jefferson County commissioners on Monday made hay for a future equestrian events center on county land off Cape George Road, unanimously approving an operating agreement with Jefferson Equestrian Association.
“The next step is we have to go through the permitting process with [the county Department of Community Development] and to start a capital campaign and membership drive,” said a happy Kim McGuire, Jefferson Equestrian Association president who embraced association members in celebration after Commissioners David Sullivan, Phil Johnson and John Austin voted 3-0 to sign the agreement.
The pact came with the support of county staff.
“We are absolutely thrilled,” said association treasurer Christina Pivarnik afterward.
“This was a decade in the making. Now the hard work starts.”
Proposed for the county’s 80-acre site is:
• A 200-foot-by-80-foot covered arena.
• Two outdoor arenas, each 200 feet square.
• A round pen for training.
• Cross-country courses.
• 60 horse enclosures.
• Trails for horses and pedestrians.
• Competitor and public parking, a picnic area and utilities.
• Vaulted toilets, judging booths, perimeter fencing and a show office.
Under the agreement the improvements would be made in the next 10 years.
A sustainable forest plan would be part of the project, under the association’s agreement with the county.
The facility would give youths in the region a place to ride year-round and has wide-ranging support from riders in both Jefferson and Clallam counties.
Because the 80-acre site is on land zoned for solid waste disposal adjacent to the former Jefferson County Landfill, it has methane and leachate monitoring “wells” in strategic locations around it.
County officials said because of this, the site proposed for the equestrian events center must go through a solid waste handling facility permit process. Building permits must also be secured for structures planned.
“I think this will serve a lot of our constituents,” said Sullivan, a resident of Cape George.
Austin said the county was not giving away public land with the board’s action.
“We’re development public land to broaden the uses,” he said.
County Administrator Philip Morley said the center, as proposed, would lift the county’s profile among horse riders and prove to be an economic asset.
He said any development of the county property would be subject to a conditional use permit, which requires a public hearing.
The Jefferson County Parks Advisory Board in June 2007 recommended a county equestrian park master plan for same location, with the commissioners approved for the same location.
Trees on the site are small, and about 24 acres of timber has been given a gross value of about $150,000.
They are not recommended for harvest at this time.
The association retained Walter R. Briggs, a registered professional forester, to analyze the forested site.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
