PORT TOWNSEND — A National Park Service decision that protects Kah Tai Nature Lagoon Park from development has made unlikely that an aquatic center will be built on that site.
The ruling by the Park Service that conditions imposed during the 1981 purchase of the park with grant money prevents any development — including the $10 million 35,000-square-foot aquatic center proposed by Make Waves!
“We are at an impasse,” said Karen Nelson, president of the nonprofit Make Waves!, which sought to build the facility on port land next to Kah Tai Lagoon and Jefferson Transit’s Haines Place Park and Ride on 12th Street.
“We cannot do this without community support,” she said.
The state Recreation and Conservation Office recommended to the Park Service in September that 78.5 acres of the park be protected from development, citing the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, or LWCF Act, of 1965.
According to the 6(f) rule written into the LWCF Act, property purchased with its grant money is federally protected for passive recreation use only and must “be retained for public outdoor recreation use in perpetuity.”
The Kah Tai park property was purchased in part with $113,977 from the LWCF in 1981.
Nelson said there are acceptable ways to build an aquatic center within Section 6(f)(3), but not without “a long-range plan for the park which represents the vision of our entire community.”
“Everybody would be served and benefit from a long-range plan that represents and includes our diverse community of city and county residents, schools, nonprofits, medical professionals, athletic organizations and government, among others,” she said in a statement.
“We would certainly be willing to participate in that process with the knowledge we have gained.”
The Park Service concurred with the state Recreation and Conservation Office recommendation at the end of September.
“The ruling ensures that this land may only be used as a park in perpetuity, promoting outdoor recreation and habitat restoration and preservation in continuity with the original grant intent,” said Rich Jahnke, an opponent of the Make Waves! proposal.
“This ruling is not an opinion by the federal and state agencies as to the appropriate use of this land but rather a determination that the documented record contained contractual, legal obligations agreed to by city and port officials 30 years ago,” he said.
The land is owned by the port and is leased to the city of Port Townsend until July 31.
Independent of the Make Waves! proposal, the Port of Port Townsend has instructed its legal council to examine the decision and whether it actually prevents all development.
Port Director Larry Crockett said the decision states it cannot be appealed, which he is not convinced is true.
“There is still a cloud over the property,” he said.
“The decision means that it will be a lot more difficult to build Make Waves!, but I’m not sure that we will never be able to build anything there.
“This needs to be clarified.”
The proposed swim center would accommodate more than 2,000 swimmers a year with a public pool and other recreational options.
Nelson said 2,500 people in Jefferson County have come forward in favor of the facility.
As a fully equipped aquatic center with more than just a pool, the proposed facility could sustain itself in ways that a standard pool, such as Port Townsend’s only public pool at the Mountain View facility at 1919 Blaine St., cannot, Nelson said.
“We plan to be self-supporting,” she said.
“We won’t be asking the city for money every year in order to stay open.”
Nelson said it was important that an aquatic center be constructed because the Mountain View pool is in need of rehabilitation and repair.
City Manager David Timmons said passage of a fire levy-lid lift, which is on the Nov. 8 ballot, would help the city accomplish needed repairs before “something crashes.”
If the measure fails, the future of the facility is uncertain, as is the source of funding to complete it, Timmons said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
