PORT TOWNSEND — The Port of Port Townsend has filed a complaint in U.S. District Court seeking to clarify its ownership of a 20-acre parcel between Kah Tai Nature Lagoon Park and Sims Way that it may wish to develop in the future.
The land, which is undeveloped, was the potential site for an aquatic center proposed by the Port Townsend nonprofit group Make Waves!
The National Park Service agreed in September with a recommendation from the state Recreation and Conservation Office that conditions imposed during the 1981 purchase of the park with federal grant money prevents any development — including the $10 million, 35,000-square-foot aquatic center proposed by Make Waves!
The port action, filed Oct. 12 with the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, seeks to quiet the port’s title and establish the port as owner of the property, with the ability to improve or develop the land.
It also seeks monetary damages from the state and requests that the city of Port Townsend, which has leased the land from the port until July, pay legal costs.
“This has nothing to do with Make Waves! or any future aquatic center at Kah Tai,” port Director Larry Crockett said in a statement.
“The port is focused solely on defending the broader public interest by requesting a federal judge to rule on and confirm that these lands are owned unencumbered by the port for the benefit of all county residents.”
Crockett said the land could be developed, but not as commercial retail property or anything that does not benefit the public.
Ball fields or other recreational facilities could be built on the site, he said.
Port complaint
The port complaint says that the “United States, its agencies and all other defendants have no right, title or interest in the property and “the State of Washington and its subject agency have impaired the port’s title and. . . . damaged the port in an amount to be proven at trial.”
In an email to city personnel, Port Townsend City Attorney John Watts described the port’s action as follows:
“The complaint seeks money damages from the state due to impairment of property title [and] also alleges the port-city lease requires the city to hold the port harmless from claims arising out of the city’s use of the property as a park, and asserts the NPS restriction is a result of the property’s use as a park, and requests the city indemnity the port for its damages and pay port attorney fees and costs.”
Action ‘regrettable’
City Manager David Timmons called the action “regrettable” and “a pretty big stretch.”
Timmons said the port co-signed the 1981 grant application that was the basis of the RCO ruling.
“They agreed to this,” Timmons said.
“There are a lot of decisions the city has made in the past that we wish we could change.”
Council discussion
The Port Townsend City Council scheduled the matter for an executive session Monday evening but instead addressed it in open meeting during Watts’ remarks.
“The port’s position is that they never signed a deed of conveyance for the land,” Watts said.
“But it overlooks that they signed a project contract with the city, which makes them subject to the terms of that agreement.”
While some aspects of the case will be discussed in a future executive session, the council will put the matter on an upcoming agenda where public comment will be taken, Watts said.
Those opposing Make Waves! argued that accepting that grant constituted an agreement to never develop the land.
In a Jan. 22 letter to RCO conversion specialist Jim Anest, the port says “the port’s leased land was not ‘acquired or developed’ as part of the federal grant monies [but] was offered by the port to be used as value toward the associated state grant match.”
Discovery documents are due to the court by Jan. 17.
The Park Service agreed in September with the state Recreation and Conservation Office that 78.5 acres of Kah Tai 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.
The proposed swim center was planned to accommodate more than 2,000 swimmers a year with a public pool and other recreational options.
Karen Nelson, president of the nonprofit Make Waves!, had said that there were acceptable ways to build an aquatic center within the 6(f) rule, but not without “a long-range plan for the park which represents the vision of our entire community.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
