Concern about pending Crescent Beach purchase

County commissioners agree that plans for acquiring five acres on Crescent Beach sound like a killer deal -- but not for the county.

In fact, according to Commissioner John Evans, it’s a troubling transaction that doesn’t even come close to being fair. In addition to doling out $300,000, the Land Bank has proposed swapping 15 acres for five to acquire a parcel of land that the county should own already, Evans said.

“As it stands now, I think it’s a long way from being a good deal for the county,” Evans said. “And really, I don’t even think it’s a fair deal.”

Nevertheless, Evans last week joined his colleagues in reluctantly supporting three projects backed by the Land Bank, including preliminary approval of a pending deal at Crescent Beach on Orcas Island. The Land Bank board of directors, a seven-member panel of volunteers appointed to oversee the agency, previously approved the list of projects and its $1.2 million price tag.

Despite anxiety over Crescent Beach, commissioners agreed purchase of a conservation easement on Henry Island is an urgent need overshadowing potential problems elsewhere. So that the easement opportunity is not lost, the commission approved the projects with the proviso that the Crescent Beach transaction must come back for final approval after necessary real estate appraisals are complete.

The conservation easement -- a $475,000 expense -- would protect 21 acres of undeveloped land on the east side of Henry Island that includes 1,750 feet of shoreline on Mosquito Pass and Nelson Bay. It’s adjacent to an isthmus that separates Open and Nelson bays, an area identified as one of the most significant saltwater estuaries in San Juan County. It is also the target of a conservation easement of the San Juan Preservation Trust.

Through partnership with the Trust, the side-by-side properties would be protected by overlapping ownership, conservation easements and joint management of the private and public land conservation groups. Total cost of the two pending transactions is $950,000. The deal’s deadline expires at the end of the month, said Dennis Shaffer, executive director of the Land Bank.

Meanwhile, swapping 15 acres for five with Orcas Island attorney Scott McKay, and including the six-figure sum to clinch the deal, struck all three commissioners as excessive, and that it establishes an unsettling precedent for parceling out public land now designated for urban growth. The 15 acres are part of the Buck property that shares a border with Orcas Power and Light Cooperative.

“This whole transaction raises issues for me,” Commissioner Darcie Nielsen said. “The entire Buck property lends itself to innovative development techniques.”

Nielsen fears the land’s value has been inaccurately assessed because of wetlands on the property. She said substantial amounts of land that could be developed as affordable housing would be lost in the trade. Commissioner Rhea Miller added that McKay will end up with a significant increase in the number of potential building sites through the land swap alone.

But McKay said the commission’s fears are unjustified and, if either party takes a loss on the deal, it’ll be him. The 5-acre parcel near the beach is vastly more valuable than the land he’s willing to settle for and maximum development potential is not a priority, McKay said. Pending real estate appraisals should verify his claim, he added.

“I’m concerned that I’m giving away too much,” McKay said. “This exchange would not be in my financial interest if I were a developer.”

Evans noted that the five acres McKay claims he owns were given to the county by the Stowers family, who purchased the property at foreclosure and who paid taxes on it for years. Their ownership of the property was disputed by McKay and, in what Evans terms as an “astonishing” decision in Superior Court, McKay was awarded a claim to the land. The Land Bank and McKay have agreed to drop any lawsuits or appeals if the pending sale and swap are completed.

“This is by no means a done deal,” Evans said.

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