Another day, another battle over the comp plan:

CHELAN - Whomever thought the Comprehensive Plan would be just a mundane and tedious process was certainly mistaken. Over the past few months, the Chelan community has had 18 chances to give input on the update and in the last couple meetings, things have gotten a bit contentious.

Community members Steve Kline and John Olson have been in the forefront of the conflict and have raised several concerns about keeping the current zoning for the Three Fingers as waterfront commercial / water transportation hub instead of as a park, calling it the “worst decision in the history of the city.”

“There are GMA provisions and procedures that allow private property to be obtained for general public use and welfare with just compensation when and where necessary. Mayor Cooney refuses to use what the state legislature has authorized him to use,” Olson read off a prepared statement at the city council meeting on Tuesday, June 13. “We are not advocating theft of the property, we would like to use GMA procedures to buy the land from an international construction company that is in the business of selling dirt... The public owns 100 percent of the lake, yet the public owns less than one percent of the shoreline. A park could be very beautiful and open to everyone, not just a limited number of people. The reason we push so hard on this is because once you zone it, then we have a condo on the shoreline and a marina in the bay and once that happens, we’re done.”

Mayor Mike Cooney has responded numerous times that he will not take away property rights from a landowner, but that he and the other council members are - and always have been - in favor of more parks.

“I start with the premise that absolutely it would be good, but when we zero in on one property, that is not the way my brain works,” Cooney said. “We know that within the current zoning a park can still happen, so we are not discounting or closing the door on a park.”

Cooney also pointed to the cloud that is hanging over the Three Fingers at the moment while it is in litigation in the Supreme Court.

“It first has to come out of the Supreme Court, so let that process happen and then we move on from there,” Cooney referenced the current case between the Goodfellow Brothers Incorporated (GBI) and the Chelan Basin Conservancy (CBC).

If the ruling comes down in favor of GBI, Cooney said he has conversed with them about coming to an agreement about doing something for the public.

“If we can work with the landowner so they get something and we get something out of it, everybody wins. For me, that would be a win and a gentleman’s agreement,” Cooney stated. “That won’t be good enough for some people but the Comp plan is not set up to take away. They (Kline and Olson) feel we can do this legally, but that is not the way I do business. We already tried it once and people seem to have amnesia on this. One of the original 28 conditions we made with GBI for them to develop was to give the city one of the fingers, but telling someone to do something on their land is problematic.”

If anyone has a stretch of land on the waterfront and are looking to sell or donate it to the city, Cooney said they would entertain an offer.

“We want people to think about that and want them to consider if that are within the city limits and own a stretch of land, it would be a wonderful donation and the city will look at all and everything,” Cooney said. “I would ask people to take a look at Don Morse Park, not every square inch is used, there are parking and places to go and get into the lake. I go over there quite often and see wide open spaces, so it’s not like there is no space. We spent $3.2 million in improving that park, and I pushed strong for that when I was on council. I get (Kline and Olson’s) point, but I can’t follow those things as mayor to go and down zone and take.”

The Planning Commission is set to meet on Wednesday, June 21, at 6 p.m., at Chelan City Hall, where they will decide on their recommendations to give to the council. The council will the deliberate and discuss the plan before approving it at their meeting on July 25.

Zach Johnson can be reached at lcmeditor@gmail.com or (509) 682-2213