Locals are willing to buy the Chelan Butte for $6-7 million

CHELAN – Major topics were covered in the Town Hall that took place last Thursday, Sept. 27 at the Chelan Senior Center.

That evening the first subject talked about was, “open space, then we are going to talk about housing that is affordable for everyone and then we are going to have a wrap up of the bridge,” said Chelan Mayor Mike Cooney.

After reading a quote that was suitable for the occasion, Cooney stated, “we are going to specifically talk about the Butte … the Butte is for sale, there is someone else interested in the Butte and they are asking about price … I think we are going to get one crack at this and we don’t know how.”

Talks have been going on for a year and a half and it was time to bring it up to the community, “950 acres, the price tag is between $6 million - $7 million … we do not have any proposed development,” explained Cooney.

The current land owner has met and spoken to Cooney, “he is willing to work with the City … he is open for selling it to the City, it’s all whether we all want to join together as community and find funding mechanism,” said Cooney.

Land Program Manager with Chelan-Douglas  Land Trust Mickey Fleming presented on the importance of open spaces in the community and as an example she spoke about the Foothills project.

With four goals in mind, the Wenatchee community in 2009 developed the Foothills Community Strategy. Fleming worked along with the Trust for Public Land to implement those priorities for the Foothills Strategy. For such project the community raised $8.7 million, the City of Wenatchee also qualified for many grants and after planning and developing the strategy they City has protected more land than ever since 1999.

“If you stand in the middle of Woodin Avenue and you look right above the line above the buildings, anything above that we want to keep it clean, if we are success in purchasing, anything below that the City could sell,” explained Cooney.

Guy Evans with the Lake Chelan Trails Alliance spoke on the value of open space in our community and the Trails Alliance vision.

“Open space really is about the soul and well being of our community, about each one of you, about each one of us, about everyone that is not here tonight,” said Evans.

The vision Trails has includes creating five hikes to people can do in five days, the Alliance has identified five different point that have breathtaking views of the lake.

“We got lots of ideas … what we’ve envisioned for a Southshore is a trails system that would not only encompass the Butte but would also run along the Southshore and extend up to Bear Mountain … and around Stormy,” Evans explained.

After Fleming and Evans concluded their presentations, Cooney started a discussion regarding the Butte.  

“The City will be the lead in buying it, the City doesn’t not have six to seven million dollars to buy it … we are not going to ask you for property tax,” clarified Cooney.

Instead, the City will work towards getting funds from the state and other types of funding. The City wants to be first to buy it in order to use the land for recreational purposes, needed housing and perhaps resale parcels.

After hearing back from those who attended the Town Hall and answering questions, it seems that the Chelan community is in total support towards purchasing the Butte.

Rachel Goldie presented Julie Brunner’s Housing Study results and also updated attendees on the Chelan Valley Housing Trust.

Public Works Director Jake Youngren described how the Woodin Ave. Bridge project is going and reminded the community to visit www.woodinavenuebridgeproject.com to keep with the latest information on the project.

The community was also able to raise their concerns to the Mayor, along with their comments and feedback.