by Richard Uhlhorn
Manson Community Council’s meeting on Tuesday, December 19, hosted Chelan County Commissioner Tiffany Gearing and Mike Kaputa, director of Chelan County Natural Resources department. They requested an opportunity to present the possibility of obtaining funding to build the North Shore Pathway from Manson to Chelan.
Background:
This project was conceived as a priority for the Lake Chelan Trails Association approximately 30 years ago after the Association completed its 3.5 year effort to write a Comprehensive Trails Plan for the Valley.
The Association hired Jennifer Olson (JAO Consultants) to write a feasibility study along the Manson highway. (https://chelannorthshoretrail.com) It was, and is still planned as a multimodal trail separated from the highway.
The effort was supplemented with contributions from the City of Chelan ($10,000) and Chelan County’s Paths and Trails Fund ($30,000). The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) gave the Association a $225,000 ALEA grant to begin the project in 1995.
This grant, while welcomed, carried a 100% match and the Association was not ready to begin, so it returned the grant for the DNR’s other requests for ALEA funding.
In 2002, when Chelan County PUD was relicensing the Chelan Hydroelectric Project, Jennifer Olson, speaking for a coalition of eight Lake Chelan community and business groups (Lake Chelan Legacy Group), outlined an $11.25 Million Dollar request for funds to build four recreation projects as a part of their recreation obligations under the new license.
The request was for the PUD to create an endowment fund for these projects. The Northshore Pathway was a part of that request and the requested amount was about half of the estimated construction cost with the remaining funds coming from other public sources, private donations, and interest earnings from the proposed endowment fund.
Ultimately, the PUD turned down the proposal and the Northshore Pathway went into the hibernation.
Fast Forward:
Kaputa told the Council and audience that funding has been provided to the Chelan/Douglas County Transportation Council. The County is interested in exploring the proposed pathway’s potential development and is willing to seek a transportation consultant to provide a pathway alignment.
“What’s the best way for a consultant to reach Manson,” asked Kaputa. It was suggested that several open houses through the Community Council and Manson Parks would be the best way to connect with the community.
The idea of constructing a multimodal pathway separated from the highway brought up a number of questions from the council and community members.
Kari Sorenson brought up the obvious choke point at Rocky Point and the potential difficulties of the cabanas on the east side of Rocky Point. Mike O’Neal, a resident on the Chelan side of Rocky Point and also a cabana owner said he would be concerned about trail being right against the cabana properties. He went on to say he would be concerned about safety on Hwy 150.
Mayor Bob Goedde remarked that a lot of leg work has already been accomplished which puts the Northshore Pathway at the top of the list for potential funding of the $40 million allocated for multimodal trail systems.
Chris Willoughby suggested that the route could be up and around Rocky Point. Gearing also mentioned that after it was built there was the need for someone to operate and maintain the trail.
With one road into and out of Manson, the corridor would have a number of issues to overcome along the waterfront.
Kaputa said the County was looking to hire a consultant in February to begin the design and cost estimate. He also stated that the County would need to place someone as the point of contact throughout the process.
With the Northshore Pathway’s corridor passing through both County, City and DOT right a way, it should be a collaborative effort between Chelan and Manson.
In other business:
Mike Kirk was sworn in to the council to replace John Frolker who resigned in October. Chris Willoughby agreed to stay on the Council to replace outgoing Cindy Smith . “I’ll do another round I guess,” said Willoughby.
Short Term Rentals:
Brian Patterson reported on upcoming changes to the current STR code. One change that will affect STRs is that the owner has to be on-site. Parking is another issue that will be addressed.
Sorenson said that for every bedroom a parking space should be required. Gearing remarked that the code changes will include not parking on right-of-ways. “We will change the code to address boat trailers also,” she said. “Parking has become a huge problem.”
Manson Community Council meets every third Tuesday in the Manson Parks Building beginning at 6 p.m.
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