CITY LIMITS-SNOW CREEK TRUST LAND EXCHANGE
At a regularly scheduled meeting on October 7, 2008, the state Board of Natural Resources approved the exchange of an 82-acre parcel of state trust land for two parcels totaling 161 acres owned by the City of Port Townsend. The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will manage the 161 acres to produce long-term revenue for the Common School Trust, which supports public school construction statewide.
Map
Objective
This exchange consolidates trust ownership in the northern Olympic peninsula and provides long-term trust revenue that helps build public schools. The city-owned property the state trades into is zoned for commercial forestry and is adjacent to other forested state trust lands. Acquiring the parcel will help DNR consolidate the forestlands it manages for the Common School Trust to generate revenue to help build public schools statewide. The parcel the state trades out of was zoned for residential use, isolated from other state trust lands, and had limited long-term trust income potential.
Public Involvement Opportunity
A public hearing was held September 27, 2007, in Port Hadlock. At the hearing DNR staff provided information and received testimony about this proposed exchange. Written testimony was accepted until October 29, 2007. A news release distributed statewide on September 10, 2007, announced the public hearing. After receiving public input, the proposal for the exchange of state trust land was presented for approval by the state Board of Natural Resources, which represents the interests of trust beneficiaries and the public.
Details
The 82-acre parcel Port Townsend obtains was zoned for residential use. The city-owned property the state obtains in the exchange is zoned for commercial forestry. The city’s property in western Jefferson County consists of a 160-acre parcel that borders other forested state trust lands and the Olympic National Forest and a 10-foot wide strip of land that is just over an acre. The smaller parcel divided neighboring state trust land – the city had acquired that narrow strip in 1917 to build a water line, but it was never completed.
The 82 acres the state exchanges has an appraised value of $1.43 million (including timber); the 161 acres the state obtains from the City of Port Townsend has an appraised value of $2.07 million (including timber). To account for the difference in appraised values, Port Townsend will receive $643,900 from state’s Real Property Replacement Account, which is used to find suitable replacement properties for the trust.
The exchange involves the Common School Trust, which helps build public kindergarten through 12th grade schools statewide.