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County buys first property at River's End 6/29/03 Clallam County, WA - Clallam County commissioners have purchased the first of what they hope will be several private properties at the mouth of the Dungeness River. It’s part of a plan to move people out of a floodplain and improve salmon habitat. County leaders have been wrestling for a solution to the problems at the River’s End neighborhood for the past several years. The properties there are frequently flooded. But because of their close proximity to the river, the land owners have been prevented from making improvements to their properties by a tangle of regulations. Recently the county has been advancing a plan to buy the effected properties so people could be moved out of harm’s way, and improving fish and wildlife habitat at the same time.
County Commissioner Steve Tharinger told PNN Tuesday that he believes the sale will be “welcomed by everyone”. He says in addition to frequent flooding… the property owner had also been unable to get permits for a working septic system that close to the river. Tharinger says the sale is good for the property owner, and for the citizens of the county by improving health and welfare and environmental protection. The money for the purchase, and the others the county is hoping to
make at River’s End, comes from a one and a half million dollar state
grant to improve salmon habitat. |