||| FROM CINDY WOLF, SAN JUAN COUNTY COUNCILMEMBER |||
We have much to celebrate with the purchase of the Glenwood Inn property, especially the near doubling of public beach access on Orcas Island. There has also been much distress expressed over the Council resolution regarding negotiations with the San Juan Preservation Trust, but I suspect much of it originates from the same source as my actions. Many people are, as I was, missing crucial information about the flow of information and paperwork leading up to the Resolution adopted at the June 14th meeting. For instance, from the time the Land Bank Director first came to Council to discuss the first offer, I repeatedly brought up preserving rights to development of the upland portion of the property against the day when another County department might purchase that land for County worker housing or whatever else the community might dream up. I still had no idea on June 14th that the San Juan Preservation Trust was interested in purchasing a conservation easement over anything more than the shoreline.
Council is the elected body responsible for the Land Bank. There are dedicated funds, but as with all public funds, a body elected by the public must ultimately be accountable for their use. Because Land Bank is an arm of County government, this incident tells me that preventing future damage to the Land Bank’s relationship with the San Juan Preservation Trust will require Council to ask for timely, thorough written documentation of any understandings come to between our employee, the advisory board to his department and any third party before any funds or authorization to do business in the name of the County can be granted. It is true this can slow down transactions. I advocated with Council and counsel in this case to trust The Land Bank Director’s word and honor his request that we move ahead with the purchase and work out the conditions of the proposed sale of a Conservation Easement to San Juan Preservation Trust afterwards. Since the purchase had closed, I thought that “working out” was what we were doing on June 14th.
I have been asked what beef I have with the Land Bank. I have none. I like the Land Bank and think it is a good tool for public land acquisition. I appreciate the work the San Juan Preservation Trust and the Land Bank Commissioners put into this deal. I believe they made decisions and took actions based on the information provided to them.
I agree that we should address this issue in an open public meeting. I also think we can talk about helpful future policies in an open public meeting and I hope all parties to the purchase can come to the table to establish direct communication moving forward. Sunshine will surely help us see more clearly.
The rumor that I requested disciplinary action is not true. I was in Peru on a family vacation from the afternoon of June 14th through July 1st, completely disengaged from County business. It was not until I got back that I found out the SJPT and the Land Bank Commission had very different information than we did regarding the proposed Conservation Easement. At that point the Land Bank Director asked to speak with me directly, but I thought then and still think now that an open public meeting with the full Council, and hopefully the Land Bank Commission and the San Juan Preservation Trust is the more appropriate next step. The discussion on July 19th had been scheduled before I got back.
Some people have been saying a housing project should have been proposed to the Land Bank Commission if it was desired. That might make sense if there was a project to propose. I was interested in preserving the possibility of wider public uses for the part of the land that is not the feeder bluff or the fantastic shoreline and near shore habitat we now have the opportunity to preserve and enhance. The desire for mixed use of public land, including use for worker housing, is a sentiment that has been widely expressed in the community. Speaking for myself, I was working from a desire to do County business in a way that creates the maximum number of possibilities to meet community needs, whatever they may be. I look forward to the good things public ownership of this land will bring to our ecosystem and the people of our county.
Cindy, thank you for clearing the air.. this is an opportunity… however it unfolds, so thank you for being mindful of public transparency. So needed right now for good clear communication! Everyone wins.
Done openly and properly, this land acquisition can be a win-win-win success for us all.
Thank you Cindy. The public should know that neither the Land Bank Commissioners nor the Council Council have had the opportunity to meet amongst themselves regarding the issues that came to light after the June 17th Land Bank meeting. The Land Bank Commission’s first opportunity to do that will be tomorrow morning 7/15 at the monthly LB meeting. The meeting will be recorded and the public is welcome to attend. This discussion is scheduled to begin at 9:35am. Details and link on our website http://www.sjclandbank.org.
Also, two corrections to Cindy’s statement above: (1) At the time of the June 14th Council hearing to accept the deed on the Glenwood property, the property sale had not closed. That was scheduled for a week later on the 21st. The approval of the Council to accept the deed was a required final step needed to complete the purchase, and, as in all real estate transactions, time is of the essence.
(2)The Land Bank Commission did not possess different information than the Council; that statement should be revised to read Land Bank “staff”. The Commission will be brought up to speed tomorrow.
The good news is, the people of San Juan County now own a 58-acre property on Orcas with an amazing stretch of shoreline that will be so much fun to explore and learn about. It would not be possible without our 50% partners the San Juan Preservation Trust. Both the Land Bank staff and the Trust worked tirelessly for many months and extended the organizations financially to make this happen. Now we need to support the Trust in their 3-year fundraising effort to purchase the Conservation Easement.
I’m confident that we’ll resolve the current disconnect as soon as all parties are able to meet, and I ask the public to be patient while we work through this. Having spent at 60+ hours reviewing the paper trail, background docs and talking to the participants, I can say there was no malintent here, just lack of clear communication in a time-sensitive high stakes complex transaction with multiple players. We will all take this as a learning opportunity and do better next time.
Sandi Friel, District 2 Commissioner and Chair
San Juan County Conservation Land Bank
Thanks for the corrections, Sandi. Accuracy is important here. The point I need to make is that by June 14th the sale had progressed to the point where price and terms of payment were locked in as far as the seller was concerned. At that point Counsel wanted us to give the Land Bank Director clear guidance on negotiating the sale of the conservation easement.
I believe The Land Bank meeting is well worth watching, as it illustrates the high level of competence of the Director, Lincoln Borman, and the other land bank commissioners and staff. They are clear on the legal parameters of their duties and, in this particular case, did a miraculous job acquiring this land for conservation and expansion of public beach access. The Land Commission has an extraordinary and valuable partnership with the San Juan Preservation Trust, which needs to be highly valued and respected, not only because the Trust has important fundraising abilities which improve the county’s ability to buy in to land for conservation purposes, but equally importantly, it offers an extra layer of protection to sensitive land purchases, ensuring the land will be protected even when pressures for land development projects increase. In other words, this particular and unusual county/private alliance is more important than ever, and deserves our fierce support and protection.
Sharing here from Lopez Rocks – by Tracey Cottingham.Attend the SJC Council Meeting Concerning the Land Bank
Jul 31, 2022
By Tracey Cottingham
Get up to speed for the Tuesday, August 2nd, Council Meeting on the Land Bank completed acquisition of Glenwood Inn property on Orcas Island and the potential disciplinary action of Lincoln Bormann, director of the Land Bank.
June 14th council meeting on the SJPT conservation easement discussion with Counsel Vera and Lincoln Bormann
Watch from 1:00 hour in recording. It gets into the back and forth with the council on the resolution of keeping the 2 parcels and for the county to develop into county worker housing. Watch through to 1:47.
https://media.avcaptureall.cloud/meeting/6510f7d8-702c-4caa-95c3-81efff144ec1
June 17th Land Bank Meeting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBma8rnXodY
Listen to Sandi Friel starting at 1:01. Excellent overview of the Glenwood Inn acquisition, process, and challenges.
Listen to Amanda Azous’ public statement at hour 2:27, great suggestion for making improvements in communications going forward.
July 19th, Council Meeting
Start at 2:27 presentation on timeline til 2:43
Amy Vera reviews the timeline of what has happened by the facts.
https://media.avcaptureall.cloud/meeting/c1b550a4-af7a-4f86-86bb-e65194214428
Amy Vera recommends that the Council revises the resolution at a future meeting. Clarifies that what was reworked in the June 14th meeting is just a recital, to put into writing what everyone is thinking.
Please consider speaking during the public comment period at Tuesday’s council meeting (to comment:
https://apps2.sanjuanco.com/Council/CouncilMeetingCommunitySignUp/signup.php)
or write to the Council at council@sanjuanco.com before noon on Monday with positive comments supporting Lincoln. Thank you for your support of the Land Bank.
Additional Information:
With Permission from Brian Wiese to share his Op Ed letter:
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Friends and supporters of the Land Bank-
On next Tuesday’s County Council agenda, the Council has planned an executive session disciplinary hearing at which they may consider firing Land Bank Director Lincoln Bormann. Ironically, this action comes as we celebrate the Land Bank’s successful acquisition of the 58-acre former Glenwood Inn property, giving us 2/3 mile of long-desired shoreline access on Orcas. Why is Council taking this action? The answer is that the Land Bank and our conservation partner, the San Juan Preservation Trust did not accommodate a request by Councilmember Cindy Wolf to reserve a “development right” on the property for potential County worker housing. To be clear, this request was never made by Council, just by one councilmember in comments to Lincoln, and it came late in the game, after negotiations were well underway. The Land Bank Commission was never even aware of the request.
Acquiring land for development or for any purpose other than conservation is contrary to the Land Bank’s statutory mandate and, I believe, contrary to the reason San Juan County citizens have supported it in three elections. Although the Land Bank could work in partnership with another entity to acquire land for housing if that entity had a plan for partnership and funding from the beginning, the Land Bank’s mission is to preserve natural land for conservation and public access, and cannot use its REET funding for any other purpose. Lincoln has pursued that mission with outstanding success over the past years, acquiring more than 5,000 acres of public open space, with recent successes such as Mt. Grant, the Beaverton Marsh and Zylstra preserves on San Juan Island, Lopez Hill and the Higgins addition to the Watmough Bay Preserve on Lopez, and the Coho Preserve and Glenwood property on Orcas. There is no reason to punish him for his success in carrying out the Land Bank mandate. We in the Commission are looking forward to his continued leadership in new initiatives for forest preserve management and climate resilience and his continuing coordination of the inter-agency Terrestrial Managers Group.
Please consider speaking during the public comment period at Tuesday’s council meeting (to comment:
https://apps2.sanjuanco.com/Council/CouncilMeetingCommunitySignUp/signup.php)
or write to the Council at council@sanjuanco.com before noon on Monday with positive comments supporting Lincoln. And, once again, thank you for your support of the Land Bank.
Brian Wiese
Land Bank Commission