September 3, 2002

VIA FACSIMILE

City of Westport
City Council
P.O. Box 505
740 North Montesano Street
Westport, WA 98595

RE: Comments on Links at Half Moon Bay Master Plan Development

Council Members and Mayor Pro-Tem,

Please enter into the public record for the above-referenced matter these comments of the Surfrider Foundation. Thousands of our members in the Pacific Northwest have personal interests in Westport, the surrounding waters, and in the overall health and integrity of the coastal ecosystems likely to be affected by development of the western portion of the city.

The Surfrider Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enhancement of the world's oceans, waves, beaches and coastal habitats through conservation, activism, research and education. The Surfrider Foundation consists of watermen and women. We are surfers, fishermen, divers, kayakers and beachgoers – people who spend a significant amount of time on the coast and in the ocean. Surfrider Foundation recognizes that protecting coastal and marine areas benefits not only diverse fish and wildlife populations, but also the people who enjoy and depend upon them.

Founded in 1995, The Washington State Chapters of the Surfrider Foundation have had an active membership in the City of Westport for several years. Surfrider members from throughout the Northwest frequent the City of Westport year-round, supporting the local economy and enjoying Westport’s natural beaches. Surfrider members have dedicated hundreds of volunteer hours to the protection, conservation and preservation of these beaches during the past seven years. As you know, Surfrider Foundation is actively involved in the preservation of the environmental resources and natural dynamic beaches throughout the southwest Washington coast. We have followed closely the efforts of the City of Westport associated with the Links at Half Moon Bay Westport Golf and Hotel Destination Resort and have reviewed in detail the project’s land use and environmental application materials.

This letter is submitted as written testimony for the closed-record public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, September 10, 2002. The Surfrider Foundation has serious reservations with the proposed development commonly known as The Links at Half Moon Bay (hereafter called The Links).

We acknowledge that Washington State law is founded on individual property owner rights and the subject land is held in private ownership, and can be developed. However, we want it to be appropriately developed. Appropriate development involves proactive planning by the respective regulatory jurisdiction and an innovative willingness on the property owner’s part.

Our comments focus on four issues associated with the proposed project: pesticide and fertilizer use and its affect to ground and surface water, beach access reduction, and wetland loss, and beach erosion.

The proposal area is a rare, interdunal wetland comprised of over 300 acres bordering the edge of the ocean beach. Part of the area is a protection zone for the City of Westport's drinking water supply. By using the pesticides indicated by the applicant, the proposal presents a risk to the drinking water of Westport and to the surrounding waters of the Grays Harbor Estuary, ocean beaches and Half Moon Bay.

As stated by the applicant, each year, the Links at Half Moon Bay plans to place 73,161 pounds (36.58 tons) of fungicides, herbicides and pesticides on the golf course. Of this gross quantity, 39,911 pounds (19.96 tons) is toxic to fish, birds, bees or other wildlife. Of the total amount, 56,430 pounds (28.22 tons) ultimately will infiltrate into the groundwater. All of these pesticides have been approved by the golf course’s "Natural Resource Management Plan" promoted by Audubon International (not associated with the Audubon Society) and approved by the City of Westport as acceptable additions.

Of the 19 listed fungicides to be used, 11 are toxic (four highly toxic); 17 are commonly detectable in ground water and two require consultation by the EPA with the National Marine Fisheries Service on their use.

Of the 20 herbicides to be used, 12 are toxic (two highly toxic); 13 are commonly detectable in ground water and six require consultation by the EPA with the Fisheries Service on their use.

Of the 10 pesticides to be used, nine are toxic (six highly toxic); four are commonly detectable in ground water and three require consultation by the EPA with the Fisheries Service on their use.

This does not include the fertilizers, containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium that will also be added to the area and have been shown to promote nutrient blooms in adjacent waters.

A letter regarding this proposal was submitted by Markus Mead on May 24, 2001. This letter reviewed the proposal SEPA Checklist and Shorelines Substantial Development Permit application. The letter proved that the applicant had failed to identify and mitigate many environmental impacts that would be caused by the proposed development in the proposed location. Pesticide impacts to the regional groundwater table and the City of Westport drinking water system are key examples of this proposal’s failure to indicate additional environmental impacts.

We demand that the applicant develop a maintenance program describing turf and vegetation maintenance, pesticide use including: dispersion times, infiltration rates, quantities, and dispersal location. This program should be included in the applicant’s EIS and should be available for public review and comment. The applicant should also identify ALL environmental impacts and mitigate them to the maximum extent.

Page 4 of the applicant’s SEPA Checklist states: "The City restricts new construction in Zone V unless the structure is water-dependent or provides public recreational access to the shoreline". Because a hotel and resort is NOT a water-dependent use (as defined by state Shoreline regulations; see page H-363 of the 1994 SMP Handbook), the proposed development must provide sufficient beach access (Chapter 17 of the 1994 SMP Handbook and WAC 173-16-040(4)(iv). Unless the applicant provides additional PUBLIC and FREE beach access routes, the applicant effectively is REMOVING beach access and violating state law. We feel that the burden of proof is upon the applicant to catalog existing beach access and facilities and prove that additional access is provided as part of this application. The proposal should not be approved until this issue is resolved.

Additionally, in the applicant’s Shorelines Substantial Development Permit application, under section (Q), no beach access impacts are referenced. The applicant should create a public, no-charge, beach access plan incorporated into the development design. Public shoreline access is required under Chapter 17 of the state Shoreline Management Plan.

Washington and Oregon Chapters of the Surfrider Foundation demand that the applicant provide additional free (no monitory charge) public beach access. This access should be contained in a tract of land permanently dedicated to the City of Westport or Gray’s Harbor County to be held in public trust in perpetuity. The applicant should provide this access in the form of road access and parking facilities. Furthermore, the proposal should prohibit its customers from parking in the current Westhaven State Park parking lot, which is already overburdened by existing beach users. The applicant must provide sufficient parking on their site to accommodate all users of the Links at Half-Moon Bay without negatively impacting parking at the State Park lot.

Beaches are often perceived as separate habitats, but in reality are small parts of much larger coastal ecosystems. These systems include watersheds, estuaries and wetlands, and nearshore marine environments. They are dynamic in nature, change on multiple temporal and spatial scales, and are therefore difficult to predict with certainty. The Surfrider Foundation advocates conservation actions to promote long-term beach preservation for the benefit of the public.

Washington’s beaches are unique coastal environments with enormous ecological, recreational and economic value. Our beaches are a public resource and should be held in the public trust. As human activities and development in coastal areas increase, the need for preservation of beaches becomes increasingly apparent.

In 1998, the Surfrider Foundation took legal action against the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) when the agency introduced a plan to place a rock wall along the entire beach of Half Moon Bay in Westport, Washington. Surfrider Foundation recognized that this misguided plan to armor Half Moon Bay would have destroyed the entire beach in the Bay, eliminating beach walking and surfing – which in recent years has become a source of critical income to the tourist economy of Westport.

The legal action had been brought before the Pollution Control Hearings Board by the Surfrider Foundation to challenge Ecology's failure to extract a long-term commitment to beach nourishment from the Corps. Regular beach nourishment is critical to assure that erosion does not degrade the beach and expose the rock revetment, thereby destroying surfing and other recreational uses in Half Moon Bay as well as the revetment itself, requiring expensive and ineffective re-armoring of the shoreline at a future time.

In the summer of 1999, a settlement was reached between the Surfrider Foundation and the Corps relating to the revetment extension in Half Moon Bay. Perhaps the biggest victory for Surfrider Foundation, beach-goers and the citizens of Washington State was that the Corps abandoned its plan to place a rock wall along the entire beach of Half Moon Bay.

Additionally, the settlement required the Corps to strengthen its commitment to beach nourishment in Half Moon Bay, making it more likely that surfers and other beachcombers could continue to enjoy the Bay into the future. The settlement made long-term beach nourishment a component of the Corps' commitment to preserve natural sandy beaches.

Basic coastal geology allows that any hard structure in the "impact zone" will cause the beach to erode faster. This raises serious concerns and further argues the need for additional environmental review of the proposal to develop "The Links at Half Moon Bay" directly on the coastal area in question. These are the sorts of coastal decisions that can further erode our state’s beaches.

Page 4 of the applicant’s SEPA Checklist states that, "The proposed Project is not expected to have any impacts to the South Beach shoreline area." We believe that this statement is generally suspect based on the City of Westport Preliminary Classification and Designation of Natural Resource Lands and Critical Areas, Ecologically Hazardous Areas, Map 8, designating the general project location as a "Very severe Wind Erosion" area. Based on our knowledge of geomorphologic processes, we fail to comprehend how the stabilization of the natural migratory dune areas in a "Very severe Wind Erosion" area would not have any impacts to the Half-Moon Bay area. Additionally, because the statement does not specify "Shoreline Jurisdictional Area" we can only ascertain that the applicant is referring to the general shoreline area including relative dunes, beach, and waterfront area, not limited to the Shorelines Jurisdictional Area. Therefore, we believe that the burden of proof should fall upon the applicant to illustrate how the project does "…not have ANY [emphasis added] impacts to the South Beach Shoreline area".

Also found on page 4, the applicant states that the "…golf course design minimizes potential interaction between coastal erosion processes and structures of the Proposed Project….". Therefore, the applicant is admitting that SOME "interaction" (any interaction between erosion processes and the development would signify an IMPACT of some kind) between the proposed development and the natural coastal geomorphologic processes. Therefore, again, we call upon the applicant to identify not only these impacts, but also effective plans to mitigate these impacts.

Also on page 4, the applicant states, "In other words, no dunes will be destroyed as a result of the Proposed Project." It is our understanding that the majority of the project area is a coastal dune ecosystem. In fact, the applicant’s own description of material to be extracted from the site is listed as "…native sands and silts…" (SEPA Checklist). This soil description corroborates our identification of the site as a dynamic system of coastal dunes. Therefore, the applicant should identify the natural migratory dune areas and associated habitat that will be destroyed as part of this project. We believe the applicant has failed to do this, and the project should not be permitted unless all of the impacts are identified and addressed.

The following is an analysis of the proposed project’s DEIS section 3.2.5 Erosion/Accretion:

Although it is true that erosion and accretion of the Westport Peninsula will continue to occur independent of the project’s construction, it is obvious that the response to the erosion will change as a result of the destruction of the system of coastal dunes. "Soft solutions" such as beach nourishment (that minimize impacts to coastal ecosystems) have been adequate to maintain the beach by the State Park, however it is unlikely that such erosion mitigation techniques will be pursued when infrastructure of the Links at Half Moon Bay is threatened. The Surfrider Foundation points to the proliferation of "hard solutions" such as rock revetments and sea walls (often tending to accelerate erosion, degrade the coastal ecosystem, and restrict public beach access), which are typically sought to protect structures such as those proposed for the Links at Half Moon Bay. Hard structures such as seawalls and groins can have a profound negative impact on the public beaches that are a primary draw to surfers and tourists that visit Westport. There is no discussion of potential coastal hazard response in the study despite the admitted potential for serious coastal erosion problems. The potential cost for hazard protection could be enormous and this risk is not assessed.

The Seattle District of the Corps of Engineers estimates that the shoreline recession rate at South Beach is 50 feet per year for at least the next 50 years (Grays Harbor Navigation Project). Nowhere is this erosion problem addressed in the study.

The study does analyze the threat to the structures as a result of wave run up.

Finally the study states, "it is impossible to develop the project site and completely mitigate these geologic hazards." It is clear that this site is an inappropriate location for the construction of the project as described in this study.

The Surfrider Foundation demands that other site alternatives be fully explored. The Surfrider Foundation requests a guarantee that the US Corps of Engineers will not permit any hard structure such as rip rap, a sea wall, or "wave bumpers" to be placed on or near the project site when (not if) storm events wash away the naturally dynamic foredunes.

Finally, the Surfrider Foundation is concerned about the loss of critical coastal wetland habitat within the interdunal system of the proposed development.  The Surfrider Foundation is concerned that the wetland areas identified as the construction site for the Links at Half Moon Bay are critical habit for a number of listed species.  Wetlands are rapidly disappearing across our country.  With the loss of each wetland acre, we lose the invaluable functions associated with those wetlands.  Once a golf course is constructed on the coastal wetlands next to Westhaven State Park, we will lose forever an unquantifiable coastal legacy.

In additional to the essential ecological value of these wetlands to the coastal ecosystem, these wetlands have been enjoyed historically by numerous beach strollers and coastal recreationalists.  The Surfrider Foundation observes evidence that the Port of Grays Harbor, the current property owner of the wetlands in question, has dedicated this land for the enjoyment of its natural wetland ecosystem to the general public.  This evidence of an implied common law dedication by the Port of Grays Harbor in title is shown landward from the dry sand beach throughout the system of well-established trails to the east.  Implied dedication need not be shown by deed.  It is sufficient if the record shows unequivocal acts or declarations of the landowner, dedicating the same to public use, and where others act on the faith of such dedication, the landowner will be estopped to deny the dedication, or make any future use of the property inconsistent with any purpose for which the land was dedicated.  The Surfrider Foundation points out that replacing the natural coastal wetland habitat with the golf course and associated development as currently described in the proposal for the Links at Half Moon Bay is entirely inconsistent with the historic public use for which the Port of Grays Harbor has dedicated this coastal wetland property.

Summary

It is with utmost concern for the citizens, ecology, and economy of Westport, Washington State, and our country, as well as with profound respect for private property rights in Washington State, that the Surfrider Foundation urges that the current proposal for the Links at Half Moon Bay be scrutinized carefully.  The coastal legacy we leave subsequent generations depends upon the actions we take now.  The Surfrider Foundation stresses that it is not opposed to the construction of a golf course and associated development in Westport, however we feel that the current proposal inadequately addresses numerous concerns including:  pesticide and fertilizer use and their impact on ground and surface water, loss or reduction of public beach access, acceleration of beach erosion, and loss of critical coastal wetlands. 

For the sake of all involved, we demand that a new proposal for the Links at Half Moon Bay be submitted, which addresses the complete impacts of the proposed development upon the critical coastal ecosystem of Westport.

For the Ocean,

Peter Leon, Member

Washington State Executive Council

Surfrider Foundation

Markus Mead, Vice-Chair

Oregon Chapter

Surfrider Foundation

Kevin Ranker, Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator

Surfrider Foundation