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PUD narrows options for CB Island
The future of Crescent Bar Island won’t include condominiums if Grant County PUD commissioners get their wish.
The commission last Monday narrowed from four to two its options for a redesigned island beyond 2012, when current leases to private condos and RV/homes expire and won’t be renewed.
Neither of the two final design options include the existing condominium buildings that have been on the island since the early 1970s.
The island’s nine-hole golf course is still an option.
The two remaining options are lettered “B” and “D” — the same options favored by most of the people who have no leasehold ties to the island and submitted comments to the PUD in writing, staffers said.
Both proposals contain expanded habitat and park areas, camping, trails, boat launch, moorage, fueling station and a small area for shops. Option “D” replaces the golf course with additional park and habitat areas.
Commissioner Tom Flint said he feels the condos’ presence on the island conflicts with federal dam regulators who have said they don’t condone private residential dwellings on public land.
The PUD owns the island as part of the boundary of its Columbia River dams, Priest Rapids and Wanapum.
Commissioner Bob Bernd suggested the golf course could be an attraction to lure more visitors to a newly designed Crescent Bar.
The commission questioned the cost of maintaining the course and its profitability. Consultants hired by the utility said they’d do more research and report back.
Commissioner Greg Hansen said he favors the least-expensive option.
“My preference would be D to keep the initial cost as low as possible and future maintenance, 40 years into the future, as low as possible,” Hansen said.
“It doesn’t have to be a luxury destination.”
During a staff presentation, commissioners learned the option that includes the golf course will cost approximately $14 million to $17 million to build.
The option without the golf course would cost an estimated $11.5 million to $14.5 million.
Factors influencing costs include varying degrees of improvements to the sewer-treatment plant, buildings and water system.
The estimate to operate and maintain either option is between $200,000 and $400,000 annually, according to a staff comparison of similar parks run by the state.
The cost doesn’t include potential revenue from campsites.
Kelly Larimer, lands resource manager for the utility, said the State Parks and Recreation Commission is interested in a concession to run Crescent Bar Island.
Larimer said staff will also seek bids for other concessionaires.
With options narrowed, Larimer said staff will present the two proposals to local, state and federal agencies and the tribes for feedback.
The utility hopes to present a final plan and timeline to the feds by late October.
Private leaseholders to the island’s 110 condominium units and 305 RV/homes have petitioned federal dam authorities to force the PUD to grant them new leases. A ruling could take months.
Leaseholders have proposed to increase their yearly lease payments to raise a collective $1 million per year in exchange for new 40-year leases. Commissioners have turned down the offer.
A summer tourism hot spot, the nearly 160-acre Crescent Bar Island is about 30 miles southeast of Wenatchee on the Columbia River.
Some 64 people live there year-round. Many of the year-round residents are on limited incomes.
truth seeker commented, on July 29, 2010 at 2:05 p.m.:
The PUD (short of another rate increase) does not have the money to revamp or oprerate this destination resort even as a day use campground. Just look at Getty's Cove, nothing done there due to lack of funding. Shut down Crescent Bar, throw a chain and padlock across the bridge just like at the cove and visit the river and waterparks in Douglas County.
Request removal