Regional | Local | Desirability | Physicality | Code & Sensitivity Selection Context

Iconic

The project asks to be situated in a prominent lakeside location. One that has high visibility both inward and outward. The Three Fingers, also known as the Goodfellow Fingers, is one of the most recognizable and controversial pieces of land along the south shore of Lake Chelan.

After the completion of the Lake Chelan Dam in 1927, the lake levels were raised artificially from twenty-one feet (from 1,079 feet to 1,100 feet above sea level) during peak summer months. The land beneath what is now the Three Fingers was dry during winter and fall but submerged in spring and summer.

In 1961, GBI acquired the land that is now the Three Fingers along the south shore. That same year, Goodfellow Construction of Wenatchee, WA, was contracted to widen Alternate State Route 97, the only yearround access to Lake Chelan along the west side of the Columbia River. During this job, the excess sand and rock were disposed of onto the Goodfellow property in a series of clean rows, which appeared as ‘fingers.’ The artificial peninsulas composed of fill material raised the land from 1,090 feet to 1,102 feet above sea level, extending approximately 250 - 300 feet into the lake; thus, ensuring GBI Holding’s property would be “permanently above the artificially raised seasonal water fluctuations of Lake Chelan” (WA Supreme Court, 2018).

The artificial seasonal lake level fluctuations affected numerous public street ends and public right-of-ways. The controversy of Three Fingers begins when public streets and right-of-way abut or cross near the protruding ‘fingers.’ These seasonally submerged public lands have tested the public trust doctrine of Washington State, protecting public access to navigable waterways for nearly fifty years.

The desire of GBI Holdings to sell or develop the land for commercial purposes has long been suspected and documented, much to the dismay of many Chelan residents and advocacy groups who wish to conserve the shores of Lake Chelan and the public access to them (Lake Chelan Mirror, 2012).

My project proposal and intent could answer both parties’ desires, adding beauty to the south shore while promoting how lake users can actively appreciate and protect the waters and experience of Lake Chelan.