NEWS-TIMES WHIDBEY
Sports: After pummeling Glacier Peak, Wildcats prepare for showdown. A9
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011 | Vol. 120, No. 86 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
Sleuth uncovers public beaches
Feds provide money for county road By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Jessie Stensland/Whidbey News-Times
South Whidbey resident Mike McVay points out public beach access at Sandy Point. He has become something of an expert in researching public beach access on the island. He and his friends have started a group called Island Citizens for Public Beach Access.
Island County joins the effort by hiring researcher By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Mike McVay begins his investigations by hopping into his little pickup and maneuvering through a maze of rural county roads, finding what he calls the “hidden nooks and crannies” of South and Central Whidbey. He stops when he gets to the water. McVay, a semi-retired chainsaw artist, has a unusual skill for finding little — and sometimes rather large — pieces of beach, tideland and even bluffs that belong to the public, but whose ownership may have been lost, forgotten or fogged up over the years. After he finds the suspect property, then the real detective work begins. He pores through plats, zoning maps, tax reports and other dusty documents from at least four county departments, and sometimes state offices, to figure out if a property is publicly owned. It’s a monumental task. “It’s like a giant ball of sticky tape and I’m trying to straighten it out,” he said. McVay explained that he started researching public access after trying to find an easily accessible beach where his son, who suffers
‘These people would never go into a store and steal something, but they will steal a county road. The problem is there is no penalty for encroachment.’ -- Mike McVay, beach access researcher
from multiple sclerosis, could fish; his son ended up being screamed at by a property owner at one beach, spurring McVay to action. As a beach detective, McVay has been remarkably successful and has even informed state and county officials about public access they didn’t know they had. He cites a dozen or more of his recent discoveries as he spins his pickup around South Whidbey backroads. He found evidence, for example, that much of Brighton Beach in Clinton is public, though he said not even the residents who live along the scenic strip of sandy beach seem to be aware of it.
To help folks identify forgotten or easily overlooked site, McVay and his cohorts have started a group called Island Citizens for Public Beach Access. They are in the process of setting up a website at http:// islandcountypublicbeaches.org.
County officials also catalog beaches As McVay continues his sleuthing, Island County officials also enlisted their own researcher to look at the same issue. Karen Stewart, a consultant on shoreline planning, was hired by the county planning department to serve as the “shoreline master program coordinator.” The county is mandated by the state to update its shoreline master plan and Stewart has worked with other counties, including Snohomish, to update theirs. A state grant funds her work. But in addition to updating the plan, Island County officials also decided to enlist Stewart to create a catalog of all the public beach SEE BEACH, A4
Island County officials have been trying to find money to build a new road on Central Whidbey for more than a decade. This fall they had some modest success. Public Works Director Bill Oakes said the county received a $790,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration for design work, permitting and to purchase some rightof-way property for a new road that would link Houston and Race roads. The purpose of the road, Oakes said, is to provide an alternative route in case Highway 525 is closed by a natural disaster. “It’s the longest stretch of state highway where there’s no real viable alternative to the state highway and it is right in the middle of the island,” Oakes said. “If something would happen, it would cut the island in two,” he added. Oakes said county officials have already identified the preferred alignment for the new road. Oakes said the new road would travel about 1.3 miles through private property. From the Race Road side, the new road would extend down an existing road, Kempton Place. It would come out through undeveloped property on Houston Road, about 500 to 1,000 feet from the highway, he said. In grant documents, the road is identified as New County Road, which Oakes admits isn’t very creative. He said the board of commissioners would get to name the new road when it’s built. But construction may be a long ways away. Oakes said the county simply doesn’t have the resources to build the road on its own. It’s estimated to cost as much as $5 million. The hope is to secure another, much larger federal grant someday. “It’s all very preliminary and based on getting follow-up funding for construction,” Oakes said, adding that this grant may increase the county’s chances of obtaining grant for construction.