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County proposes terms for land deal
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Supervisors request role in decisions on all Forest Service projects With the impending Hurdygurdy Creek land deal poised to take private property off Del Norte County’s tax rolls, the Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to put forth a proposal that would mitigate the loss of revenue and provide leverage for future negotiations. In that proposal, the supervisors ask that in exchange for the Smith River Alliance buying more than 5,400 acres in the Hurdygurdy Creek watershed and turning it over to the U.S. Forest Service for inclusion in the Smith River National Recreation Area, the county will be compensated with land, money and a promise to coordinate with local officials on everything from forest management to access issues. “We have been asked to support this process, and without a proposal we found that we were unable to blanketly support it,” Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Hemmingsen said. “We can either stand our ground, having no acquisition happen between the federal government and the Smith River Alliance, or we can have our own proposal and negotiate from there.”
The supervisors have long been opposed to converting private lands into
public ownership through acquisitions. They say doing so can stymie a
local government’s ability to make money off property taxes and
restrict land use to a point where the community cannot benefit.
After learning about a $1 million allocation in the federal budget for the purchase of the watershed area from ALCO Holdings LLC the supervisors sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein telling her they opposed the idea of spending public dollars to buy private property in Del Norte County without input or support from the local government. The letter also asked Feinstein to help facilitate negotiations between the landowner, U.S. Forest Service and the county to ensure Del Norte received adequate mitigation should a sale occur. But with this new proposal, it appears the county will no longer need the senator’s assistance. Instead, they are initiating the mitigation process on their own in an attempt to obtain the compensation they feel they deserve. To replace lost tax revenues, the county wants nearly $900,000. It also wants 160 acres of U.S. Forest Service that is located in the Peacock Creek watershed near Low Divide Road. There is also a request that the federal government maintain the road system in and around Hurdygurdy Creek acquisition to provide for better access. As a part of this facet of the proposal, the county wants an assurance that the Forest Service will repair a roadway that leads to 17 acres of land that was transferred to Del Norte as part of last year’s 9,500 acre Goose Creek acquisition. One aspect of the proposal that the supervisors highlighted Tuesday was the need to include phrasing that makes it clear that Del Norte wants to be involved in any U.S. Forest Service project that occurs within the county. District 5 Supervisor David Finigan said this will give the county “leverage” with state and federal agencies, and could mean that any future negotiations that occur will do so with input from local government officials. “What we need to do is have a recognition that we are equals,” Finigan said. “There needs to be a cooperative effort through coordination.” The proposal will now go to the Smith River Alliance, which is the non-profit agency that is working to secure the land from ALCO Holdings. Grant Werschkull, the executive director for the Smith River Alliance, was at Tuesday’s board meeting, and said he fully supports the idea of getting mitigation for the county. “I support the proposal the county prepared,” Werschkull said. “I applaud it and agree with it in principal.” Before the county receives any of the money or land it’s asking for, he said there will need to be a number of meetings with U.S. Forest Service officials and representatives of ALCO Holdings to negotiate the terms of a final deal. An official from ALCO has already said the company supports mitigation for Del Norte County. Even though the business hasn’t put any figures on the table yet, Werschkull said the county’s proposal is a good first step, and one that he can build on to find a “win-win” scenario that works for everyone. “Let’s use that pony, so to speak, to do the best that we can for the community,” Werschkull said. “To me there is real power right now. There’s a pony, let’s get on it.” |
