Most have missed the real reason for the 2002 to 2003 Shoreline Moratorium.

The real reason was not the protection of the “health and safety of the environment” nor was it the “protection of juvenile salmon.” The real reason for the Shoreline Moratorium was that less than ten people wanted to use the power of the City to take away the right of 50 homeowners to build docks in Port Blakely. Their purpose was the creation of a “Public Marine Park” to go along with the newly park land at the head of the bay.

The Shoreline Management Act was passed in 1970 by a vote of the people of the State of Washington. The act regulates the development and protection of the shoreline and also protects the preexisting right of shoreline owners to have docks to access the waters of the state.

The right to have dock, even if one is not built, adds value to shoreline property. In the very essences of “unconstitutional taking,” the City of Bainbridge took that right to and the value of having a dock from Blakely homeowners without compensation and for the purpose of creating “Public Marine Park.” The issue of “unconstitutional taking” has yet to be adjudicated.

And to think the City attorney would now say that after losing at the Superior Court, losing at the Appeals Court and losing at the Supreme Court, that the City might ask the Supreme Court to reconsider the case is the height of stupidity and arrogance. All this comes at the expense of the taxpaying homeowners and the neglect of more important City business.

The lesson here is how a very same group of people, with complicity and assistance of City staff, causes the City to take actions which are illegal and end up costing millions of dollars and endless lawsuits.

Gary Tripp, Director
Bainbridge Citizens