Publisher’s Desk

The solution to Spirit Mtn is simple. It will never be revenue neutral. Does the City wish to continue to plow $1M per year into the facility to keep it? Same with the two golf courses, or the zoo, or the aquarium. The City Council punted on this decision when it asked for a citizens commission to look into it. The solution is not hard to figure out. Either continue to subsidize it, or get rid of it. If it was sold, what would be the property taxes per year for the City?

If there is a person that has followed Spirit Mountain and the costs associated with the asset, John is that person. I believe he may be the one person in town that has followed this the longest and indeed the one person that has reported on it the longest.

I want to mention that the pumping and piping project from the river went WAY over budget, yet it does bring more value than just getting the water up on the hill. This system also helps ecologically as it helps with the substantial spring runoff that Spirit Mountain puts on the environment. Spirit Mountain has had many negative impacts on the surrounding environment. One of these has been Knowlton Creek and Tallas Bay. The bay and the creek have had millions spent on them over the past ten years, starting with the sediment being removed from Tallas Bay 10 years ago and lately the reconstruction of Knowlton Creek. All at no cost to Spirit Mountain beside someone needs to follow a process to ensure the system is working.

This new water system not only brings stored water up onto the hill, but it is designed to capture much of the runoff and return it to the river via a couple of settling ponds where the water then runs back through the pumping system into the estuary.

So all this is yet another hidden cost.

I’m a supporter of Spirit Mountain because it provides value to the tax base and citizens in the area yet how much value has never been studied. If I were on the task force, the first thing I would ask for is an economic impact study be done so we would have some data to help understand how much value it brings. We could use national or regional numbers, but that will never help as much as a focused study within the City.

Another hidden cost will be the proposed Spirit Landing Park below Grand Ave and below the tracks. The park is being pushed forward by the City and the developer of the commercial and housing project between Grand Ave and the tracks. I’m not against the development above the tracks. The City wants to take a greenfield site and add a road with a parking lot below the tracks when we already have impacted areas close by with parking and roads down to the water, such as Munger Landing, Spirit Lake Marina, Indian Point Campground, and more. This proposed park is not needed, and the community has not been supportive of the road and parking below the tracks. Do we need a new park complete with the road, parking, restrooms, and more to maintain when we already have some nearby? Besides that, we need to be good stewards of our green spaces and money so build where we already have impacts and assets that are in need of the capital.

I say all this because there are unknown projects that the City has been moving forward that they feel will help prop Spirit Mountain up. Will they, or will they add to the list of items that we need to maintain outside of Spirit Mountain’s operating costs.

As for Costco, this is yet another weak moment from our council and City administration. When you complain about YOUR property taxes and you support giving a big box retail business a property tax break for up to 20 years, remember that you are part of rising property taxes and roads falling apart. All this for a retail business that most likely will cause the closing of some small local businesses that did not and will not receive any help with their taxes. Survival of the fittest is the capitalist way, but we have a warped capitalist system for sure when we hand out money to the giants and take from the little guy. I know most will say, but they will bring so much more in forms of other funds. When you see your favorite meat market disappear in a couple of years, look in the mirror, and you will see why this happened. All so middle to the upper-middle-income bracket can get there specialty items that are not all that special and to save a few pennies while we have less and less options for folks that need to save a few bucks on retail items.

Yes, I love Costco like most, but I am incredibly disappointed in the location. As an old industrial town, we have many brownfield sites that Costco could have used and start to set a higher standard for big box stores. Yes, it would not have been in the same high traffic locations, but people would drive an extra couple miles to go to a Costco. So sad that we are giving tax breaks for them to build on a greenfield site that will add much more pressure to Miller Creek. This is a failure of our administration, not walking the talk when it comes to our environment.

This is a very long comment for sure, but the topics deserve a long and focused conversation.
Thanks to the Monitor for raising the issues and providing this space for a conversation.