The Four Horsemen come for Towne Road

Plus another installment of commissioner-landowner emails

There are many differences between the Dungeness River Levee Trail (top) and Towne Road (bottom). The trail existed from 1964, when the Army Corps of Engineers built the dike along the river, until 2022 when the trail was demolished by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. Towne Road, which has existed for over a century, is a county road and public right-of-way that sits atop the Towne Road Levee. The road has been relocated over a quarter mile from the river.

First, another trove of publicly recorded emails between Commissioner Mark Ozias and one landowner on Towne Road has been uploaded to the original article here.  The latest installment covers a flurry of correspondence in 2016, 2017, and 2018.    

Supporters of Dungeness Levee Trail Advocates (DLTA) may find it interesting that one landowner said in 2018, "We do not have any major concerns with the current design and support its implementation... I think the time is now to see this project implemented, while there is a viable plan that can be supported by many.  To see this effort stop again, and go through this effort again, and have concerns our needs would be overlooked again, would be a shame."

The landowner also expressed interest in providing landscape architecture expertise to the county if any assistance was needed and he generously offered to guide the county through its public engagement process.  "If you do need any help engaging the public, I am happy to offer my assistance, and lead the process if desired."

For the committed reader, a dive into three additional years of emails between an elected official and one favored constituent may leave some wondering if a commissioner who represents over 25,000 is treating all his constituents fairly and impartially.

However, the emails are secondary to yesterday's revelation at the courthouse; Towne Road will not be meeting the needs of everyone, according to the Clallam County Trails Advisory Committee.  The equestrians don't want to be near passing vehicles, pedestrians don't feel safe sharing the trail with bikes, cyclists don't feel safe on a Towne Road without shoulders, and e-trike users are vulnerable because of their width. 

Equestrians apparently use the Olympic Discovery Trail too.

After decades of planning, years of public outreach, tens of millions invested by multiple agencies, and grant documents recording the county’s agreement that Towne Road would be completed, the committee isn't comfortable with the current direction of the project. 

Committee member Bill Biery said, "I've spent many, many, many, many times walking up and down the Dungeness Road and I've never, in my recollection, ever seen an automobile travel the posted speed limit, much less 25.  I never, never have.  It's a very dangerous road to be anything other than an automobile." 

Biery continued, "My personal opinion is there's no need for a paved road.  It's been closed for about two years and it seems as though the community continues to thrive and meet all their needs."

"Could you just make it a one-lane road?" asked one committee member of County Engineer Joe Donisi.  "Where they have the lights on each end that let the traffic go through?"  The committee contends that they just need another 10 feet of width, in addition to the 10 to 12-foot trail, so they can craft something that would be safe. 

Commissioner Mark Ozias sat uncharacteristically silent during the meeting.  When he finally spoke, it wasn't to say the county has known for nine years that closing Towne Road would raise insurance costs and emergency response times for his constituents living in Dungeness.  He didn't share that a home was consumed in a blaze, or that a mother and her two daughters lost their pets and all their belongings except for the pajamas they wore while fire engines detoured five miles after finding Towne Road gated and locked.  He didn't mention that the Sheriff, Fire Chief, and Washington's Tsunami Program Coordinator all support the reopening of Towne Road.  Nor did he say that the Board of Commissioners had passed a resolution in December committing to option 2, a trail/road hybrid, or that the commissioners had agreed to move toward that goal on Monday.  And he didn't say that a Trails Committee has no authority to close public roads.  He said this: 

"Should this committee have any advice, whether it be in the form of a motion or a letter with recommendations of things you think we ought to be keeping in mind, in whatever form something like that would take, we would certainly want to hear if you have an opinion to share and would listen to it and attempt to incorporate that with the entirety of the rest of the factors and the input that we are attempting to weigh."

Biery asked and answered a series of questions: "Do we need it for a tsunami evacuation route?  Which has already been disproved.  Do we need it for an EMS response route?  No, that's already been disproved."

Biery then made a motion to advise the commissioners to pause the surfacing of Towne Road for three years.  He cited that the timeframe is consistent with Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe's request to keep the road closed.  The motion failed.

A second motion was made asking that the commissioners delay road surfacing bids so the design can be revisited.  In other words, the committee is requesting that the county undergo an entirely new process, from the top down, to determine who the users of the levee are.  That motion passed.

There was concern that the trail committee’s decision to interfere with the completion of a county road could be seen as political since reopening Towne Road has been acknowledged by the county to be a political issue. If so, the trail committee will join a growing number of Clallam County government sectors that the “Era of Ozias” has politicized:

• Ozias used his seat on the Board of Commissioners to funnel money intended to complete Towne Road to his campaign’s top donor, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

• Ozias tasked the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office with investigating “Towne Road Supporters” who were critical of the commissioner’s behavior.

• The Sheriff’s Office has declined to enforce the signs that prohibit pedestrians and vehicles from using Towne Road because it’s “a political issue.”

• Ozias used his influence with the Department of Community Development to prevent a gravel pit from reopening near his primary residence.

• Ozias wants to “focus” the conversation on the Clallam Conservation District’s irrigation piping efforts, a project supported by his campaign’s top donor, rather than having an open discussion about the agency’s claim that they can install pipelines without landowner consent or legal authority.

• The North Olympic Development Council, led by President Ozias, supports a foreign ideology that calls for a political power shift under the guise of economic development.

Before the close of the meeting, Bill Biery reported that a group advocating for the road's permanent closure, the Dungeness Levee Trail Advocates (DLTA), currently has a petition that has not had proper attention.  "That would be possibly one group to associate in the next phase of the public process," he said. 

Bill Biery has signed the petition. Does he have a conflict of interest while serving on a county committee that aims to convert county roads into trails?

The meeting can be viewed by clicking here.  Towne Road discussion starts at 33:00 and lasts just over an hour.

Reporting on Ozias’ latest attempt (the 7th) to halt Towne Road's completion would not have been possible without the dogged and watchful eye of a Watchdogger subscriber.  Thank you.

The following letter was discussed by the Trail Advisory Committee (TAC) at their monthly meeting. It was presented by Bill Biery.