County shoreline plan will force removal of mooring buoys

EPHRATA — The Grant County PUD will be removing mooring buoys from the Columbia River during the spring, in an effort to bring the PUD’s lands into compliance with the new Grant County shoreline master plan.

Shannon Lowry, PUD land and recreation director, said the PUD was notified it would have to remove the buoys when it submitted applications for buoys at Sunland Estates near Quincy. The shoreline plan, adopted in 2014, restricts property owners to one mooring buoy per parcel of land. That meant only the PUD could have a mooring buoy, and the utility was restricted to three buoys, one for each parcel it owned.

Lowry reviewed recreation questions with PUD commissioners at the regular commission meeting Tuesday.

The PUD did apply for a variance, but Grant County officials turned them down. Commissioner Tom Flint asked if that meant buoys would be prohibited in the river permanently. Lowry said any rule changes would require an amendment to the shoreline master plan.

The PUD will allow people to anchor boats during the day. In answer to a question from Flint, she said people would be allowed to anchor boats during daylight hours only.

Commissioner Larry Schaapman asked who would monitor that; Lowry said the PUD would be responsible for compliance. Schaapman asked if the Grant County Sheriff’s Office would cite violators. Lowry answered she didn’t know.

Most of the PUD’s effort will be educating boat owners on the reasons for the change.

Lowry also updated the commissioners on the PUD’s continuing efforts on and around Crescent Bar. The island and surrounding recreation area was the subject of a longstanding dispute between the PUD and leaseholders on the island. A settlement was reached last year.

That has allowed the PUD to work on recreation improvements on the island and along the riverbank. Work was supposed to start last fall but was delayed by the failure of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to approve a plan for improvements.

“Great news on the FERC front,” Lowry said; the commission has published the proposed plans for review and comments, the first step to FERC’s review.

Utility district officials are optimistic the work will begin this fall, she said, at least along the riverbank and maybe on Crescent Bar Island. The in-water repairs and upgrades were expected to start this fall but will be delayed at least one year.

There’s a commercial building on the island that will be torn down and rebuilt, and Lowry said PUD officials have decided to make the building smaller than originally proposed. The original building was too expensive, she said, and it was difficult to fit the structure into the space available between the on-island golf course and the new campground.

The new building will be 2,500 square feet, as compared to 6,500 square feet now. There will be outdoor space that could be used for retail businesses, she said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.