What is going on with Anderson Point Park?
Like many local parks the road access to Anderson Point Park crosses a public easement over a private road. However in this case a small group of property owners along the road have been working since as early as 2006 to block this public access. One June 9th 2013 county employees were doing regular maintenance on the park when they discovered a gate had been built across Millihanna Road. The gate was installed without any formal agreement with the county and with no public knowledge or input. After the gate was built county officials quickly met and decided to let Millihanna home owners have control over the park access without any written agreement or clear understanding of when the public would be allowed back in the park. The park remains open but is now only accessible by boat from the water.
Like many parks in the area Anderson Point Park sustained damage in the heavy rains of 2010 which washed out part of the trail between the parking area to the beach. This reduced the path from 12-15 feet wide down to 7-10 feet wide. For reasons of liability the county decided this was unsafe despite not having a study done until 2013. Unfortunately since most people access the area via the road the park is now blocked off to the majority of the public.
In a surprise announcement in late February 2014 Kitsap County Parks officials scrapped their old estimates
and announced that they expect to reopen the park by August of 2014. The County allocated $400,000 for urgent needs to the parks
department. Almost half of the money will go to Anderson Point to shore
up the trail damaged by the landslide that led to the park’s closure in
late 2010. Some of the money also could be used to repair Millihanna Road,
the short gravel drive leading to Anderson Point’s parking area. The county
decided this month to
abandon plans to make the trail stable enough
for emergency vehicles. The new plan that limits the trail’s use to
hikers and cut the repair estimate of up to $1.25
million down to $185,000.
Residents on Millihanna hired an attorney and on 3/18/14 wrote a letter to the county requesting road upgrades and additional parking and threatened a lawsuit. You can read a copy of the letter HERE
Is the trail within the park dangerous because of the mudslide?
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| Anderson Park Trail Damage 12/10/2013 |
If you hike in the Puget Sound area then you have probably hiked in a landslide area and may not have even known about it. Nearby Kopachuck State Park for example has several large deep seated landslides with at least one of which is still active with shallower toe initiating landslides. There are many other regional parks that share similar topography and landslide risk as Anderson Point.
The county
considers much of the coastal areas around Kitsap County to be a
geohazard including Anderson Point Park. Anderson Point actually fared
better than many other local parks during the heavy rains of 2010 and
even after the trail damage is considered by many to be one of the most
accessible trails in the area and thousands of parks visitors used the park without incident since the slide of 2010. The county has hired a geotechnical firm to study the trail stability and the draft report released 1/22/14 only sites one area of the trail that might pose future risk to pedestrian traffic if repairs are not made.
Other local parks such as Manchester State Park received similar trail
damage and have not been closed. A13MB file of Kitsap County geohazards
can be downloaded HERE . the 58 page draft report can be downloaded from HERE.
Anderson Point has a healthy combination of native Douglas Firs and
Large Leaf Maples which are considered key tree species in preventing
and adapting to natural hill erosion in the Pacific Northwest.
Can emergency services reach the park?
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| similar damaged road in nearby Manchester which is not closed |
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The
Kitsap Parks Dept has listed this as a reason why the park should not
be made accessible however emergency services could not reach the beach area
easily by truck if the road were in perfect condition because there is no turn around at
the bottom of the road. EMS vehicles would have to back up the hill if they drove down to the bottom of the trail. There is an easier access north of the park off of Luna
Vista Ave SE which does offer a turn around. Anderson Point Park even
in its current condition offers easier emergency access than many local
parks including Banner Forest, Harper Park, Manchester State Park and Anderson Landing Preserve. There is a small turn around about 1/3 of the way down the path that has not been affected by the slide and could be used as a turn around for emergency vehicles.
Is there a solution to this problem?
The easiest and cheapest solution would be to acknowledge that this area should only be used as a trail and create a new foot path down to the beach that would avoid the current mudslide area. The area that the county is concerned about is actually near the bottom of the hill so this could easily be accomplished.
What are some other solutions?
Landslides generally occur in the Puget Sound region in winter and spring months after passing two thresholds, the first is when accumulative rainfall is over 11 inches saturating soil followed a second threshold
which is any single storm that exceeded 30 percent of the local mean average
precipitation. This was exactly the conditions that caused the 2010 mudslide and the park could be closed when these conditions are met or under more extreme circumstances simply close the park in wet months when these conditions are most likely to be occur.
What is the difference between a public road and a public easement over a private road?
A public road is like the road in front of most peoples houses. Anyone can use it and the city or county assumes responsibility for upkeep. A private road with a public access is more like an alley. Alleys are usually owned by the adjacent land owner and are technically considered 'private property' however the public still has access and rights to this area and the adjacent home owners are limited as to their development or control.
Can't the county just take over the road?
The state and county has an express statutory authority in Title 79 to
obtain an easement, buy the land, or even just seize it (with just
compensation) via eminent domain. With it also being a shoreline on
Puget Sound waters there are additional access means in Title 79A.
Why should private land owners allow the public to use their land?
Within Kitsap County owners of private roads can gate off their communities allowing only the property owners access. Millihanna is a private road but it is unusual in that one of the property owners is the public because of the park which means that the public is allowed access to the road and is essentially a de facto public road. This has put the other property owners and the county in a difficult legal position and led to many of the problems. The county has offered what it would to
any other neighborhood with a private road: It can share in the upkeep via the existing
maintenance agreement, or build a good road at the neighbors' expense through
what's called a County Road Improvement District but so far the neighbors have refused.
Are there other problems with the park?
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| alternate view of slide damaged area 12/10/2013 |
Like most public parks Anderson Point has had its share of vandalism and trespassing. The situation at Anderson Point has been exasperated by its remote location and difficulty to patrol. People frequently leave trash and have been disrespectful of local property owners. This has also been exasperated by having a wedding venue on the north end of the park with late night parties that spill over onto the public park at night after it is closed. www.saveanderson.com can hopefully be used to help solve these problems after public access is restored to the park.
What do the property owners along Millihana Road want from the county?
Residence of Millihanna have requested through their lawyer on 3/18/14
"the development of a paved two lane road meeting the standards Kitsap
County would require for any size plat; the inclusion of speed bumps, speed limit signage and no
parking signage; the development of adequate parking on the Park Property; and the retention of
a gate that remains closed and accessible only to the Millihanna Road residents from dusk to
dawn. In addition, the vocal Parks advocates need to remove all unfavorable references to the
Millihanna Road residents on their website, permanently refrain from disparaging those residents
and vow to use the road during park hours only and in a safe and respectful manner."
* this website is a community effort to combine and clarify all public information and is constantly evolving with input from the community and others. If you have any clarifications, comments or anything to add please send to help@saveanderson.com
