Ebey's Landing Administrative History

Chapter Four:
THE MOVEMENT TO PRESERVE CENTRAL WHIDBEY ISLAND

Despite heightened concern about the historic landscape and its new status as a historic district, plans for large development projects continued to be proposed within the boundaries of the Central Whidbey Island Historic District. Backed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Port of Coupeville, the Dillingham Development Corporation of Nevada (referred to here as "Dillingham") planned a marina on Crockett Lake in the early 1970s. The Port Commissioner quickly found several light industries eager to establish business along the shore. Crockett Lake was a brackish lake which originally spanned over five hundred acres. During the 1940s and 1950s, it was reduced by the drainage district to a ten-acre pond in order to create more farmland, and, at times due to a damaged tidegate, water levels have fluctuated ever since. It had become a refuge and stopover for migrating waterfowl, supporting between 1,200 and 1,500 ducks annually. Rare and endangered species such as river otters, bald eagles, marsh hawks, whistling swans, snowy owls, great blue herons, and shovellers had used the lake as sanctuary. Not surprisingly, environmentalists opposed the marina proposal. [27]

The marina proposal would ultimately be dropped, but Dillingham had additional plans in the area involving Seattle real estate broker Robert Hanson of First Realty. As previously stated, the Smith farm was not the only real estate in which First Realty had invested. As he was signing the contract with the Smith family, Hanson was trying to develop Holmes Harbor on south Whidbey Island. First Realty was also a partner and agent for Dillingham at Keystone Spit near Fort Casey. The corporation had recently acquired the 1.3-mile cobble beach and spit through a merger with Foss Launch and Tug, which had a sand and gravel business and had owned the spit for years. Dillingham and First Realty united to plan "Seabreeze," a large development of single-family dwellings to be spread out along 182 lots on the spit. Despite his contract with the Smiths, Hanson turned his attention to Seabreeze, allowing the Smith development to languish until 1973. Within three more years he would leave the Smiths burdened with debts, their land undeveloped. [28]

Starting in 1971, Dillingham began applying for permits to build on the old Chicago and Brooklyn townsites on Keystone Spit. In February 1972 the Island County Planning Commission recommended rejecting their attempt to combine the old plats to create larger lots. The developers appealed to the Island County Board of Commissioners, of which John R. Vanderzicht was chairman. Vanderzicht also happened to be a stockholder and chairman of the board of directors of Island Savings and Loan Association, which held the mortgage on Seabreeze. [29] Before the county commissioners acted on the appeal, Robert Hanson wrote a report to Dillingham in which he said that he had consulted with Vanderzicht about the Seabreeze project. Vanderzicht had not only stated his support of a project spurned by the planning department, but even asked for additional information to help the county commissioners overrule the planners. Hanson reported that Vanderzicht had assured his support. In April 1972, the county commissioners overruled the planning commission and gave preliminary approval to the $2 million project. [30]

In August 1973, Dillingham began construction of roads and service lines on the spit. Only then did the residents of the area grasp the scope of the proposed development. In response, a citizens' activist group called Save Whidbey Island For Tomorrow (SWIFT) formed. Their chief spokesperson was Al Ryan, a retired carpenter who had relocated to Whidbey Island from Los Angeles in 1971. SWIFT charged that Dillingham had not prepared an environmental impact statement as required by the new State Environmental Policy Act, which was supported by county ordinances. [31] Although the Central Whidbey Island Historic Advisory Committee recognized that Dillingham had gotten approval for its plats before the area's inclusion in the new historic district, it, too, notified Island County Planning Director Sydney Glover of its interest in both the Keystone and the Smith development plans. The committee pointed out that if Dillingham used federal or federally secured loans for Seabreeze, it was required to comply with the law regarding properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. (Hanson had acquired the mortgage on the Smith farm, it should be recalled, through the Federal Land Bank.) [32]

SWIFT joined with the Washington Environmental Council, the Seattle Audubon Society, and Dr. Cecil Riggall of Coupeville to file a class-action lawsuit against the county for failing to require an environmental impact statement on Seabreeze. The group hired environmental lawyer Roger Leed to represent them. The case would test the strength of the State Environmental Protection Act; if SWIFT won, Dillingham would have to submit an environmental impact statement and reapply for all permits and approvals for the project. [33] SWIFT warned of the effect that Seabreeze would have on Crockett Lake, its surrounding wetlands, and the wildlife it supported. The group pointed out that the project would further congest the Admiralty Head area, already heavily impacted by visitors using Fort Casey Historical State Park, Keystone Spit, and the nearby underwater park. [34]

Despite the continuing court battle, Dillingham erected two model houses, installed water and sewer mains and a small road system on the south side of the spit facing Admiralty Inlet, decorating the structures with balloons and flags to attract buyers. This was the first phase of a planned development including over two hundred units. [35] But the Army Corps of Engineers rejected the proposed marina on Crockett Lake in 1974, which had promised to link sewage lines with Seabreeze, and this undermined Dillingham's investment in the project. The SWIFT lawsuit would finish it.

The case wore on for three years, and was settled by the Washington State Supreme Court in 1976. The court ruled that Island County planners had erred in their finding of "no significant impact," and that in fact the Keystone project threatened an important wildlife habitat. It also voided the county commissioners' decision favoring the development for the sake of the "appearance of fairness"; Commissioner Vanderzicht's personal ties to the project were clear. [36]

SWIFT's lawsuit halted the Dillingham project in 1976 and depleted First Realty's assets. The companies boarded up the two buildings on Keystone Spit and listed the entire property for sale. [37] This meant that money that the Smiths had expected from Robert Hanson and First Realty would never materialize, even though Hanson had produced an elegant new plan for Ebey's Prairie in 1973.