Clearing up some confusion.

Defend Cumberland has stated from the beginning that county and state entities have offered to buy the properties where the mine and asphalt plant are proposed.

When asked in meetings the applicant has denied there has been any offer.

Both sides are technically correct.

In a recent Courier Herald article we read this: “According to Stephanie Guzman-Barrera, the deputy public affairs manager with King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the department “has informally conveyed the county’s interest in potentially acquiring the parcels at issue.”

And we have heard a representative for the applicant say, “no formal offer has been made, and that the “informal approach” consisted of an offhand statement.”

So let’s talk about semantics. In the world of real estate – both sides are correct. In order for an official offer to be considered – there has to be a willing seller.

And as any realtor who has knocked on a thousand doors looking for properties to sell, these informal approaches are how it starts. Many times it takes multiple informal conversations, potentially over years to get a seller to the willing side of the table.

But here’s the thing, contrary to what the applicant keeps implying about “off handed statements” – it is clear that both the State and County have expressed a desire to acquire these parcels as part of a decades long conservation conversation and effort.

In fact at an EPCA meeting in March those in attendance heard Transfer of Development Rights Program Manager, Mike Murphy say that as recently as this week the desire to acquire these properties had been communicated with the applicant.

So how does the applicant become a willing seller? That’s a great question, as Pruett was quoted in last week’s article, “…..after we’ve spent a year and almost $1 million dollars studying the groundwater hydrology. We’re not going to pull the plug on what we’re doing to go pursue that,” he said. “If they’re serious, they’d make an offer.”

It doesn’t sound like they are a willing seller at this point.

What we do know is that if the applicant said something to the County in effect of, “sure, we’d entertain an offer.” The County is prepared to sign a letter of intent to get the process started. That next step would be a third party appraisal. That won’t happen until there is a willing seller.

In the public meeting in Black Diamond back in February, the applicant talked about the Segale family legacy, here at the CCC we just wonder – what if the sale of these properties for the purposes of conservation could be the ultimate family legacy? Preservation of nearly 1000 acres that lies in what we call the Last of the Wild Places seems like an incredible legacy that generations would be able to appreciate into eternity.