SEATTLE — Two Washington state senators have asked the state auditor to investigate a Hood Canal land deal with the Navy that did not meet a previous appraised value.
State Sens. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, and Mark Miloscia, R-Federal Way, sent a letter to Acting State Auditor Jan Jutte questioning the low lease price on state aquatic bedlands, The Seattle Times reported.
In June, The Times reported that Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark’s Department of Natural Resources accepted a $720,000 offer in 2014 from the Navy for 50-year control of 4,804 acres of Hood Canal seafloor.
An earlier, independent, state-approved appraisal valued the lease at $1.68 million.
The $720,000 value allowed the Navy to avoid congressional scrutiny of the deal. Goldmark agreed to that price despite state law requiring DNR obtain fair-market value for the seafloor.
“That’s corruption,” said Miloscia, chair of the senate’s Accountability and Reform Committee. Formerly an Air Force contract officer who dealt with appraisals, he said reducing the earlier appraisal to “avoid federal statute . is, in my mind, unconscionable.”
On Friday, Natural Resources spokeswoman Sandra Kaiser said the state’s appraisal practices were upheld by a Jefferson County Superior Court judge.
If the auditor doesn’t investigate, Miloscia said, his committee will.
Thorndyke Resource, developer of a pier project on the Hood Canal’s western shoreline, sued the state and Navy to overturn the lease, which created a restriction along Hood Canal seafloor that stopped the pier project.
Times has reported the Navy has quietly targeted projects, rating them according to perceived “encroachment threat” levels. Area developers say they were unaware their work was being monitored.
The military says commercial boating, seaplanes and tourism could hamper the military’s operations in the interest of “national defense.”
“I’m worried that the historic uses of our shoreline and waterways will be harmed by these unilateral actions by the commissioner’s office,” Sheldon said. “The commissioner’s job is to adhere to all the duties of the constitution. I think that includes getting a fair price for something.”
In June, the Navy and DNR told The Times they could not comment on the appraisal because of pending litigation.
The Jefferson County judge wrote that the appraisal was not “arbitrary, capricious or unlawful” when she dismissed a case against the state in May.
Thorndyke has appealed that decision to the Washington State Court of Appeals.
“It’s a factual issue and could not be resolved on summary judgment” the way the judge did, said Svend Brandt-Erichsen, Thorndyke’s attorney. “It’s been frustrating to not get to the merits, to actually have the actions taken by the Navy and the DNR reviewed.”
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