SEATTLE — King County has agreed to buy a gravel mine on Maury Island in the Puget Sound for $36 million and turn the site into a county park, ending years of dispute over the mine’s expansion.
For over a decade, Glacier Northwest, a subsidiary of the CalPortland Company, planned to mine up to 2 million tons of sand and gravel a year. It also planned to build a steel dock.
Environmentalists fought the plan over concerns about damage to critical shoreline habitat. The company met stiff opposition — from kayakers protesting off shore to federal lawsuits.
In 2009, a federal judge halted the expansion, agreeing with environmentalist groups that argued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to formally consult with federal fisheries biologists on the project’s impact to endangered species.
“The sale of this site at this time makes sense for our company from a business perspective, but we reach this agreement with somewhat mixed emotions,” said Ron Summers, a senior vice president at CalPortland.
The region still needs a source of ready aggregates, he said.
Last week, the dispute ended when the company agreed to sell the property.
The money will come from different sources: $14.5 million from a state settlement with ASARCO, a company that owned a now-defunct copper smelter near Tacoma; another $19 million from the county; and more than $2 million will be privately raised.
The county will also extend CalPortland’s lease on a different mining spot on another part of the island, royalty free.
“The chance to permanently protect such a long stretch of undeveloped Puget Sound shoreline and uplands is the kind of opportunity that comes along once in a lifetime,” King County Executive Dow Constantine said Wednesday at a press conference on the waterfront.
The county expects the park to have hiking trails, kayak access and picnic shelters.
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