WENATCHEE — While constitutional-rights advocate Matt Erickson is still fighting in court to erect the tallest flagpole in Leavenworth, his aspirations are now a bit loftier. He’d like to someday build the tallest flagpole in the world somewhere in Chelan County.
So when he read the county’s proposed new sign ordinance, scheduled to be adopted at a county commissioners’ meeting on Monday, he was alarmed to find that it limited flagpoles to the height of surrounding buildings.
The Leavenworth resident brought his concern to the attention of County Commissioner Keith Goehner on Friday, and Goehner raised the issue at a commission meeting this week.
Goehner and Commissioner Buell Hawkins both said the flagpole height restriction was inadvertently included in the ordinance and asked county planners to remove it from the draft. Both commissioners agreed there should be no limits on the height of poles flying the American flag, other than engineering safety requirements. Commissioner Ron Walter did not attend the meeting.
Community Development Director John Guenther said Wednesday that the draft sign ordinance has been revised to exempt from height restrictions flags or emblems of the U.S. and any nationally or internationally recognized government organization.
Erickson said Wednesday that he was pleased with the county’s quick action to remove the restriction.
“That was a lot easier fight than the $35,000 one I’ve got going,” he said, referring to his lawsuit against the city of Leavenworth for preventing him from building an 80-foot flagpole at the east entrance to the city.
After Erickson inquired about building the flagpole in 2004 on his property along U.S. 2, the City Council imposed moratoriums on flagpole heights and later adopted an ordinance that limited the height to 35 feet in commercial areas, such as where Erickson wanted to build his.
Erickson sued the city, and his legal battle continues. Though a judge threw out part of his lawsuit that accused the city of violating his civil rights, the court has kept alive his legal argument that his request to build the flagpole was grandfathered in before the city’s adoption of the height restriction and his contention that he should not have to apply for a building permit to erect a flagpole.
Erickson, founder and president of the Foundation for Liberty, wants to build an office for the constitutional rights organization at 1500 U.S. 2 in Leavenworth, the site where he wants to put up the flagpole.
If the court ultimately rules against all of his challenges against Leavenworth, Erickson said he will appeal.
“I’m still hoping to build a flagpole on the site,” he said.
Meanwhile, Erickson said he now hopes to build an even bigger flagpole in Chelan County when his Cashmere business, Crown Industries, which builds cabinets and countertops, grows large enough to expand into a bigger building.
“If we build a new shop, I’d like to put up a very tall pole with a very, very large flag,” he said.
Not just big, but the biggest in the world, he said.
Erickson said the tallest flagpole in the country stands 338 feet tall outside an insurance company in Wisconsin. The world’s tallest flagpole is in North Korea and measures 525 feet tall, according to Guinness World Records. Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have made claims to having the tallest flagpole, both having poles more than 400 feet tall, according to news accounts.
The tallest flagpole in Chelan County is at Prey’s Fruit Stand east of Leavenworth. It is 100 feet tall.
“I think it’s sad that the tallest flagpoles in the world are in North Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan,” Erickson said. “The long-term dream of mine is to bring the largest flagpole back to the United States.”
He projects that it will cost more than $1 million to build the world’s tallest flagpole in Chelan County to fly the American flag. He hopes to raise most of the money through his tax-exempt organization, but said he intends to personally contribute a large portion of the cost.
“But we’ll have to sell a lot more cabinets to afford that,” he said.
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