Supreme Court Issues Ruling this Week
By Jerry Isenhart
The Washington State Supreme Court ruled this week that Lake Chelan’s infamous “Three Fingers” shall remain in place.
The 39-page ruling issued by the State’s highest court and announced on Thursday, March 15th brings to an end a recent eight year battle between the Chelan Basin Conservancy, identified by the court as a local environmental group, and GBI Holdings Co, the legal entity representing the Goodfellow family, who have owned the landfills since their inception in the 1960’s.
LakeChelanNow talked with GBI Holdings partner Steve Goodfellow about the ruling shortly after the decision was released on Thursday. He told us he’s extremely happy and grateful to see this ending and looking forward to working with the City of Chelan leaders and planners to develop positive ideas of what the owners might do going forward.
Goodfellow referred to an August 2017 Public Hearing at Chelan City Council where GBI’s Chris Martin addressed the community and showed drawings of various options for use of the property. Goodfellow said he is “optimistic with the court’s decision that GBI can now move forward.”
At the August 2017 Chelan meeting, GBI’s Martin showed drawings of townhouses, multi and single-family units, and another concept that included two businesses located on the downlake (east) landfill, indicating one might be a restaurant. That plan also featured an area that could include dock space to accommodate the displaced Chelan Seaplanes operation.
Also shown last August were other ideas including a public access beach and comfort station, and a lakeside trail. Goodfellow said GBI representatives want to meet and work with the City to develop a project that will be an asset to the community and complimentary to the Shoreline Master Plan and City of Chelan planning codes.
The text of the March 15, 2018, Washington State Supreme Court decision (39 pages) can be opened and read here: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/933812.pdf.
