PORT TOWNSEND — A county commissioner’s concerns won’t stop a plan to use the County Conservation Fund to help cover the cost of buying land near the city’s entrance to keep it from being logged.
“I wonder if it’s a good idea to purchase property and take it off the tax rolls,” Commissioner Pat Rodgers, R-Brinnon, said during a meeting of the county commissioners Monday.
The county is party to a group attempting to purchase nearly 3 acres of land in the vicinity of state Highway 20, Discovery Bay Road and Jacob Miller Road which the owner wants to clearcut.
Mark Dembro, president of Jefferson Land Trust, said the purchase will protect against the logging.
The county will advance the approximately $70,000 purchase price and be repaid through a grant from the conservation fund as well as personal donations and other fund-raising possibilities.
The Land Trust and the Jefferson County Economic Development Council will co-author the application for the conservation fund grant which, says County Administrator David Goldsmith, pays for up to half the cost.