By Lindsay Cohen KOMO-News
EDITOR’S NOTE: This has been updated to reflect the most recent bidding. For details, see http://tinyurl.com/PDN-houseauction.
QUILCENE — Home sweet home may just be a $7,100 bid away.
The state of Washington is currently auctioning off a 3,200 square foot house built in 2005. The starting bid is now $7,100.
The catch? You’ll also need a barge to haul it away.
“That would be ideal, kind of the happy option for everybody if they can remove it intact,” said Michele Zukerberg, natural areas manager for the state Department of Natural Resources.
“We’ve seen that done in other parts of Puget Sound, so that’s what we’re trying with this surplus option.”
The state used $1.7 million from a grant in October to buy the nearly 9-acre property at 934 Piper Road in Quilcene.
DNR purchased the land and the structures on it, including the home, a shed, a garage and a few other buildings.
The house is 3,196 square feet with three full bedrooms and three full bathrooms.
The property owner was willing to sell so that the land, part of the Dabob Natural Area, could be preserved, a DNR spokeswoman said.
The land is not for sale. Once the structures are removed, the site’s natural ecosystem processes will be restored.
Environmental workers have been surveying the land to figure out its natural structure and what several hundred feet of shoreline once looked like.
A stream that runs through the property was home to salmon, said Curt Pavola, program manager for the natural areas program.
State workers hope to restore the stream and other natural qualities of the area.
“I think this site’s been used for many, many years,” Pavola said.
“So whenever the property was filled and when the structures first put on it, the stream was (rerouted to) the center of the property.”
Once the land is restored, the state will likely open the land to low-impact public access, research, and education.
The auction is tentatively scheduled to close Tuesday. A removal plan is due by Dec. 31 and the house must be picked up by Feb. 29.
Money from the sale will support the restoration of the natural ecosystem.
“There’s been a lot of momentum around that,” Zukerberg said.
“It’s really great because it’s such an opportunity to protect and restore this high-quality site.”
“It’s critical,” she continued. “It’s critical to our health and to the health of Puget Sound and to the species that our natural areas protect.”
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KOMO-News is a news partner of the Peninsula Daily News.
