NCW Real Estate Blog

One of my favorite recent topics, the Shoreline Master Plan update is on the Chelan County Commission agenda for their April 13 meeting.  a presentation of the City of Chelan Shoreline Master Program prepared by the consultants, The Watershed Company.  This is an important topic that has huge impact if you are a shoreline property owner or a recreationist on our lakes, rivers and streams in Chelan County.

When:  at 2:00 p.m. on Monday, April 13th, 2009.

Location:
Chelan County Board of Commissioners
400 Douglas St.
Suite 201
Wenatchee, WA 98801

Click to get a link to a copy of the draft Shoreline Master Plan update.

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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The Chelan County PUD has updated their water system plan for their water systems around the Wenatchee area.  There is also an opportunity for public comment.

From the PUD:

To keep pace with projected population growth and comply with Washington Department of Health planning requirements, Chelan County PUD expects to keep improving its Wenatchee-area water system over the next six years – adding pump stations, reservoirs and pipe. The PUD invites water customers to review the latest six-year plan and offer comment at the PUD’s regular public meeting on May 4.

Water Resources Manager Ron Slabaugh briefed the PUD Board of Commissioners Monday about the new six-year plan which is required by the state Department of Health for large municipal water systems. Along with nearly $7 million worth of projects already in the works this year, the plan calls for two booster pump station upgrades, two more water reservoirs, water main replacements and upgrades for security by 2014. Total capital project spending in 2010-2014 is estimated at about $10 million.

The plan does not discuss possible rate changes as those are usually revisited during the PUD budget process each year. The most recent water rate changes went into effect April 1.

Anyone wishing to review the six-year plan may contact Ron Slabaugh at 661-4131. Public comment will be invited at the board meeting on May 4.

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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I did a bit of a rant today at the Chelan Real Estate Blog on the new draft of the Shorelines Master Plan update for Chelan county.  I’m very disappointed in that the plan doesn’t actually do anything to keep our waterways clean and healthy but does burden property owners a great deal who want to maintain or build any shoreline improvements.  While I wrote about Lake Chelan, this plan will apply to all waterways and shorelines in the county.  If you have chelan county real estate, have a look!

The really disappointing part of this plan is, in spite of being horribly intrusive, it really does nothing to maintain or enhance the quality of the water in Lake Chelan!  It does not do any sort of comprehensive look at points of contamination, types of contamination and the capacity of the system or setting appropriate  limits on sources of pollution.  It does not look at or encourage innovative practices to reduce contamination to the system regarding marine practices.  It does not define the limits of development or types of contamination that Lake Chelan can take and maintain its quality.  It does not use science to solve problems,  just to control the public.  It just takes a huge hammer and smashes your rights without scientific basis or justification. – Chelan Real Estate Blog

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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I also continued my rants on “affordable housing” yesterday.  We appear to have some affordable homes for sale at Lake Chelan, in spite of the regulations from our state and local governments that are doing every thing possible to make sure we don’t have any.  The problem isn’t “affordable housing” but the cost of regulation and fees being imposed by local and state government.

Just look at the city budgets of Chelan and Wenatchee to see how these local tax districts regulate affordable housing away and then tax the citizens to subsidize it!  That logic could only work in our current upside down era.  In fact, maybe that’s what this period in history will become, the Upside Down Age!

I found an article that explains the issue in clear language that is probably too clear for some.  Click the link to read more!

The problem of skyrocketing housing prices was all too real in those places where this problem existed. When you have to live on half your income because the other half goes for housing, that’s a real downer.

Almost invariably, these severe local problems had local causes — usually severe local restrictions on building homes. These restrictions had a variety of politically attractive names, ranging from “open space” laws and “smart growth” policies to “environmental protection” and “farmland preservation.” – Chelan Real Estate Blog

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local, Northwest by Al Lorenz
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In residential neighborhoods, the Wenatchee City Council banned vacation rentals at their meeting on Thursday evening.

After a considered debate the council arrived at a decision with two dissenting votes.

According to the Wenatchee World:

The Wenatchee Planning Commission had recommended banning vacation rentals from residential-zoned areas because of problems other communities faced, such as loud, late-night parties and excessive trash. – Wenatchee World

Tags: Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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On Wednesday, March 4, 2009 beginning at 1:00 p.m. there will be a public hearing at the Chelan County Administration Building for a major subdivision application known as “Aspen Meadows” submitted by BCW Investments LLC.

The proposal is to divide 10 acres into 4 lots in an area zoned RR2.5 about 1 mile south of Coles Corner.  The address is 17931 U.S. 2 and the parcel number is 261716330040.

Tags: Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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It’s a big day for the blog and the Wenatchee World today!  In our second post linking to them today, Tracy Warner has an opinion piece called Vacation rentals can stay away in today’s edition.  In it, he speaks about the City of Wenatchee considering a ban of new vacation rentals in their single family residential zones.

Wenatchee has few vacation rentals yet they are aware of the issues in Chelan, Manson, Leavenworth and the Lake Wenatchee area.  I have posted stories on the Chiwawa River Pines issues enforcing their covenants against commercial use and vacation rentals.  Tracy Warner does a good job talking about the issues associated with vacation rentals:

They could tell you about it in Leavenworth, Lake Wenatchee, Chelan and Manson. People have complained for years that vacation rentals are a source of great disturbance in their neighborhoods. Houses meant for family living get overloaded with people who, naturally, are there for a good time. They make noise late at night. They strain the infrastructure and the waste stream. They create instability and depress property values. [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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The State Legislature is in session, so we all need to watch out for our livelihoods! Governor Gregiore put out an Executive Order Setting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Goals.  That order has been embodied in House Bill 1718.

It’s also known as “Cap & Trade” and is supposed to reduce Washington’s carbon footprint to 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.  Whether or not you believe that CO2 is a threat, this bill would change your life if it passes.

Here are some of the highlights according to an analysis by Representative Matt Shea:

• New Taxes, lots of them!
• Tolling the I-90 bridge with the fund going to reducing greenhouse emissions, not transportation infrastructure.
• Mandates reduction in vehicle miles driven for both commercial and private vehicles (pay as you drive/don’t drive).
• Creates what appears to be stringent rent control regarding new buildings.
• Fully incorporates “green building codes” at an enormous upfront cost to builders and new home buyers.
• Implementation of “complete street principles” increasing the cost of transportation projects.
• Severely limits use and disposal of real property.

 Those are just some of the highlights of this bill.  Certainly this bill would impact real estate as well as almost every other aspect of trying to live and make a living in the State of Washington.  A hearing was held that started already, at 8:00 a.m. this morning.  However, you can still provide feedback to your legislature and others.  You can phone call the legislative hotline number at (800) 562-6000 to call and express your viewpoint.  The website to find your legislator’s contact information is at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx

Tags: Construction, Design, General Interest, Land Use, Northwest by Al Lorenz
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Being that this ended up as sort of a legislative roundup day, our very own Representative Cary Condotta has also been very busy.  While he has not introduced property tax legislation (although I would bet he is aware of and supportive of other efforts), he has been very busy as well.  His bills cover topics including: the family leave program, use of industrial insurance funds, veterans services, a variety of business tax related issues, license plates and many others.  But, since this is a real estate blog, we are going to talk about his bills in this session regarding water rights!

He is a secondary sponsor on two bills, House Bill 1268 concerning relinquishment of water rights and House Bill 1334 concerning water resource management on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

House Bill 1268 eliminates partial relinquishment of a water right back to the state for lack of use.  As I read it, if a property owner does not use their entire water right for a period of 5 years, but still uses a portion of it for its intended purpose, they do not automatically relinquish part of their water right.  Some pertinent language from the bill “a person shall not be deemed to have voluntarily failed to beneficially use said water right if the person has continued to use at least a portion of said right for the established purpose of use.” [Read more →]

Tags: Land Use, Local, Northwest by Al Lorenz
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The Open House to discuss a sewer plan for the Olds Station and Sunnyslope areas last night drew quite a crowd of 60 plus!  It opened with Chelan County Commissioner Buell Hawkins discussing the history of the situation in Olds Station. 

In the past, the PUD has put sewer mains in the Olds Station area and has served the fruit warehouses and primarily the Port of Chelan properties in the area.  Virtually all remaining connections available have been banked by the port for their future needs.  The main that runs to the city sewer plant on Worthen is also at capacity as well as the pumping stations serving the area.  High volumes of biosolids from the fruit processing facilities have also caused issues for the sewer treatment plant in Wenatchee.

The situation was basically where the city did not control what was coming into their system and there was no ability or incentive to expand service to an area that is slated to take a large share of growth in the region.  So, several years ago the city, county, port and PUD started working together to address the situation.

A plan was developed on how the system could be upgraded incrementally to allow additional service while scaling capital costs to the usage.  The open house last night was the introduction to the public on how a plan might be developed from here and what interest there might be from the public.

There are basically three types of customers that might be [Read more →]

Tags: General Interest, Land Use, Local by Al Lorenz
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