A Community Garden in Ocean Shores

A group of volunteers held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 9^th for a community garden on a section of land behind the Galilean Lutheran Church. Event organizers hope to turn the church-owned land, which measures just under a quarter acre, into “Garden by the Sea”, a place where residents can rent plots to turn into their own private gardens.

In addition to private plots, there are plans for a children’s garden and an herbal labyrinth plus a separate “food bank” garden in which all produce in the garden will be donated to the Ocean Shores Food Bank.

The children’s, herbal labyrinth and food bank gardens will be maintained by volunteers. Garden supporters plan on seeding the garden this spring and hope to have a harvest by late summer or early fall.

Speed Limits go down at the Beach

Drivers will have to pay close attention to speed limit signs around town, as many of them will be changed in June, 2009.

The City Council voted 5-2 to approve a controversial ordinance that will lower the speed limits on several city streets including Point Brown Avenue, Ocean Shores Boulevard, Duck Lake Drive, Chance a la Mer and Marine View Drive.

Most of the changes are 5 mph drops. For example, the section of Point Brown Avenue between the entry gates south to Albatross Street will be changed from 30 mph to 25 mph on both sides of the street.

More ships in Port of Grays Harbor

Port of Grays Harbor officials say a new shipping agreement with a Norwegian company will dramatically increase incoming vessels, eventually bringing in a ship every two weeks.

Deputy Director Leonard Barnes said a regular schedule shipping line service agreement with recently established Partner Shipping promises new vessels into Marine Terminal 4, starting with a ship in mid-June. The agreement makes the Port one of the company’s two West Coast shipping sites.

The Partner Shipping Web site said the company, which launched in 2008, has operations shipping throughout Europe, The Middle East and West Africa. The company hopes to jump on the market between the U.S. and the South Pacific.

Barnes said the shipping business is facing tough times along with many industries in the current economy. He said Partner’s decision to operate out of Grays Harbor in such times attests to the Port’s strong location, workforce and transportation infrastructure.

Pontoons on the way to Grays Harbor

We were promised that the Pontoons would bring hundreds of “family-wage jobs” to Grays Harbor. At a bill-signing ceremony on the campus of Grays Harbor College, Governor Gregoire made it happen. The state will spend $700 million to both train the workers necessary and construct a huge graving dock on the Harbor to build the floating pontoons necessary to construct the Highway 50 floating bridge across Lake Washington between Seattle and its eastern suburbs.

Gregoire signed the legislation authorizing the funding and separate legislation authorizing the bonds to pay for the construction project. The legislation also authorizes tolling to begin soon on the existing floating bridge.

At lease 250 construction jobs will be created to build the graving dock and another 100 workers will be needed to construct the pontoons themselves. Factoring in the ripple effect of the new jobs, the governor said as many as 3,000 jobs could be induced from the project at the height of construction in 2013, but she wants construction of the graving dock to start by next year. 

Marine Resource Committee to look at Coastal Issues

The county commissioners have appointed an 11-member Marine Resource Committee, tasked with looking at coastal issues and ensuring that local, state and federal decisions on marine issues aren’t made in a vacuum. The task force, mostly made up of fishermen, marine experts and environmentalists, will host its first public forum at a0 a.m., on June 20^th, at the Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen.

County Commissioner Al Carter said the group will be charged with looking after issues that impact all areas of the coast, for example, a private company’s proposal to set up wind turbines off the coast and a push to develop wave energy platforms. Carter said: “We have wind energy, we have wave energy we have the potential for oil drilling and gas drillilng.u’ve got etland issues and estuary issues. I don’t want people who don’t live on the coast making arbitrary decisions including the federal government. They don’t live here.

Those appointed to the committee include Bob Burkle of Montesano, with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife; Roberta Davenport of Rochester, with the state Department of Natural Resources; Eric Delvin of Olympia, with the Nature Conservancy; Kathy Greer of Westport, with the Surfriders organization; R.D. Grunbaum of Ocosta, with Friends of Grays Harbor; Don Harders of Hoquiam, with the Lone Tree Oyster Co.; Robin Leraas of Aberdeen, with the Port of Grays Harbor; Don Samuelson of Aberdeen, with Deep Sea Charters; Ray Toste of Westport, with the Washington Crab Fishers Association; Joe Schumacher of Taholah, with the Quinault Indian Nation; and Lorena Marchant of Aberdeen, with Grays Harbor College.