Want information about purchasing real estate in this resort community at the Ocean?  Call Steven Simmons or Marti Schmidt: Your Ocean Shores Realtors at 1-360-589-2439 or e-mail us at schmidtsimmons@theoceaniscalling.com for more information regarding available vacant lots and homes in Ocean Shores, WA.  Our office at Coldwell Banker is conveniently located at 749 Pt Brown Ave NW (main street of city.)

Steven Simmons & Marti Schmidt 
REALTORS®. 

Coldwell Banker Ocean Beach Properties

749 Pt Brown Ave NW Ocean Shores, WA 98569

360-589-2439 phone

theoceaniscalling.com website

schmidtsimmons@theoceaniscalling.com e-mail

http://activerain.com/blogs/gotvette blog

http://theoceaniscalling.postlets.com/ OUR LISTINGS

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/myseattlepix/photographer.asp?userID=105961 OCEAN SHORES PHOTOS

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April 2009

Ocean Shores

Ocean Shores Interpretive Center expanding

The Interpretive Center is expanding and has some new activities for visitors. Locals and tourists will be able to explore a new trail, exhibits and a playground. Students from North Beach, Aberdeen and Hoquiam high schools designed and constructed the Interpretive Trail as part of their senior culminating project. The trail which is about 500 feet long leads visitors through a small coastal forest with a wetland area and a boardwalk.

The courtyard was funded by a $21,000 federal forestry education grant the Interpretive center split with the Grays Harbor County Fairgrounds. The grant came via revenue generated from timber harvests under the Secure Rural Schools & Community Self-Determination Act, a federal measure that backs improvements to public schools, roads and stewardship projects.

The exhibit features a weather station that displays temperature, wind direction, humidity, atmospheric pressure and precipitation readings. It also has story boards and information on how to read tide charts.

4^th of July

The City of Ocean Shores approved a $39,706 request from the police and fire departments to fund a Fourth of July operational plan.

The plan would pay for emergency “staging” stations at different beach approaches, which include increased police and fire personnel, ambulances and firefighting equipment.

The new ordinance, which goes into effect this year, bans fireworks within city limits except for between the Marine View Drive and Damon Beach approaches, at lease 100 feet away from the dunes. The new ordinance also reflects state law on the discharge of fireworks, allowing them only during the following days and hours.

June 28, noon – 11 p.m.

June 29 – July 3, 9a.m. – 11 p.m.

July 4, 9 a.m. – midnight.

In 2007, dune fires burned more then 20 acres over Independence Day weekend and two firefighters had to be taken to the hospital with symptoms of exhaustion because there weren’t enough personnel to give the firefighters a break.

Third Annual Music Festival

The floor of the Ocean Shores convention Center will be thumpn’ with the annual music festival on July 3rd & 4th.

Country Schedule (Saturday)

1p.m. to 4 pm. – Country Jam

6 p.m. to 7 p.m. – Country Dinner

7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Country Dance.

Gospel Schedule ( Sunday)

9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Gospel music

NEWS FROM AROUND THE HARBOR

Youth Job Program

Work Source in Grays Harbor expects new federal funding for a summer youth job program. The federal stimulus grants will fund the youth summer jobs for temporary seasonal labor. The program targets young workers of a certain income level, the ages were expanded to include 16 to 24 years old.  Based on how much money Grays Harbor will receive will determine how many positions they can fill.

Fishing to be fantastic this Salmon Season

California and Oregon are severely curtailed this year due to declining Chinook populations, fishermen in Washington are planning for a decent season.

“It’s going to ba a great season,” said Doug Frickle, the president of the Washington Trollers Association, who expects it to be about the same as last year, “but we are happy to have any opportunity to fish for salmon and to support our families and incomes.” 

According to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, the upcoming salmon season in Washington is similarly structured compared to recent years with Chinook quotas close to 2008. The biggest bright spot is that coho quotas are substantially higher, which reflects the increased abundance of both hatchery and natural coho stocks. 

For recreational fishermen in Westport subarea, the season begins on June 28, with fishing allowed Sunday through Thursday until July 23. Fishing will then be permitted seven days a week until September 20.

Annual assessments for Grays Harbor

The state House approved legislation requiring counties statewide to conduct assessments on an annual basis with the conversion taking place by 2014. The measure passed 77 to 17. The state Senate approved the bill on a 40 to 5 vote. All of the legislators who represent Grays Harbor voted in favor of the measure.

Of the state’s 39 counties, 20 of them already use an annual property tax assessment system. Grays Harbor’s property tax assessments are done every four years.

Stimulus Money for Olympic National Park

The park will receive more than $57.8 million in economic stimulus money to put local residents to work building trails, rebuilding ecosystems and renovating campgrounds. Olympic receives the greatest share of the state’s $65 million in stimulus funding generated toward national parks. Nationwide more than $750 million will be spent on the parks system.

This is the most significant investment made in our National Parks in decades, the immediate benefits will be with the creation of new jobs and for generations to come our children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy these special places.

At Olympic National Park, the money will be used to convert two miles of abandoned road to trail, demolish and replace the operationally-obsolete Hoh sewer system, rehabilitate four park road bridges, replace historic roofing park-wide and restore much of the ecosystem along the Elwha River, including the removal of dams.

Ella M. Kiaupa,

Coldwell Banker, Ocean Beach Properties

888-469-3100 Toll-Free

360-289-3100 Office

360-580-1945 Cell

360-289-3111 Fax

www.oceanshoresNow.com

"The finest compliment I can receive is a referral.  Thank you."

Welcome to my World -

Ocean Shores, Washington

August 2008

Ocean Shores

A New Fire Station for Ocean Shores

The Ocean Shores City Council Monday night approved a $40,644 bid contract with Rognlin's Construction of Aberdeen to construct a stormwater system which means the city can develop a construction schedule for a new 20,000 square foot fire station, located about south of the current station on Point Brown Ave. He hopes to start putting in foundation for the fire hall by mid-September and have the project completed sometime in February, if weather permits. This is the first steps taken to build the new station since the City Council approved a $4.7 million financing package for it in January.

Roundabout update

The City Council approved a design recommendation from the Public Works department on the roundabout that will be constructed next year at the intersection of Chance a la Mer Boulevard and Point Brown Avenue.

The design will include a 34-foot wide median, a five-foot wide bicycle lane, and 10-foot wide sidewalks. Already fully-funded by grants from the state transportation improvement board, the $1.5 million project will also feature street improvements to Chance a la Mer between Point Brown Avenue and Ocean Shores Boulevard.

Director of Public Works Ken Lanfear said the roundabout is long overdue, noting the intersection gets dangerous, especially during summer events when cars pack the medians along Chance a la Mer and Ocean Shores Boulevard. The City Council also approved a request to create an "interim" over-flow parking area on city-owned property West of Minard Avenue and south of the bowling alley that will create 170 parking spaces while the roundabout is being constructed.

Lanfear said the parking lot is temporary for now, but the public works department will monitor its use. Lanfear said he hopes to integrate improved parking areas such as that lot as the city considers making improvements to the downtown area in the future. "We're going to lose some parking spaces in the (construction) process," Lanfear said. " But It allows us that visioning process and it buys us some time to explore what the downtown is going to look like."

North Beach Singers

Ocean Shores' popular singing group, the North Beach Singers, begin practice for their annual holiday concert on Monday, Sept. 8 at the Galilean Church in Ocean Shores. Titled "Christmas Time is Here," the chorus medley includes both new and traditional music and features an audience sing-along. Kathy Jacobson will direct.

Performances of "Christmas Time is Here" are scheduled for Friday and Saturday evenings, Dec. 12 and 13, at the Ocean Shores Convention Center. The concerts are free, and food or other donations will be collected for the Ocean Shores Food Bank.

If you love to sing and are willing to learn a part the singers encourage you to join. Anyone interested in singing with the North Beach Singers is also invited to the group's annual picnic on Sept. 7 from 2 to 6 p.m. At North Bay Park in Ocean Shores.

For more information contact Patricia Smith at (360) 289-4169, or by e-mail at psmith@coastaccess.com.

Feasibility Study for generating Power

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a preliminary permit to grant the Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Co. The exclusive right to conduct a feasibility study for generating power from wind and wave energy on a 28-mile stretch of the Pacific Coast from Ocean Shores to Grayland over the next three years. The permit, issued Friday, does not authorize any construction.

The project foresees as many as 90 260-foot tall steel wind turbines, as well as wave energy converters to convert ocean waves and wind into a renewable source of energy. The project could supply enough energy to power the entire Olympic Peninsula and make Grays Harbor one of the largest producers of renewable energy in the world, according to Burton Hamner, president of Hydrovolts, Inc.-the creator of the Grays Harbor Energy Co. Hamner also said the project has the potential to create numerous jobs within the county because the renewable energy equipment would be manufactured locally.

"The ocean off of Washington has the potential to provide all the electricity needed for the western half of the state by 2025," Hamner said. "We are leading the investigation how to make this a reality and encourage everyone interested in locally-generated clean power to learn more about the possibilities."

The feasibility study will seek to find out if the turbines would affect gray whale migration patterns and flight patterns of birds and it will also examine whether or not the locations of the turbines could limit the areas in which fisherman can fish.

Hamner said a cost for completing the project has not been determined, but the feasibility study could cost upward of $500,000. Funding would come from state and federal grants as well as from the Bonneville Power Administration, he said. Even after the feasibility study is completed, it would take about four years to begin construction, Hamner said.

On the Net: http://www.graysharboroceanenergy.com  

  BOARDWALK SHOPS

Purchasing a Boardwalk Shop is easy.  With prices starting at $149,000.00 for a Minard Unit and $169,000 for a Point Brown unit, owning a high visibility retail shop at the Boardwalk is within anyone's reach.

To reserve your Clam Shack, call Ella Kiaupa at 360-580-1945.

Special financing by the Bank of Pacific means a low down payment and now, very low interest.

Contact Alice at the Bank of the Pacific, at 289-2405

•—         Although the Boardwalk Shops are condominiums each unit is an individual stand-alone building.

•—         This means that owners receive the benefit of sharing in a larger, more visible complex with amenities such as the boardwalk and paved parking, while also enjoying a lower cost of purchase and ownership for a highly traveled Point Brown location in the heart of the City.

•—         In addition, since each condominium is actually a stand alone structure, owners further enjoy owning an individual building with no shared walls or shared entry.

•—         Resale and rental value of the Clam Shacks is enhanced by the fact that each unit is a stand alone structure.

Fun Days in Ocean Shores

NEWS FROM AROUND THE HARBOR  

Mill deal is still on

Evergreen Pulp's local team has taken a "hiatus" from participating in the negotiating effort with Weyerhaeuser to re-open the Cosmopolis Pulp Mill.

But "the mill deal is definitely still on," Evergreen's operations manager, Roy Nott, said today. "It has not blown up."

Weyerhaeuser spokesman Anthony Chavez agreed with that assessment, saying the company has signed an agreement with Evergreen but is waiting for some access issues to be resolved and a final agreement with the Grays Harbor PUD, which will run the generating portion of the mill.

Evergreen Pulp Cosmopolis is in negotiations with Weyerhaeuser to purchase the mill, which was mothballed in 2006. Evergreen plans to sell the mill's powerhouse to the PUD in a simultaneous deal and enter an operating agreement with the public utility district to generate electricity by burning wood waste.

A very cool new facility

A grand opening ceremony gave the public its first look at a 95,000-square-foot cold storage facility built by Ocean Cold, a subsidiary of Ocean Gold Seafoods, on Firecracker Point in the Marina district. The grand opening featured a blessing from Makah Indian Nation members, an appearance by Congressman Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and public tours.

The facility will allow commercial fishermen to time the sale of their catch to the most beneficial market conditions instead of sales being dictated by the rush to get fresh product on the market, or by the capacity of fish processing plants. The new plant will freeze and store seafood products that will be shipped all over the world. Crab, whiting, sardines and groundfish such as flounder and black cod will make up the majority of the products in the facility. Other products will include tuna and a small amount of Alaskan salmon and halibut.

The $9 million facility is being financed with industrial revenue bonds issued by the Washington Economic Development Finance Authority and underwritten by Wells Fargo Bank. No governmental funds were used, but the bonds carry a lower interest rate.

Most of the fish will come from local fishermen, according to Richard Carroll, vice president for Ocean Gold, although he expects the company to do business with fishing fleets along the West Coast and parts of Canada.

Fishermen will have the option of bringing their product - fresh or processed - to the facility for storage. The fisherman pays a storage fee based on how long the product will be stored, as well as the quantity and type of product.

Cell phones collected for soldiers in Iraq

Channel Point Village in Hoquiam is participating in a cell phone collection drive to provide U.S. troops abroad with phone access to their families. Old, unused cell phones or donations can be dropped off at 907 K St. in Hoquiam or picked up for collection by calling 532-9000. The phones are refurbished or recycled by ReCellular, which pays money to Cell Phones for Soldiers to purchase prepaid phone cards for on-duty troops. "We're proud to show our support for U.S. soldiers, and to contribute to a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers," said Jill Bellis, Executive Director of Channel Point in a news release.

Each donated phone earns a soldier about an hour of talk time.

Local Artwork

Harbor artists may soon find gallery space in the lobbies of downtown Hoquiam businesses. It's an effort to give them more exposure and boost foot traffic in the stores. Greg McHugh, owner of Ken Schoenfeld Furniture's Hoquiam store, said presenting art is an easy way for businesses to help recognize and display local art while drawing in customers and building a stronger downtown community.

Kathleen Grady with the Harbor Arts Guild said the effort would emulate downtown artwalks in Seattle and Olympia that invite people into businesses to enjoy the work of area artists. "Artists put pieces in businesses around town," she said. "It's really just like a big citywide open house." Grady said the guild, which has existed since spring, has about 18 art lovers who are looking forward to finding new ways to present local work.

Participating businesses may choose to provide refreshments near the artwork, McHugh said. They hope to coordinate some collective advertising to promote display locations. Some businesses have also expressed interest in hosting a "cheese and wine" evening event to view pieces, listen to music and speak with artists.

"By fall, we should be in pretty good shape," McHugh said.

A New Warehouse & Light Manufacturing Building

Work has begun to convert the former WPPSS turbine building to house BMT-Northwest. Construction has also started on a 50,000-square-foot warehouse and light manufacturing building, while a contract has been approved to upgrade the Satsop Development Park's barge slip.

"There's a lot going on," Tami Garrow, the park's chief executive officer, told the Aberdeen Rotary Club Wednesday.

The three construction projects represent an $8.5 million investment, mostly in the form of state grants, plus some county funding. And what is the glow on the hilltop that is often times clouded in a huge poof of steam that very well looks like smoke, uncannily resembling a forest fire? That's the 650-megawatt, gas-fired power plant of Grays Harbor Energy, a subsidiary of Invenergy of Chicago. When the light hits the steam from the plant's cooling towers just right, it looks like the whole hilltop's ablaze, Garrow said.

Meantime, BMT-Northwest will manufacture large metal tanks and equipment at Satsop. The $5 million project was funded by a state job development grant, $1 million from the park and $250,000 from Grays Harbor County. Quigg Bros. of Aberdeen is the primary contractor. The project was held up for several months as the county initially required the building to meet current county codes, but things are rolling now.

The warehouse/ manufacturing building is needed because there is no more space in the park for that type of industry, Garrow said. The $2.2 million for the project is covered by a low-interest loan from the state Community Economic Revitalization Board, $200,000 from the county and $1 million from the park. Bowers Construction of Montesano and Kaufman Bros. of Olympia are the primary contractors.

Rognlin's Inc. of Aberdeen was awarded the $300,000 contract to perform dredging at the barge slip, which will be used to ship BMT's oversized tanks, primarily to Alaska. The Satsop Development Park is a mixed-use business and technology park with 27 different manufacturing, telecommunications, technology, commercial and distribution companies leasing space. Additionally, 27 companies store their comnputer network servers or back-up servers in the park. The county commissioners in March approved a new master plan for the 1,700-acre Development Park.

In January, Grays Harbor College expanded its regional training center concept by offering commercial truck driving classes on the sprawling Satsop campus. Last year, Centralia College began teaching power generation classes at the park. The park soon hopes to add a new forestry class through Grays Harbor College to manage its 1,200 acres of forest land, Garrow said.

On Aug. 5, the Pacific Mountain Alliance for Innovation opened offices for Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development at the park. The alliance hopes to establish a regional training center to house myriad educational activities for targeted high-wage jobs. The alliance is comprised of Thurston, Mason, Lewis, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties.  Garrow touted the park's location and amenities - including reliable electricity and telecommunications - as resources to help drive the area's economy.


Activist group make bid for small FM radio station on the Harbor

Grays Harbor may be getting a new non-commercial radio station.

The Grays Harbor Institute, a non-profit group which has brought the likes of left-thinkers Alexander Cockburn, Angela Davis and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich to the Harbor, is in the final stages of receiving a 43,000 watt full-power non-commercial FM radio station license from the Federal Communications Commission.

Institute President Gary Murrell, a history teacher at Grays Harbor College, said although the institute's speaker's bureau may be a bit left leaning, "I think we're probably going to have to be less ideological than, say, The Evergreen State College."

The call letters may be KGHI, named after the instutute, which was founded in 2005 "to investigate, analyze, synthesize and promote democratic ideals consistent with ending poverty and racism and advancing human, civil, environmental, educational and health rights," according to its Web site. The radio station may be powerful enough to cover the entire Olympic Pensinula and reach down to the Columbia River, Murrell said.

September 2008 Convention Center Events Only

Planning a visit to Ocean Shores?  Go to our new website for lodging, dining, shopping and activity information and even driving directions!www.TourismOceanShores.com