Environmental groups sue to stop proposed golf course on state park land in Westport

Two environmental groups are suing Washington state to stop development of a 120-plus acre golf course project on coastal state park land in Westport.

Friends of Grays Harbor and Grays Harbor Audubon Society filed the complaint in Thurston County Superior Court on March 29, alleging the golf course developers and Washington State Parks Commission are ignoring past agreements that limit wetland development at the site. 

The proposal for Westport Golf Links calls for an 18-hole course, along with a clubhouse, a 30 to 60-room inn, a practice range, trails, roads and other facilities, to be built on part of Westport Light State Park and a smaller, adjacent patch of city of Westport land. 

Arthur Grunbaum, president of Friends of Grays Harbor, said in a statement that the proposed golf course would “destroy one of the last remaining intact large-scale interdunal wetlands” in Washington, while also converting public land to private use.

If the project is built, the environmental groups say it would interrupt rare habitat for a range of birds and wildlife, hurt water quality through pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer pollution, and limit equitable access to the beach.

Not the first golf course proposal for the site

The lawsuit hinges on legal agreements made by the previous owners of the acreage, who had tried to build a golf course on it about two decades ago. 

In the early 2000s, Mox Chehalis LLC had plans to develop land owned by the Port of Grays Harbor into a golf resort. 

The plans, which included a hotel and convention center, were met with resistance from Friends of Grays Harbor and other environmentalists, triggering a legal battle that dragged on for about six years.

In 2007, Friends of Grays Harbor and Mox Chehalis LLC signed a settlement agreement that limited the ability of the current and future owners to fill wetlands on the property for golf course development.

Further inspection of the site by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found that work carried out by Mox Chehalis included filling wetlands in violation of the Clean Water Act.

To avoid future violations of the federal law, the Army Corps and Mox Chehalis formed a land covenant that, among other limitations, prohibited filling wetlands, clearing vegetation, changing the topography, and constructing buildings on about 114 acres of the land.

Washington purchased the property from Mox Chehalis and J.D. Financial Corp, which shared common ownership, in 2015 using a grant from the State Recreation and Conservation Office. 

Project still under review

The environmental groups now suing to halt the project argue the state is subject to the restrictions on development in the settlement agreement and land covenant. 

And they say that Washington law prohibits the state from converting the property into a golf course because of how it was acquired with a Recreation and Conservation Office grant.

Grunbaum said the state’s due diligence in looking into the agreements was “woefully inadequate.” 

Washington State Parks said it is aware of the litigation and reviewing it, but declined to comment further.

Westport Golf, Inc., the company seeking to build and operate the golf course, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to the developer and the state parks department, the lawsuit names the city of Westport and J.D. Financial Corp and Mox Chehalis LLC as defendants.

The golf course project proposal is currently undergoing an environmental review that the city of Westport is overseeing. State Parks has not made any final decisions about whether to proceed with it.

Westport wasn’t willing to comment on the lawsuit yet. City Administrator Kevin Goodrich said the city is focused on continuing the environmental review.

Apart from the lawsuit, the project would still need to clear permitting hurdles and go before the Washington State Parks Commission for consideration before it could be built.