A potentially illegal bulk head built at Armittage Cove on Blakely Island has caught the attention of the local Community Development and Planning department and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Over the winter of 2010 winter storms caused bank blowouts along the driveway of a property owned by Whaleback LLC and the Runstad family of Seattle. They allegedly began work without local or state approval on a rock armoring wall along the beach bank adding up to more than 500 feet, with a few breaks due to natural rocks. In 2011 the Department of Community Development and Planning office informed the owners they would need a shoreline permit for the bulkhead. In 2012 they submitted an application for a permit, after the bulk head was completed but their site plan was deemed incomplete, according to Lee McEnery, Planner III for the Community Development and Planning office. In 2015 the property owners applied for an exemption from the shoreline permit. In the meantime their plan is still inaccurate as the armoring was omitted from the plan though, according to McEnery, the owners say their surveyor is working on it. The planning office gave them a deadline of April 1 to turn in the corrected paperwork. As of press time the paperwork had not been corrected.
Reports of illegal armoring on Blakely Island
A potentially illegal bulk head built at Armittage Cove on Blakely Island has caught the attention of the local Community Development and Planning department and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Over the winter of 2010 winter storms caused bank blowouts along the driveway of a property owned by Whaleback LLC and the Runstad family of Seattle. They allegedly began work without local or state approval on a rock armoring wall along the beach bank adding up to more than 500 feet, with a few breaks due to natural rocks. In 2011 the Department of Community Development and Planning office informed the owners they would need a shoreline permit for the bulkhead. In 2012 they submitted an application for a permit, after the bulk head was completed but their site plan was deemed incomplete, according to Lee McEnery, Planner III for the Community Development and Planning office. In 2015 the property owners applied for an exemption from the shoreline permit. In the meantime their plan is still inaccurate as the armoring was omitted from the plan though, according to McEnery, the owners say their surveyor is working on it. The planning office gave them a deadline of April 1 to turn in the corrected paperwork. As of press time the paperwork had not been corrected.
