East Wenatchee sprint boats speed toward September
Originally published July 21, 2010 at 6:58 p.m., updated July 22, 2010 at 8:41 a.m.
EAST WENATCHEE — Come September, boats will be racing east of East Wenatchee. The Douglas County commissioners approved on Wednesday the city of East Wenatchee’s proposal for the Sept. 4 race.
The request included a request for approval of a second race, on July 2, 2011. It was not approved.
During an East Wenatchee City Council meeting on July 13, Mayor Steve Lacy said he anticipated the county not approving the second race day. “It’s not necessarily fatal because we can reapply,” he said.
The approval of the permit comes with a few caveats.
An emergency access road must be approved by the Douglas County Fire District 2 chief and the city must submit a traffic control plan addressing a roundabout on Grant Road and Urban Industrial Way. Other conditions of the permit require the city to provide proof of insurance and secure Douglas County against legal responsibility for the race or possible problems.
Also, the city must notify the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation about excavation, grading or construction and allow officials from the two entities to observe the process.
Mark Kulaas, Douglas County Land Services director, said the county and private landowners in the area reached an agreement in the early 1990s with the tribe and the state that they would be notified after the discovery of Clovis points in the area in 1987.
East Wenatchee events board director
Dawn Collings, East Wenatchee events board director, said none of the requirements were out of the ordinary and the city had been in contact with the county regarding the issues over the past few weeks.
“We’re excited to go forward,” she said, “and looking forward to the next few weeks in preparation for the race on Sept. 4.”
Rochelle Feil Adamowsky: 664-7153
feil@wenatcheeworld.com
Comments
Want to comment on this story? Registered users can use the form below. Please know that we at wenatcheeworld.com hope our site is useful, entertaining and civil. So we'll delete comments that are obscene, abusive or way off topic. We appreciate it when readers use the "suggest removal" button to flag inappropriate comments. For more about interacting with the site, see our Use Policy.
Flamebike (Just Cuz) says...
REMEMBER in NOVEMBER!!!!!
July 22, 2010 at 7:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seslar (Shelley Seslar) says...
I don't get it. Why is a city municipality getting involved in this when it isn't even happening within their jurisdiction? And what IS this? Boat races? Up by the airport? There's no water up there. Are they building a lake? And is this supposed to be an event of general interest to the public? Is it like going to watch a horse race or a car race, except these are some sort of boats going around in circles, like the hydroplanes? Is there going to be a charge to get in to watch this boat race? Who will keep the revenue, the city? Sorry, I don't get it. Just, why?!
July 22, 2010 at 9:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Cambium (Thayne Tuason) says...
I agree with seslar- what is the deal with this? Are there local fans of this sport here in East Wenatchee? Has anyone even heard of this sport here prior to them wanting to have races? Are there any local racers here?
Perhaps the mentality is that if you have machines and they go fast then there is money to be made. It is all about spectacularly burning gas. How exciting. Ironic that the many, many problems with fossil fuels socially, environmentally, and economically are affecting our daily lives and well-being, while locally we are condoning wasting this precious resource for pointless entertainment to make money. There are lots of entertaining things to do that don't burn up gas, but it takes a little imagination and work...
Every place is unique and every place is special. The city of East Wenatchee should be capitalizing on its individuality instead of trying to put on something that could just as easily happen in Nebraska.
July 22, 2010 at 10:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lonedog3 (Joe Arballo) says...
Seslar and Cambium: Somewhere back in time this past winter, a tiny gathering of hobbiest with the need to race their little speed boats came looking for money to race their boats. They had found the willing landowner but he needed a large payout to allow the handfull of people to use his land. Along comes the great and generous King Lacey and his merry court jester dawn with pockets full of public tax money to spend on whatever they like as long as it is not public saftey projects to protect our children. After some fast smoth talking on the boat owners they hed the mayor convinced and he opened up the public tax money vault, (for the record they did say it was "unaccounted money") and decided to toss over $100,000 to these races. The land owner to receive a sizeable sum as well. They will dig a course in the land approximatly 4 feet deep and perhaps 6 feet wide(not sure of the exact measurments) and pump 800,000 gallons(per race) of water into the ditches. (good clean city water will be used if the mayor cannot get the irrigation water from the farmers) Now this water will not be reclaimed but rather just left to dry up. Now one must remember that during the allegeded budget process none of this public tax money was planned to be returned to the accounts. It was budgeted as a total loss. Sadly the taxpaying citizens of this town, East Wenatchee, Lose! At a meeting early this year the owner of this sport boat association complained that he actually had to build a course on his own land as money elsewhere dried up. So here we are still going forward with spending public tax monies on hobby boats. I am not at all against these folks racing their boats. Just get the public tax money out of it. If the PRIVATE property owner wants to build a course on his PRIVATE land let him do it! BUT please do it with private money! Let the boat association and the land owner use THEIR money to put on their races. Leave the public tax money for the use of and by needed city projects. I wouldnt think that is asking too much of a duley elected public official to understand.
July 22, 2010 at 2:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seslar (Shelley Seslar) says...
Thanks, Joe! I think I get it now.
July 22, 2010 at 8:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )