It’s a small part of the deal — the fact that Vashon Sand & Gravel gets a 10-year extension on its lease. But to Islanders who buy their gravel at the modest operation on Maury Island, as well as to the seven men and women who work there, it’s no small matter at all.
Vashon Sand & Gravel, a long-standing operation that was purchased by CalPortland about seven years ago, sits on land owned by King County adjacent to the county-owned Maury Island Regional Marine Park. Thus, when county and CalPortland negotiators sat down to work out a deal over the corporation’s expansive property on Maury several months ago, the fate of the 26-acre site was also thrown into the mix.
Now, it’s part of the complex deal: Under terms announced last week, CalPortland’s lease, slated to end in 2020, will be extended until 2030. What’s more, the corporation will get access to that land royalty-free for those 10 years, a provision worth an estimated $2.4 million.
Ron Turner, a senior vice president at CalPortland, based in Glendora, Calif., said the lease extension was significant to the company.
“It’s an ongoing business that we want to keep operating. We have employees who make their living there. We want to make sure we have jobs for our employees,” Turner said. “It’s a good operation. Our employees are very good. And it may sound corny, but we feel we have an opportunity to provide materials to our customers — and those are Islanders.”
Indeed, the county has required all along that the sand and gravel mined at the site not get shipped off Vashon. That provision remains, guaranteeing, some said, a stream of gravel for Island needs.
Todd Gateman, supervisor at the site, said he’s glad the small operation he oversees will be able to continue to serve Vashon.
“There’s still a good reserve here,” he said.
He also believes the Island has plenty of need for locally produced gravel. “We’ve got a ballfield project coming up,” he said, referring to Vashon Park District’s plans to improve and expand the sports fields next The Harbor School.
Gateman, who has worked at the gravel pit for 25 years, said the operation is a small one. It used to sell 60,000 yards of gravel a year. Now, with the economy sputtering and construction slow, Vashon Sand & Gravel is at about half that production, he said.
The extension of the lease comes as a relief, he said.
“It’s always been in the back of our minds that the lease was coming up,” he said. “But we also knew the need for gravel would always be here on the Island. We were very optimistic that King County Parks would extend it.”
He’s glad, he added, that the dispute over the adjacent site — an operation that he’s always seen as quite separate from the one he overses — is poised to come to an end.
He and his workers have often been the brunt of Islanders’ anger over the proposal. He recalls hearing boos when he rode a company float in the Strawberry Festival; when he wears clothes with CalPortland’s name on it, he sometimes hears comments from people he doesn’t know.
“I’m tired of taking the potshots,” he said.
At the same time, he thinks the resolution makes sense.
“It’s the only win-win situation,” he said. “It’s the only way out where all parties can agree.”
As for the county, the loss of royalty income will be difficult, said Sung Yang, director of external affairs and government relations in County Executive Dow Constantine’s office.
“But it was weighed against what we gained by giving that up,” he said.
