Is the King County parks department making the right decision at the Maury Island Open Space cleanup site? Because this site was purchased, in part, with funds from the Washington State Department of Ecology, the county parks department is required to perform the cleanup of contaminated soil on the site. Ecology has made some suggestions, such as closing the area and paving the trails, but the county rejected such proposals as unsuitable. The county still needs to come up with an interim plan and complete such plan by the end of 2016 to be eligible for reimbursement from Cal Portland.

Last Monday night, the county presented a plan to close certain trails and cap the remaining trails with gravel from the Cal Portland gravel pit. The vast majority of people, dog walkers, bicyclists, hikers and equestrians attending this meeting rejected this proposal as unacceptable. The proposed gravel trail surface would be hard on the feet of walkers, joggers, and runners; the paws of dogs and the hooves of horses and mules.

It was my suggestion that all trails be left open and capped with uncontaminated soil from either the on-site open pit or from elsewhere on the island. We were told that this soil might be unacceptable. I hope that the county and Ecology find out if it is or is not acceptable. A surface that is similar to what already exists would be acceptable to all those that were in attendance. If the clean soil is displaced over time, well there is a lot more where that came from, and it might be the least expensive solution.

I hope that everyone who is interested and concerned will write to Lindsey Miller, Capital Project Manager, at lindsey.miller@kingcounty.gov or call her at 477-3549, or Chris Matthews with Ecology at chris.matthews@ecy.wa.gov, with constructive suggestions. Keep in mind that the county is required to complete the clean-up work by the end of the year as stipulated by Ecology.

— Stephen Holtz