Wahkiakum County officials have apparently reached a compromise with the Washington Department of Natural Resources on a proposed ordinance that could lead to pumping dredge spoil sand on Puget Island beaches this summer.

County officials have been working with state and federal officials for over eight years to have sand pumped onto eroding shorelines, but a variety of permitting, funding and authorization problems have prevented it.

Last fall, county officials reached agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA Marine Fisheries Service and other agencies to place the sand on East Sunny Sands and possibly other shorelines in 2008. However, the state Department of Natural Resources said it would require the county to adopt an ordinance governing building and access to the deposited sand as a condition for its permission.

Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow drafted the proposed ordinance, and commissioners held a public hearing Tuesday to gather input. The ordinance basically addressed two areas: 1. That because the spoils would likely erode away in the future, there would be no building on them, and 2. that the county recognize the spoils, up to the mean high water line, were DNR property and that they would be open to public access.

Most of the estimated 60 Island residents attending the meeting said they had no major objection to the first condition, but they voiced strong objection to the second, stating deeds gave them possession to the mean low water line. The landowners and DNR have contested the ownership rights for years without settling the issue.

Bigelow stated the ordinance was worded so that the county is acknowledging the DNR’s claim but was taking no position one way or another.

Mark Hood, a Seattle attorney representing Ostervold Road residents Art and Marie Hauge, disagreed, saying the ordinance would have great impact on property owners.

Paula Carlson addressed the lands issue and asked DNR Regional Aquatic Lands Manager Todd Welker if the two sections in the ordinance relating to land title and public access were required for the ordinance, and he replied they weren’t. The agency’s only absolute requirement would be a prohibition on building.

Bigelow seized the opportunity and proposed a compromise: The county would remove the sections relating to recognition of title and public beach access and slightly modify the section on the building ban so that it pertained solely to newly created lands.

“We’ve created an ordinance that most of us can live with,” Bigelow said, adding that the agency and the landowners can dispute the ownership in the future, if they choose.

Bigelow said he would make the changes and present the revised ordinance to the commissioners. They could take action on it at one of their regular daytime meetings or schedule action at another time.

In response to other questions and comments, county Public Works Director Pete Ringen said dredgers are required to analyze spoils for toxins and pollutants, and spoils placed on land are certified to meet safety levels. He also showed diagrams of the planned deposits, which would slope down from the uplands to the river; there would be no berm of sand blocking views, as some people feared, he said.