Barbara Brenner, Whatcom County Councilmember, forwarded this email updating us on the status of the Lummi lease negotiations. Ms. Brenner’s commitment to keeping islanders informed on this issue is greatly appreciated.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: <BBGUN1010@aol.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 7:39 PM
Subject: Fwd: Status of Lummi lease negotiations
To: BBGUN1010@aol.com
Please send all correspondence to my county address, bbrenner@co.whatcom.wa.us for retention of complete public records.
Barbara Brenner
From: BBrenner@co.whatcom.wa.us
To: bbgun1010@aol.com
Sent: 2/3/2011 4:30:17 P.M. Pacific Standard Time
Subj: Fwd: Status of Lummi lease negotiations—–Original Message—–
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:29:58 -0800
From: “Sam Crawford” <scrawfor@co.whatcom.wa.us>
To: “Barbara Brenner” <BBrenner@co.whatcom.wa.us>, “Bill Knutzen” <bknutzen@co.whatcom.wa.us>, “Carl Weimer” <CWeimer@co.whatcom.wa.us>, “Ken Mann” <kmann@co.whatcom.wa.us>, “Tony Larson” <TLarson@co.whatcom.wa.us>,
<Kathy Kerschner <kkershne@co.whatcom.wa.us> Cc: “Dana Brown-Davis” <DBrown@co.whatcom.wa.us>, “Daniel Gibson” <DGibson@co.whatcom.wa.us>, “Frank Abart” <FAbart@co.whatcom.wa.us>, “Pete Kremen” <PKremen@co.whatcom.wa.us>Subject: Status of Lummi lease negotiations
Fellow County Councilmembers;As you know, we recently authorized further discussions regarding the Lummi Nation (hereafter referred to as ‘Lummi’) lease negotiations to be conducted between the County’s attorney (Dan Gibson) and the Lummi attorney (Diana Bob).Dan has relayed the following attorney-to-attorney communications:
Lummi, acknowledging the impasse between their position and the County’s offer, has withdrawn all previous offers and is currently contemplating next steps.
Lummi has indicated that presently they do not intend to interfere with ferry operations during the paid-up period of interim lease payments. We currently pay $16,667 per month (from the latter half of one month to the middle of the next month), and the County intends to continue to send payment to Lummi each month, thereby keeping Whatcom County in a ‘paid up’ status.
We seem to be operating ‘status quo’ for the time being … that is, we intend to continue to pay interim lease payments, and thus plan to continue to operate without legal interference. Both sides acknowledge the temporary nature of the present arrangement, which entails uncertainty about what may happen in the future in the absence of a BIA-approved agreement.
As the conversation proceeds between our representatives, the County Council will be notified and consulted. Executive Kremen assures us he will continue to pursue resolution of this matter.
Sam C.
Sam Crawford
Whatcom County Council Member
360 676-6690NOTE: Email is not a secure means of communication. Personal information sent via the Internet can be intercepted and read by others. In nearly all cases, email communications with any county council member are subject to public disclosure, and are considered public documents.
Filed under: Ferry service, GooseberryPt Tagged: | gooseberry pt negotiations, lummi nation negotiations, Whatcom County ferry lease
ho hum.
I have mixed feelings from last nights meeting. In reality, I really did not hear to much comforting about our situation, looks to me that things could still go bad very quickly.
The other point I feel strongly about is that several people in the audience who had important questions and legal views were not heard.
Also, Pete, you have one point wrong, it’s not 7 miles from the Lummi Island Ferry Dock to Fairhaven, well, maybe if you are a crow or in a helicopter. The Ferry must follow the legal Coast Guard Channel, it’s 10 Nautical miles, 11.2 statute (road) miles, that’s why it took the Whatcom Cheif 50 minutes to get there, on a calm day. 11.2 miles sounds and is a lot more compelling than 7.
Hi Jim,
Is the “Coast Guard Channel” that you mentioned the one that exists because of some kind of a sand bar that lies between Portage Island and Eliza Island. I don’t have my nautical charts with me right now (I am off the coast of Africa and have been at sea since November), but I vaguely remember there being an obstruction there from back when I drove for San Juan Cruises many years ago. That would explain why my Google Earth calculations were different from your chart calculations. If I remember right, a ferry would have to go almost to Eliza Island before turning East. That would add up to your 10 Nautical miles.
Klayton,
You are right, it is the deepest between Eliza and Point Francis ( Portage Island), just north of Eliza. I laid the route out on a chart with a piece of string, taking into account for the average vessel turn radii, from the end of the Island Dock to the Port Dock at Fairhaven. When I straightened it out, the string measured 10 Nautical Miles on the scale.
As you know, but others might not, a nautical mile is 1.15078 regular statute miles, so 10 nautical miles would be 11.5078 statute miles, I didn’t have it quite right at 11.2 miles.
Jim
Sorry for the boring nautical thread here Wynne. I do realize there are more important, urgent and critical issues happening right now having to do with technical legal idiosyncrasies, but for guys like Jim and I, this kind of stuff really floats our boat …so to speak.
There’s about 1 foot of average wave height for every 10 knots of sustained wind. The significant wave height is somewhere south of 2X the average wave height. A sustained 40 knot breeze can produce a significant wave height of around 8 feet, given adequate fetch.
In the Bellingham/Samish estuary, there’s usually plenty adequate fetch and it usually starts on mudflats where waves break rather sooner than later, establishing a shorter wavelength/frequency and forming a more energetic wave.
Wave forms are stacked cycloids whose force is felt to a depth of seven to nine times the wave height. So a gusty storm generating significant wave heights of ten feet will start shoaling, or lifting, wherever the depth is less than 90 feet. For chart lovers, that’s anything less than 15 fathoms. Generally Bellingham bay is 30 to 40 feet, or less than seven fathoms. The bar between Portage and Eliza Islands is less.
Then the tide must be taken into consideration. When the tide runs against the wind, everything magnifies. Average and significant wave heights can change dramatically relative to tidal currents.
The boat, quartering, can always drive upwind or down but the problem is making the turn. On especially rough, prevailing wind days, the boat might need to head way up into the lee of Eliza before safely turning to quarter back down into Fairhaven or Bellingham.
That could add a few miles to the course. Quartering in rough seas can also radically limit hull speeds, adding a lot of time to any course made good.