SUQUAMISH — Members of the Washington State Parks Commission are facing more than a tough decision on the impending ownership fate of Old Man House State Park, they could be facing a lawsuit as well.
While the commission plans to decide whether the state will retain the 1.1-acre park or transfer it to the Suquamish Tribe on Aug. 12, those opposing the changeover, from the Friends of Old Man House State Park, are willing to seek legal satisfaction if needed.
Friends leader Matthew Cleverley said Thursday that if the state retains ownership of the park and keeps it open to the public, there won’t be any need for a lawsuit.
However, the state capital bill budget, ESHB 2573, was passed during the last legislative session and included language instructing the parks board to “study all the various options regarding the future of Old Man House State Park.”
Options included retaining the site as a state park, incorporating the role of volunteer community groups to help defer maintenance costs or transferring it to the tribe. The bill also states that the commission, after reviewing the options, may transfer the park to the tribe if it feels that action is appropriate.
However, Cleverley said the state seems to just have one plan.
“At this point (the commission) is looking at potential transfer to the tribe,” he said, noting that if the group doesn’t study other alternatives “they very simply violated the directive from the legislature.”
“It would be unreasonable to think they could give equal study to those other options before (the decision) in August,” Cleverley added.
Acting manager for the Puget Sound Region of Washington State Parks Al Wolslegel said the commission may study those options, but only if they are presented to the commission formally. So far, no one person or group has come forth with a formal proposal for other alternatives except the Suquamish Tribe.
“Our take on that bill, it supports any of those options, (but) it doesn’t mean we have to study any of them,” Wolslegel said. “The only request we have received, the only formal request we have received, is from the tribe. That was what we have responded to — all those other things are just discussions.”
