Residents still oppose Miller State park plan  – PDN

Posted on October 22, 2022 by Al Bergstein

This is becoming a problematic issue…


As Washington State parks officials continue to consider plans for Miller Peninsula State Park, property neighbors, park users and other Olympic Peninsula residents continue to express their concerns. State officials held what turned into a town hall-style meeting Tuesday — a gathering that drew more than 200 attendees to a 7 Cedars Resort meeting room in Blyn. Michael Dashiell reports. (Peninsula Daily News) 

Filed under: Olympic Peninsula |

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5 Responses

  1. alankayaks, on October 23, 2022 at 6:31 am said:

    Residents of Diamond Point and the surrounding communities are correct when they point out that Washington State Park officials are overlooking key facts about Miller Park. Only a narrow two-lane road, that turns off a two-lane highway, provides access to the site. Local fire/rescue and police services are limited in the area. Does it make sense to develop an area when the existing infrastructure cannot support the proposed planning options? This is not a case of local residents expressing NIMBY-type objections but instead it is a situation where they are being realistic about potential problems at the proposed park and the capacity of local roads and services being able to support the project.

    • Al Bergstein, on October 23, 2022 at 8:27 pm said:

      Well, I would point out that Old Ft. Townsend, Fort Flagler, Fort Worden Fort Casey and Dungeness Point all are on two lane roads coming from two lane roads. all have limited fire rescue and police services in the area they seem to have survived and thrived just fine. virtually all the parks on Oregon’s coast are on two lane highways in remote areas.

      • alankayaks, on November 5, 2022 at 7:57 am said:

        Yep, all those areas have two lane roads, but those roads are not serving a destination state park that is attempting to increase public usage. We have a number of choke points on Peninsula roads, and I believe we will see some problems in the years to come if we don’t deal with traffic issues. What does that mean exactly, I am not sure.

      • Al Bergstein, on November 5, 2022 at 8:05 am said:

        Well, I think I would disagree given that almost all the traffic going to Fort Worden which is the largest used state park is all channeled down 2 laneroads, including cherry. I just don’t see this as the problem that many people are claiming it will be. to be clear, I don’t really have a dog in this fight so I don’t really care what happens there. The real problem I see is that we don’t even take care of what we’ve got now. anyone who’s ever traveled to Oregon state parks know that they’re in vastly better shape than they are here. They spend a lot more money on keeping their park state of the yard which means nicely paved roads, clean campsites, and other amenities that we clearly don’t care about spending money on.

      • alankayaks, on November 5, 2022 at 8:40 am said:

        Well, you are living in PT, so I will have to defer to your experience base. My main worry is that the area around Miller Park looks to my California ex-firefighter eyes like an area that’s ready to burn. Even after 15+ years on the Olympic Peninsula, I am not used to the lack of defensible space around some homes and the lack of firefighting equipment. But could a fire station (likely staffed with volunteers and paid firefighters during the summer) help the situation I think so. So, it does come down to the question, “Will WA support a large destination park on the Olympic Peninsula?” Time will tell. As you note, the state parks are not in that good of shape.

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