Hearing held on Lake Forest Park Civic Club dredge permit; examiner to issue written decision

John Gault, the Lake Forest Park hearing examiner, opened an open-record hearing Feb. 20 on an application by the Lake Forest Park Civic Club to perform a maintenance dredge at its existing boat ramp on Lake Washington (file no. 2024-SSD-1).

The club seeks to remove an estimated 20 to 30 cubic yards of accumulated sand and organic material to restore the concrete-and-gravel launch to its prior condition. Applicant representative Chris Chisla testified that the work would be done from land using an excavator, that a turbidity curtain would be deployed around the work area, and that removed material would be placed in a bin to dewater and then trucked to an upland disposal facility. "The civic club is requesting to dredge between 20 and 30 cubic yards of material that's been accumulating on their concrete and gravel boat launch," Chisla said in direct testimony.

The staff recommendation, summarized by temporary senior planner David Greetham, recommended approval of the shoreline conditional use permit (CUP) with nine conditions. Greetham and Mark Hoffman, the city's community development director, explained staff consolidated the review to document that the project qualifies for the repair-and-maintenance exemption to the substantial development permit while also triggering a CUP because dredging is listed as a conditional use in the city's Shoreline Master Program (SMP). City staff told the examiner they had received comment letters from the Duwamish Tribe and from the Washington Department of Ecology; staff added a condition on inadvertent discovery in response to the tribe's comment and said Ecology had been satisfied with the applicant's written responses in the record.

Applicant board president Eric Lawson described the club's interest in maintaining the launch for recreational use and said the site had been dredged under a prior permit granted in 2016. Kip Kane, an applicant representative, testified about logistics: locating the loader on the upland ramp, using a long arm to pull material into a dumpster-style bin, allowing material to dewater, then trucking it off-site.

Exhibit and timeline details noted on the record: staff marked exhibits 1–11 into the record; the applicant initially filed an exemption request in July and submitted the CUP materials in mid-September (the staff report cites a Sept. 20 submittal). The hearing examiner noted the city currently uses a 145-day review target for type-1 applications with hearings and that the parties represented the application remains within that timeline; the applicant said it would grant an extension if extra time were needed.

No members of the public offered testimony. The applicant and staff declined to present rebuttal testimony. In closing, city staff reiterated their recommendation to approve the application with the nine conditions; the applicant said it would abide by those conditions.

Gault said he will issue a written decision within 10 days and the city will distribute the decision to parties of record; the city will then forward the decision to the Washington Department of Ecology for its review under the Shoreline Management Act.