Who Owns the Shoreline? Olympia’s Tide-Land Fight
A citizens’ commission debated street grids, meander lines, and property values as appraisers prepared to price the Olympia waterfront.
About thirty citizens were in attendance at the meeting of the Thurston county tide land commission held this morning at the office of the commission in the Chilberg building. Captain McMicken, who succeeds E. W. Andrews, was sworn in, and the board then received opinions regarding the platting of the land. Alfred Martin acted as secretary and stenographer.
While no definite views were expressed, the general opinion was that the lands should be platted into lots and blocks in conformity to the plat of the city proper, according to the present map, which has been made by County Surveyor L. P. Ouellette. All streets running north and south are extended as far north as the end of the long wharf, where the harbor line crosses, and those running east and west are platted 250 feet apart. All streets extending over the tide lands are platted 60 feet wide. Some citizens favor fewer streets by making the blocks 560 feet, thus including two blocks of the present size, and the street between them.
On the tide lands between the Northern Pacific terminal grounds and the channel of the Deschutes, three streets are laid out. On this matter George Mottman contends that two streets are sufficient, inasmuch as they do not form the outlet for any particular thoroughfare, and would incur greater expense to maintain.
M. A. Root, J. G. Horr, J. H. Wilson, Freeman Brown, Robert Frost, G. D. Forbes, Chas. O. Case, and others expressed views on the matter. Mr. Frost purchased some improvements nearly 30 years ago, and now finds that the meander line cuts off about 50 feet of his property.
Mr. Horr thought that the lands should be platted into lots and blocks in accordance with the plat of the city, but that the property on Third, Fourth and Fifth streets should be platted so as to face on those streets; and also enable those who have a right to purchase to purchase all of those blocks.
In order to familiarize themselves with the suggestions, the members of the board this afternoon made a personal inspection of the waterfront.
The local board of appraisers will tomorrow commence the work of putting a value on the tide lands. The work will consume some time, but on just what basis the value will be fixed they have not yet determined. They will meet again tomorrow.
“Mr. Frost purchased some improvements nearly 30 years ago, and now finds that the meander line cuts off about 50 feet of his property.”
The tide lands beneath today’s Olympia waterfront were once a contested public-private boundary, with meander lines and street extensions deciding who gained buildable ground. The same questions—public access, shoreline development, and whose property lines count—still surface in modern Olympia land-use fights.
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