SEAVIEW and LONG BEACH – After a short but heated battle, Pacific County and the city of Long Beach have both come to an agreement with Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission regarding parking fee payment boxes recently installed at beach approaches in Seaview and Bolstad Avenue.

In a meeting on Jan. 24, Pacific County Commission-ers and representatives of the city of Long Beach met with State Parks Regional Manager Paul Malmberg. The parties were able to resolve their differences, resulting in State Parks removing recently installed payment fee boxes at both the 36th Place beach approach in Seaview and at the restroom area of Long Beach State Park, located off the Bolstad Avenue beach approach in Long Beach.

Regarding the Seaview approach, the county had a pretty easy case to make – they owned the land, and though State Parks paid to pave the parking area and build the restrooms, they only had an agreement to maintain the property and did not have management control. State Parks assumed they had such control and subsequently installed the box, called an “Iron Ranger,” without consulting the county.

“We gave them our point of view,” said Pacific County Commissioner Jon Kaino, “and in the end they agreed with our position.” The pay box has since been removed in the last week.

In the case of the Bolstad approach, the issue is a little more complicated. The pay box on that site is located on State Parks land, off the main beach approach, in the parking lot of the restrooms of Long Beach State Park. However, in this case, the city of Long Beach has a land management agreement with State Parks and control of the property.

“Fact of the matter is, Long Beach is the property manger,” said Long Beach Finance Director David Glasson. “We didn’t feel that they had the right to implement [the pay boxes]. We maintain the area. We are the ones who built the larger parking lot.”

The city of Long Beach did not want the payment box present at that site and had enough things in its favor to reach an agreement to have it removed.

Glasson said Long Beach receives $5,000 annually from State Parks to be used for maintenance of that site. Under the newly reached agreement, the city may lose that funding. The deal was brokered by City Administrator Nabiel Shawa, who was unavailable for comment.

State Parks began to install payment boxes at all their sites statewide as a means to generate funding towards a budget shortfall. Sites on the Peninsula include Fort Columbia State Park, Loomis Lake State Park, Pacific Pines State Park and Fort Canby State Park – including the main site, Waikiki beach approach, and North Head lighthouse parking area. The parking area for the Cape Disappointment lighthouse is free, due to a charged admission fee for entry to the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center above the lot.