Tumwater cross: a week of contradiction, potential conflict of interest, and a permit withdrawal

LEAVENWORTH - The contentious plan to erect a 70-foot illuminated cross on Tumwater Mountain has been abruptly halted following a week of dramatic developments that exposed conflicting statements and raised questions about potential conflicts of interest. The project, which sparked significant community division, was halted after landowner Robert Johnson, owner of the Enzian Inn, Post Hotel, and extensive properties in the area, including on Mountain Home, withdrew the project’s Chelan County building permit application. 

The startling announcement at the Leavenworth City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 11, by Chelan County Commissioner Shon Smith, who owns the Wok About Grill restaurants, claimed that a land swap was underway between Johnson and the U.S. Forest Service, effectively halting the cross project:

I’m here to announce the land swap plan for the Tumwater property is underway, halting the lighting cross project indefinitely,” Smith stated to the Council. He also stated: “Rob Johnson’s original intent with the property was to use it as the tool to encourage the U.S. Forest Service to swap it with another piece of land on the Blewett Pass side of Mountain Home Road that is not even visible to Leavenworth. His goal was to fix a patchwork piece of connective property that the Forest Service owns between his . . .

 

With Rob Johnson’s blessings, I can tell you that I initiated a conversation between him and the Forest Service with District Ranger Erica Taecker thus negotiating the swap and putting this issue to rest.

The Wenatchee World stated in an article released later that evening of March 11 that “Smith explained that he had begun facilitating a discussion between the property owner and Erica Taecker, a ranger with the Wenatchee River Ranger District, about three weeks ago.”

On March 12, Public Affairs Officer for the Okanogan-Wenatchee Forest, Victoria Wilkins, stated to the Echo that “the U.S. Forest Service has not entered into land exchange agreements or negotiations with Johnson or any other area landowners.” 

When the Echo then presented that apparent contradiction to Smith and the County, Jill FitzSimmons, Chelan County Public Information Officer, later in the day, confirmed in an email to media outlets that the County had also confirmed with the Forest Service that the latter had no ongoing land exchange agreements with Johnson. Further, Wilkins later confirmed to the Echo that Ranger Taecker had not been involved in any land swap conversations.

In subsequent email requests for comment from the Echo, Smith did not respond. 

However, in a follow-up email to the Echo on March 14, FitzSimmons wrote:

Commissioner Smith reached out to the district ranger in February but was unsuccessful in reaching her, which is what he told . . . the Wenatchee World. He did not say at the meeting, to the best of my knowledge, that a ‘preliminary agreement was entered into.’ Because it hasn’t. I also reached out to the U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday to get clarification and shared the information with him.

The proposed cross, intended to be a landmark by the Upper Valley Cross organization “to remind all who pass through the Upper Valley of Wenatchee River of the Hope in Jesus Christ, our Lord” had faced significant opposition. The Leavenworth City Council had planned to vote on a resolution opposing the project, citing non-compliance with Chelan County codes. The resolution was supported by numerous public comments and emails, reflecting community concerns about the cross’s impact on the area’s aesthetics and regulations.

At the time, the property was still subject of notice and order to abate violations due to unpermitted construction. The building permit application submitted by Harry Hansen, a member of the Upper Valley Cross group, and Johnson was deemed incomplete by Chelan County Community Development Director Deanna Walter, as lacking necessary geohazard reports and engineering plans. 

The Upper Valley Cross Group has since stated it will no longer speak to the media.

At the March 11 council meeting, Smith stated: 

We each have our own opinion of a lighted cross on a hill and what it represents, but I’m not here to convince any of you of anything. This is America. Controversy is not what the Johnsons intended to create when they allowed a local group of men to build a cross on the top of Tumwater Mountain. Instead, they were hoping to add another landmark that visitors and locals alike would catch out of the corner of their eye and say, ‘This place is cool, I want to come back.’ The ridicule and threats the family has endured and the hit to their livelihood is unacceptable. I too have felt it at my business and am saddened by how it has financially affected my employees and the business I’ve built.

In response, the Echo received questions as to Smith’s dual role as a county commissioner and a business owner representing a private party with land holdings at issue before the county. FitzSimmons, as part of her March 14 email, wrote that:

This is not a conflict of interest. Commissioner Smith was speaking on his own accord and commissioners are allowed to do that. Commissioner Smith grew up in this county and in his district. He is a longtime business owner in Chelan County. He has said many times at meetings ‘as a business owner’ or ‘as a Chelan County native’ for example. He was not making a statement on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners.

The Leavenworth City Council ultimately decided to postpone the vote on the resolution opposing the cross, following Smith’s initial announcement. Mayor Carl Florea stated that the council was responding with trust and good faith but reserved the right to revisit the issue if necessary.

“I still firmly believe that, given the information we had at the time, postponing the resolution opposing the cross was the best course of action,” Florea told the Echo. “Responding with trust and good faith to the words and actions of others is a principle I hold dear, and I do not regret that approach.”

Florea continued that he wants “to commend Rob for his deep community spirit and his enduring commitment to the welfare of Leavenworth. I truly believe that when Rob approved the construction of this cross on his land, he did so with the best of intentions, not foreseeing how divisive and controversial it would quickly become.”

Councilman Mike Bedard was the sole dissenting voice at the March 11 meeting arguing that the resolution was a necessary form of communication with the county. “Finding myself as the lone voice in favor of the Resolution caught me by surprise,” Bedard said. 

“I felt, and still feel, that my position was the right one to take” And “I commend the property owner for withdrawing his permit application, especially in light of the information you uncovered from the Forest Service. Hopefully, we can move on as a community. As long as there is no activity or action to comment or act on, I have no plans to bring this motion back to the Council. I will continue to listen to the voices of the residents of Leavenworth (and our surrounding community) and advocate on their behalf, regardless of the issue.”

Caroline Menna is an intern for Ward Media and a senior at Cascade High School, where she serves as Editor-in-Chief of the school’s Publications Group.