Proponent of road closure supports Commissioner

Ozias finds an ally, and real estate for a reelection billboard

September 27th, 2023 post originally posted on nextdoor.com:

I want to directly address Derrick Eberle’s concerns about misinformation and also provide a little background.

The Eberle farm is accessed by the sole driveway that branches off midway through the new Towne Road Levee. Eberle was at last night’s meeting and was sitting in the back of the room. When concerned residents asked about using Towne Road as an emergency evacuation route, he’s the one who suggested people could just drive through a closed gate or that a gate could be locked, “but everybody could have a key to the lock.”

Eberle is a strong proponent of “option 4” which would close Towne Road to through traffic leaving the levee as his private driveway with a walking trail beside it. His pasture can also be seen from Sequim-Dungeness Way. It has a billboard supporting the reelection of Commissioner Mark Ozias (see photo).

During the February 27th Commissioners’ Work Session, Ozias said the Eberle Farm was on record as wanting to keep Towne Road closed and he cited Eberle’s desire, along with “over 200 signatures” as a reason to halt the road’s paving and reopening. Eberle has stated on Nextdoor that his own petition, started on change.org, has collected over 300 signatures and was the cause for Ozias to halt this project.

Eberle wrote this on nextdoor.com: “"A petition with over 300 signatures has been signed by members of the local community, you can view it here:https://chng.it/4Pt5Wk8ZTf. This was one of the sources the County was referring to when they gave Jeff the numbers he mentioned at the end of his original statement.”

However, Eberle’s petition is not available via public record (I’ve triple checked). Additionally, it’s impossible that Eberle’s petition caused Ozias to halt the project on February 27th because Eberle’s petition wasn’t started until the following month on March 14th.

Derrick Eberle’s petition bothers me for two reasons. First, no one has visibility to the petition's data. Who signed it? Are there duplicate signatures? Do petitioners even live in the area? Secondly, Eberle is suggesting that his petition, shielded from public record, has influenced the County to halt a public works project that would have benefited the greater community. That would be completely inappropriate (illegal?) and in violation of the Commissioners’ vision statement.

Special interest is defined as, "a group of people or an organization seeking or receiving special advantages, typically through political lobbying.” In this case, Derrick Eberle’s special interest is that a public road — a multi year, multi million dollar project paid for with tax dollars — be converted into his private driveway and he is lobbying elected officials for that outcome. Eberle argues on a Nextdoor post that the greater community and "people who may occasionally want to use Towne Road to cut through quickly" are a special interest group, but I see those folks as pushing for public safety and holding the County to its promise. These concerned citizens are the “greater community” and not a special interest.

The Eberle’s website is www.eberlefarm.com [website has been deactivated]-- you can see they advertise their farm as a private wedding venue that can host weddings for up to 300 guests —that’s guests, florists, caterers, and party rental companies using a private road that was paid for with your tax dollars. But Derrick Eberle has a different stance: “Seems like it's for people like you [Jeff Tozzer] to demand the county spend a lot of money to construct a road that most people do not want, so that you can take a quick shortcut every once in-awhile. Please be more respectful of the desires of the community."

At last night’s meeting, when the moderator asked if anyone was present from the Dungeness Valley Creamery, Derrick Eberle interjected that the Creamery owners told him they want the road closed. Why then, did the Creamery collect and submit 122 signatures calling for Towne Road to be reopened? Eberle’s commentary at the meeting was the complete opposite message I received from the dairy manager when I met with him three days ago.

I’m left wondering about the political campaign billboard in the middle of Derrick Eberle’s field and why Commissioner Ozias’ decision was so heavily influenced by Eberle’s special interests. After last night’s meeting I asked Director Emery what he thought about Derrick Eberle's “elect Mark Ozias” billboard and Eberle’s strong advocacy to convert a public road into a private driveway.

Director Emery replied, “no comment.”