Deal will protect Girl Scout camp

A 438-acre Girl Scouts camp near Carnation — Camp River Ranch — will be preserved as part of a land deal announced yesterday that will also allow more residential development in Seattle's South Lake Union area.

Under the deal, completed in September, the camp sold some of its development rights to Paul Allen's Vulcan company to allow an additional 28,000 square feet of condos at the planned 2201 Westlake project.

The Totem Girl Scout Council, which runs the camp, received $210,000.

"This makes growth management a win-win for everyone," said Grace Chien, the council's executive director. "Vulcan can have more density in the Denny Regrade area and we can use the money to secure and protect the future of our outdoor programs."

The council also sold other development rights for the camp to another development company, which brought the council's total to nearly $900,000 for its recent capital campaign.

King County, which facilitated the Vulcan deal, said the agreement protects a large section of rural land, including a half-mile of critical salmon-spawning area along the Tolt River. The deal used no public money.

"This is a big one and it represents a tremendous private partnership," said Mark Sollitto, head of the county's transfer of development rights program.

The program allows rural landowners to sell their development rights to urban developers. The program is the biggest in the country and has protected about 92,000 acres since its inception in 1999.

The Girl Scout council was not planning to develop the camp, but the money from selling the rights could help an entire region of Girl Scouts, Chien said.

The council serves more than 21,000 girls in 10 Northwest Washington counties; it also owns Camp Robbinswold on Hood Canal and Camp Lyle McLeod in Belfair. The council recently purchased 100 acres in Whatcom County, near Mount Baker, to build a fourth camp.

Vulcan will now be able to build more condos at 2201 Westlake, a 450,000-square-foot mixed-use development planned on the southwest corner of Denny Way and Westlake Avenue North.

Sims is scheduled to describe the deal today with officials from Vulcan, the Girl Scout council, the Metropolitan King County Council and the Seattle City Council.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com