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Due to a miscommunication some of the empty trucks were driven back through town in the morning. The situation was straightened out shortly after it was discovered. The trucking was expected to take at least one and a half days.
3300 tons of sand and gravel
moves through town today
Photos contributed by Jim Slocomb
posted 04/01/04
A dozen dump trucks will transport approximately 240 truckloads of sand and gravel from Shipyard Cove to Island Concrete on Cattle Point Road beginning at 6:30 a.m. today (April 1, 2004). The loaded trucks will drive through town via Harrison Street. The empty trucks will return via Pear Point Road. The Nordland and the Henry Island pulled the gravel-laden barge and a barge of equipment into position Wednesday afternoon. The material will be offloaded from the barge via a conveyor belt.
This is the first time Island Concrete has barged in gravel through Shipyard Cove. Because of pending lawsuits, Lafarge would not allow the company to offload at the barge landing at the former gravel pit. Island Concrete is owned by Mike and Patricia McKay. "This is not a cheap proposition," said Patricia McKay. "We need to open Lafarge (barge landing at the gravel pit) as a public access barge." The 3300 tons of sand and gravel is a three- to four-month supply for the concrete company.
Mike McKay had asked the town last fall for permission to unload a barge at the ferry terminal. The request was denied because the shoreline use permit granted to Washington State Ferries does not include offloading barges.
PREVIOUS STORIES
Gravel to be unloaded at ferry landing
posted 11/12/03
Friday Harbor Town Council gave their approval to a plan by Mike McKay of Island Concrete to unload a barge of gravel at the Friday Harbor Ferry Terminal. Ten trucks, each making three roundtrips per hour, will unload 450 tons of aggregate. McKay told the council at their Nov. 6, 2003 meeting, there will be 230 truckloads.
Due to litigation, the barge landing at the Lafarge gravel pit is not available. McKay says his only other option is taking trucks on the ferry. Washington State Ferries told him to obtain approval from the town before proceeding.
Town Administrator King Fitch said a moving permit which are used when houses are moved, would be the proper procedure. McKay will have flaggers helping with traffic control. The trucks will drive onto the barge to be loaded with gravel. The date for the unloading has not been set. McKay says most likely it will be mid-week and not near a holiday.
Nielsen sets up public meeting re gravel pit
posted 10/20/03
San Juan County in partnership with Island Rec, the San Juan Island School District, the Port of Friday Harbor, the Land Bank, and Friday Harbor Sand and Gravel (Lafarge Corp.) invite the public to a community meeting on November 12, 2003 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Friday Harbor Middle School Commons to talk about the gravel pit acquisition, barge access, and Island Rec park planning. A panel of representatives from each agency will be available to answer questions regarding the gravel pit project and their involvement and interest in it. Please bring your questions, comments, ideas, and concerns. Refreshments will be provided.
ISLAND MEETING
An island meeting to discuss the LaFarge Acquisition, the viability of the
LaFarge Community Park and the tax implications involved will be held on
October 28th (Tuesday) in the Gubelman Room in San Juan Community Theatre. The panel discussion will begin at 7 p.m. Refreshments will be available in the lobby of the San Juan Community Theatre from 6 to 7 p.m.
The format will be the same as Citizen's Access Time at the Board of County Commissioners meetings. There will be a sign in sheet at the door so that everyone will have an
opportunity to speak. Marjory Stanley of the League of Women Voters will facilitate the discussion.
Suit filed against county re gravel pit
posted 10/09/03
Griffin Bay Preservation Committee (GBPC) has filed suit in Skagit County Superior Court regarding enforcement of regulations about barging and shoreline development in Griffin
Bay. It also filed a motion before the San Juan County Hearing Examiner
challenging a Permit Center ruling. The committee believes the ruling invalidates a portion of the County's code.
In one action, the Preservation Committee, which was formed twenty years ago to
protect the environment of Griffin Bay and surrounding neighborhoods, is seeking an injunction against what they term an illegal establishment of a barge landing facility on Jackson Beach.
GBPC President Don Ragsdale said, "For several years, the County has looked the other way while a new barge facility has been established at Lafarge Beach in violation of County,
State, and Federal law. Whatever County residents think about the
County/Lafarge purchase proposal, they should be concerned that County
government feels free to literally ignore the laws it is sworn to enforce,
for the sake of expediting its purchase deal with Lafarge."
The Preservation Committee also filed a Motion for Summary Judgment regarding its earlier appeal to the San Juan County Hearing Examiner. That appeal,
filed on July 8, challenged the County permit staff's ruling regarding the land use code requirement for review and approval of the gravel pit
reclamation plans.
Liz Keeshan said, "County staff 'invalidation' of a code requirement for the sake of a land deal pushed by the Commissioners is not just bad for Griffin Bay. It tells
citizens that the process of full public participation required under the
Growth Management Act is dispensable when the Commissioners find it
inconvenient. When County agencies, to accommodate Commissioners' political
goals, refuse to enforce the laws on the books, then important checks and
balances are lost. How can any County citizen be asked to obey the same land
use laws which the County feels free to ignore?"
The Preservation Committee's lawsuit asks for an injunction against
violations of the laws applicable to Lafarge Beach and for restoration of
the beach to its condition before the barge landing use began. It also asks the court to not allow the issuance of any permits for the Lafarge gravel pit property until all violations have been cured and the beach restored.
The Preservation Committee's separate Hearing Examiner
motion asks that he throw out the Permit Center's ruling which did not require review and approval by the county of the mining reclamation plans. The committee believes the property would then be subject to public review before the purchase.
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