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Addition planned for Friday Harbor House
Legionnaire shoots verbal volleys at Port
Dear Editor,
posted 07/27/01
The Port of Friday Harbor is working on plans, designs and permit requests for several inter-related projects on the waterfront. These plans have their origins in a joint planning effort for transportation improvements with the Town, the County, Washington State Ferries and the Port. The effort produced a number of recommendations for improvements to vehicle and pedestrian circulation between the ferry landing and the Port.
The Port wants to create another Front Street Circle, west of Circle Park, to eliminate a dangerous situation caused by vehicle traffic and pedestrians sharing space near the Port and Marina offices. Pedestrian amenities and park-like spaces will be included in the plan. The new circle will allow vehicles to turn around safely at the entrance to the marina parking lot without backing up. Footpaths will link the marina to the stairway up to First Street. This project will be paid for partly with federal transportation grant funds because Front Street is technically part of the federal highway system linking transportation facilities to the mainland.
In 1998, the Port purchased the old Unocal tank farm located in front of the Whale Museum. Part of this property is needed for the Front Street Circle project. The site is heavily impacted by marina traffic, and the Port Commission wants to insure that future development of the site will not conflict with the marina. In addition, the site is contaminated from its years as a tank farm, and the Port was able to obligate Unocal to pay for cleaning up the site through the purchase agreement.
After the property has been cleaned up, the site will be developed in two related building projects. U.S. Customs, an important Port tenant, has been requesting additional office space for several years. The Port's administrative and maintenance offices are becoming inefficient due to crowding. The opportunity to construct offices for the Port and Customs became available when Friday Harbor House, the adjoining land owner, expressed interest in expansion utilizing part of the Unocal parcel without requiring access from Front Street. Leasing the property to Friday Harbor House will bring continuing revenue to the Port District.
The expansion of the hotel will allow small off-season meetings and conventions to come to Friday Harbor, benefiting many other local businesses as well. And the Port will take advantage of the building project to expand office space for the Port and for Customs. The owners of Friday Harbor House have been working with the Port and the Town for over a year to insure that their design meets all current Town codes for height and view protection.
All parts of this very complex project need a surprising amount of effort to coordinate because almost a dozen different permits and approvals are required. I invite all interested citizens to talk to our staff and to attend Port Commission meetings to be better informed about these improvements. We can e-mail meeting times to you, and our local newspapers usually report on Port meetings.
Greg Hertel
President, Port Commission
gregh@portfridayharbor.org
Sharon Kivisto
and
Matt Pranger
can be reached:
phone:
360.378.3748
fax:
360.378.9748
by e-mail:
news@sanjuanislander.com
by mail:
San Juan Islander
PO Box 1118
Friday Harbor, WA 98250 USA