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News about the Town of Friday Harbor

Work begins today on Islanders Addition

posted 07/15/02
Work on Islander's Addition subdivision will begin today, Monday, July 15. According to Town Administrator King Fitch, construction is expected to last 60 to 80 days. The subdivision is located on Grover Avenue in Friday Harbor.

Town approves Islanders Addition plans

posted 03/16/01
Friday Harbor Town Council approved the plans for Islanders Addition as recommended by staff and the Town Planning Commission during their March 15 evening meeting.

Subdivision plans OK'd by Planning Commission

posted 03/09/01
Islanders' Addition subdivision plans include improved traffic on B and C streets, pedestrian access from Grover St. to Linder St. and 44 new home lots in Friday Harbor. The Town Planning Commission accepted "the staff report as written (without modification) and recommended the council do the same" recommended after a public hearing last night (March 8).

The commission was lobbied by more than a dozen San Juan Island residents to make an easement for pedestrian access to the "Light Line Trail" a condition of the subdivision approval. The trail is on the power company's utility easement. Residents have been using it for more than 50 years according to written testimony from Lisa Nash Lawrence.

"We're asking for OPALCO line easement for public use to be saved. It is time for the council to say access can't be taken away." said Lee Sturdivant, a member of Island Rec Trails committee.

"Put on the plat -- the right to walk on it can't be cut off," Louise Dustrude another trail committee member.

Town Permit Coordinator Warren Jones said, "There is no public right of way. There has been trespassing if it is being used."

Owners Roman Hrycak and Bill Percich included two trails in their plans to allow public access through the 17.3 acre neighborhood. Only four lots are affected by the creation of the two trails. (See the blue lines in the map below). If the OPALCO easement was used it would affect 15 lots.

Jones said, "The proposal is my baby. I'm proud of it. We extracted easements where we didn't have a right to any."

San Juan Island resident Chris Clarke said, "The proposal to walk through is very generous. "

Ironically most of the actual path usedas the "Light Line Trail" is not on Hrycak/Percich's property but on the neighboring property owned by the Adelman family.

Another condition under contention was the opening of Hunt Street to through traffic. Residents of Hunt Street relayed their fears of danger to the 15 young children who live on the street.

Jones pointed out that the town's traffic circulation plan adopted in April 1979 called for Hunt Street to be a through street. He said it was imperative the street be open to Grover St. Improved traffic on B and C Street and Nichols streets would be one of the benefits of connecting Hunt and Grover Streets.

Completion of Grover Street between the two sections of the subdivision are required. The developers are also being asked to make some off-site improvements to Grover Street in an area the school district was required to improve in the early 1980s when the elementary school was built. Those requirements were waived by the Town Council at the time.

The next step is discussion and action by the Town Council.

Public hearing on proposed subdivision tonight

posted 03/08/01
Seventeen acres east of Friday Harbor Elementary School will become home to 44 families if Islanders' Addition subdivision is approved. The Town Planning Commission will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. tonight March 8 in Town Hall.

Development will be in two phases -- 27 homes in Phase I and 17 in Phase II. The owners, Bill Percich and Roman Hrycak, have committed 10 of the lots in phase I for low-income housing.

Lot sizes average 12,594 sq. ft which is 40 percent larger than the town's minimum requirement of 9,000 sq. ft. This was done in order to preserve trees according to the owners.

Opening Grover Street to through traffic must be a condition of approval according to Town Permit Coordinator Warren Jones. A traffic study analysis was done in August 2000 by Thomas C. Starr and Associates. The report states:

Full development of the proposed subdivision without providing additional street access to Grover St. will approximately double traffic to and from downtown Friday Harbor on Nichols Street.

Town standards require sidewalks throughout the subdivision. In addition to the sidewalks Jones recommends a walking path (which appears in blue on the map on this page) also be constructed.

Island Rec Trails Committee is concerned about the existing trail in the area. The so-called OPALCO Light Line trail runs from the sub-station in town south from the end of Linder St. along private property boundaries to the elementary school grounds, then east to the gravel pit area. This is a 20-foot OPALCO easement that is still owned by the property owners in that area, but that cannot be built on or closed off to OPALCO access. According to the committee, the trail has been used for over 40 years by school children and residents of the area.

In a letter to the town, OPALCO 's General Manager Doug Bechtel wrote:

Our easement only allows our use of the property and prevents the underlying property owner from taking any action that would impair our ability to operate and maintain our system. We do not see any reason that a walking path would have any impact on our ability to operate and maintain the transmission system in the area and therefore would not have any objections to the property owner allowing people to walk within our easement.

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

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