| Outside the Lines: Ferry Tales 50 Terminal - The Undead There seems to be good news and bad news concerning the building of the proposed Guemes Island Ferry Terminal. The good news is that the project will not start in August 2008 as planned. The bad news is the County is projecting the start to be in Spring of 2009. The Skagit County budget is in the red for 2008 and projected to have an even larger deficit in 2009. Why would this be a good time to build a new building? A building that doesn’t give the Guemes rider ship any more interior room than they have now, and less protection on the exterior because the “awning” will be too high {second story} to offer much protection from the elements. Skagit County Public works went before the Anacortes Planning Commission on May 28th seeking a Shoreline permit #307. The permit was not granted, yet. Public Works needs to submit a construction sequence plan prior to the June 25, 2008 Planning Commission Meeting. Anacortes Planning Commissioners will also do a site visit at 5:30 PM on that same date. There was a public comment period at the May 28th meeting. The comments addressed loss of parking spaces. Tom Lindsey, Guemes Island, counts 24 parking spaces lost. Ellinore Wright's (6th Street, Anacortes) concerns were protection of her view, possible loss of parking spaces and lighting nuisance. Vicki Hallingstad, Guemes Island, objected to her tax dollars being spent unnecessarily at this time. Allen Bush, Guemes Island, suggested the new Terminal Building use the existing footprint, the Skat bus meet the Ferry and, of course, there be no loss of parking. 6th Street will bear the brunt of loss of parking. Residents will have cars parked in front of their property and vehicles coming and going from 6:30 AM until possibly 10 PM. The permanent extension of the late week night ferry runs will be voted on by the BOCC on Monday June 16 at 10 AM. According to a quote from the ferry manager in the Skagit Valley Herald, the resolution apparently (since no one outside of the County has seen it) promises to trim the schedule, if costs warrant after six months. Anacortes City may find it necessary to design and improve 6th street as a result of more cars parking on the street. The Anacortes Police department may find themselves responsible for increased surveillance. This will incur additional expense for the city. The Skagit County BOCC puts itself in yet another compromising position of spending more taxpayer dollars than they have, with benefits to only a few. They are as reliable as GPS: High cost, low need, no public benefits, no public participation, sudden mandate from above. Yep, we're definitely still in Skagit County. -Commentary by MJ Andrak [6.15.8] Send a message to the Commissioners, Public Works Director and ferry manager.
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