Council Hears Updates at Afternoon Session

— by Margie Doyle —

Updates on recent Orcas Island developments highlighted the Sept. 9 afternoon session of the San Juan County Council at the Eastsound Fire Hall.

Before hearing from Orcas Recycling Services (ORS), the Library, and plans about parking at Orcas Landing, re-location of the Dog Park, and establishment of mooring buoys, Council Chair Rick Hughes, who lives on Orcas, briefly discussed a “municipal approach to Urban Growth Areas” like Eastsound and Lopez Villages. While the county council “traditionally acts in non-urban environments, I would like to see the county take a more municipal approach to running things like garbage and parking and stormwater, to alleviate the need from [local] chambers” for amenities such as garbage collection, Hughes said.

While recently tourism has added to county revenues, that is “expensive revenue,” Hughes said, which places demands on the infrastructure: bathrooms; roads; refuse collection and disposal. “The County should be more integral in the maintenance and infrastructure of communities.”

Hughes also pushed for conduits on Main Street and North Beach Road to provide for the costs of street lamps, cluster parking solutions, and stormwater infrastructure.”It’s important to come together and see curbs, gutters and sidewalks throughout Eastsound. Instead of a haphazard approach, let’s allow folks to buy into provided infrastructure and partner better with Eastsound and Lopez Village.”

Bob Jarman agreed, “The county needs to take a more municipal approach to the urban growth areas, mainly for stormwater, a key infrastructure area.”

Hughes said that paying for the increased infrastructure involvement may be handled by reducing the county’s solid waster debt and reduce the excise tax and thereby apply the remaining excise tax to pay for garbage. “I’d like to tackle some of the smaller things and show the community that county’s interested in being a partner; then go forward.”

Orcas Recycling Services/The Exchange Director Pete Moe and Board Chair Tim Blanchard accompanied their remarks a screen power point presentation that will be available on the county website. Moe and Blanchard said that in the year since ORS took over management of the Orcas Transfer Station from the county, it has remained committed to its long-held mission: to build a zero-waste community through service, education and responsible stewardship of our waste/resource streams.”

Moe ticked off the accomplishments of last year: notably shipping garbage off-island; completing the master plan and storm water management plan; and transforming the operation site (clearing up over 40 tons of matter at ORS expense).

ORS now provides recycling of:

• Batteries
• Electronics
• Cooking oil
• Fluorescent tubes

and plans with OPALCO to recycle all mercury, and fluorescent bulbs by January 2015.

Pilot programs underway are:

• Composting (with the Nigretto family)
• Anaerobic digestion for noxious weeds (research)
• Safe disposal of medical sharps

Impressive revenue stayed on the island, thanks to ORS’ operation of the site, Moe said:

$289,000 in trucking to Orcas Freight
$63,115 in local business spending
$225,023 in local jobs

For a total of $577,138 that stayed on Orcas.

Moe spoke of the need for community support in reaching its recycling goals to separate disposables to improve “the quality of the recycling streams.

With the value of co-mingled recyclables dropping and the problems inherent in management of the glass waste stream, ORS has had to increase its rates, chiefly because Skagit Valley, which handles all island garbage taken off-island, has increased its rates. Another obstacle has been storing hazardous waste, which the transfer station is not equipped to dispose of.

On the brighter side, ORS has begun an aluminum collection program, taking aluminum recyclables for free. “It’s just the beginning,” Moe says. He announced plans to work with Lopez Island’s Solid Waste taxing district, using its larger bailer, purchased with a Dept. of Ecology grant.

ORS is also advancing plans to open a new “Exchange” recycled goods structure, hiring Greg Bronn for engineering of new roads and submitting grading permits for the site. “Conceivably, we could have a temporary Exchange site by next spring,” said More.

“Hoping to get through the permitting process expeditiously,” Tim Blanchard added.

Moe thanked the many who have helped make the first year successful, and announced the new website for ORS, www.exchangeorcas.org

Library Director Phil Heikkinen reported on the Public Library’s expansion campaign. He said that with a 25-40 percent increase in library use in the summer months, “the same needs keep popping up:

• Space for people, (“the Young Adult section is really just a corner;”
• Telecommuters, including before and after hours;
• Shared spaces for tutoring, work meetings, and the like;
• The Library’s participation in Ask.Orcas, a “social services hub where volunteer and paid staff can meet with clients to help meet their needs” requiring private space for confidentiality.”

Heikkinen praised the “cohesive, enthusiastic library board that is working together to make the library expansion happen.” He explained that, in the past, the public library funding model has always been tax-based, and said that the expansion plan “is ambitious, and we are paying attention to the needs of community.”

With a funding goal of $1.3M (of which the Library currently has $400,000) the plan is to build a 3,500 sq. ft. extension westward, with the possibility of a lower level. That level would be unfinished unless other funding sources came forward.

The library hopes to start project construction early next year, Heikkinen said, and is working to apply for lodging tax and other county funds, also for state capital funding. “The key is appealing to people who see this as an investment in the quality of life,” said Heikkinen.

Hughes encouraged Heikkinen to call on the council for support on the expansion project “as you get the funding and design together.”

Hughes then described the Orcas Ferry Landing Project, to provide more medium- and long-term parking. The State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) owns about four acres on Orcas Road, north of the current parking lot. He said, “Hopefully, we can put 100 parking spaces there; commercial haulers will have a place to stage; and commuter parking can go there. It all works with potential WSDOT projects at Orcas Landing. It is more convenient and safer for folks and will provide a better experience for visitors to the island.”

He said that WSDOT was “an interested partner,” and that there are some county road funds that can go into the project. The current 72-hour lot can become a staging area for reservations, which begin in January. County Manager Mike Thomas said the landing project is “an exciting concept that Rick has put a lot of work into for long-term benefit.”

A relatively informal discussion about the Orcas Dog Park, currently located on Port of Orcas (FAA) property on a short-term lease. In the long run, a new place needs to be found for the dog park. Considered as a possibility is a five-acre parcel on Land Bank property that abuts the Skate Park. “It would provide a place to build a permanent facility under Land Bank stewardship,” said Hughes.

He promoted his plan to bring mooring locations to county waters, East Sound in particular. Hughes pointed out that an Orcas resident has recently patented a “screw-based anchoring system to allow great access to boaters without a big environmental footprint.”