Eastsound Planners Advise County on Development and Streetscape Plans

Open House follows regular meeting this Thursday afternoon, Jan. 10,  beginning at 4 p.m. in Eastsound Fire Hall

The Eastsound Planning Review Committee, an advisory committee serving the San Juan County Council, meets monthly to review new development plans, to effect policy update on permitting, zoning, and planning and to set annual goals.

The January 2013 meeting will be held just prior to the Open House; on the agenda for the regular meeting are

•  Updates from County Council Members Rick Hughes and/or Patty Miller on the Orcas Transfer Station, Critical Areas Ordinance, Charter Proposition transitions, and budget;
• Project review of Cohen-Farish Commercial art studio/residence permit
• Sub-area Plan Update — next steps
• Housing solution suggestions, with Lisa Byers, Executive Director of OPAL

At the Open House the following projects will be displayed for question, and comments:

● Prune Alley Streetscape and Parking Plan https://theorcasonian.com/eastsound-review-committee-considers-streetscape-plan
● Proposed Update to Sub Area Plan Land Use Tables. The  Eastsound Sub-area Plan may be found on the county website at: sanjuanco.com/planning/docs/Subarea/EastsoundPlan.pdf
● EPRC 2013 Goals
● Coming Public Works Projects (Mt. Baker Road improvements)
● Stormwater Monitoring

In recent years, the EPRC has developed a checklist with the County, designed to make sure that property owners and county staff alike are fully aware of the requirements that must be met in development of their property.

The EPRC provided much information and discussion regarding the designation of  Country Corner, at the intersection of the Crescent Beach and Terrill Beach Road, as a Limited Area of More Intense Rural Development (LAMIRD). Prompted by development of Craftsman Corner at the intersection of Lovers Lane and Enchanted Forest Roads, the EPRC has debated incidental/additional uses to Urban Growth Area (UGA) zoning.

In the last year EPRC members and Prune Alley property owners have developed a Streetscape Plan that will add curbs at the corners of Prune Alley, and will consider a path or walkway through the three-lot parcel of land between Prune Alley and North Beach Road, across from the Eastsound Village Green.

They have reviewed plans to develop several properties on the Eastsound waterfront/Main Street in Eastsound:  Porter Square, west of the old” Porter’s Station” building, Vern’s Bayside Restaurant, now vacant; the “Tower Buildings” under construction by Sean DeMeritt; and the Outlook Inn Event Center, currently under permit review by the County.

Current members of the advisory group, appointed by the County Council, are Clyde Duke, Teri Williams, Gulliver Rankin, Fred Klein,  and Ted Grossman. With the election of Rick Hughes to the six-member county council last November, he has resigned his position on the EPRC, and so a vacancy now exists.

The Eastsound Planning Review Committee (EPRC) was established in 1981 under the authority of the Eastsound Subarea Plan by the San Juan County Commissioners.  It consists of seven Orcas Island residents, appointed by Commission [now Council] to advise the planning department, the planning commission and the County Council on land use and development matters affecting Eastsound.