Eastsound Planning Review Committee holds public brainstorming meeting to discuss parking issues

I can think of a LOT of things to do with $50,000 of public money other than give it to a consultant! This the same failed methodology that brought us the Killibrew culvert fiasco. Unlike the fish-culvert-to-nowhere though, the parking in Eastsound is an actual problem that really does need to be addressed. So how about we actually use the suggestions provided at this meeting instead of wasting $50,000 on a “consultant” ?

B Sadie has the right idea

What B. Sadie said.

I thank EPRC for the energy it takes to pull any group into a comprehensive discussion. Planing by definition starts by process. No Plan, is the shortest course to usually an undisciplined action.. Chaos..
any Business Owner, patron, or cognoscente pedestrian can see any given Summer’s day or evening parking is an issue.
Give reasonable access, most will participate.. not all. But enough to make a real difference.
Looking forward to Good communication on the how’s to address this issue. I embrace my neighbors to engage, there’s no wrong discussion, but if consensus of an understanding, coupled with resolution… imagine how that could help send the County officials a better vision of the Communities desires, needs and support.

Ha Ha Lin; good one! Thanks for the levity.

So many great comments! It’s too bad this meeting won’t be held in the fall, or, at the very least, recorded for those of us who care deeply about this island and would like to contribute to shaping its future, but don’t have the time to be at this or any meeting in August. This meeting is at the height of our summer tourist season, and hundreds of islanders are in high gear putting food on tables, harvesting farm goods for market, working multiple seasonal jobs, entertaining guests, and just staying out of Eastsound to ride out the tourist season in peace. I am anxious about the future of the island, the parking situation being just one of so many symptoms of our annual tourist stampede. Alas, I cannot attend the meeting – I have a three-week music festival to run beginning August first. I hope someone takes good notes, and that they are published by the EPRC for community comment.

You are cordially invited to come to this meeting to give your input into solving our growing parking issues. We are only looking at parking in Eastsound. Later, there will be additional focus on the transportation element, but were are not expressly covering that in this brainstorm session. The information gathered in this meeting will help to form a scope of work for a professional parking consultant. Having additional input from a pro who has worked with other communities on successful strategies could steer us away from common mistakes and help us plan the future we would like to see in Eastsound.

There have been many decisions and compromises made by hundreds of past and islanders who were acting in what they felt were the best interests of Eastsound and Orcas at the time. Here is a brief list of a few of them:

Although now every land use has onsite parking required, until the late 1970s, unmarked, gravel street parking was the primary kind parking in Eastsound. Many restaurants, stores, and churches had little no onsite parking, and the public parked on adjacent lawns, in the street and along the water at busy times.

Public beach access in town, view corridors to the beach, and our parks on the water were given to the public in lieu of requiring some Main Street properties from having to carve out parking spaces on the water side. This was considered a huge win for Orcas Islanders so that views of the waterfront, quite a bit of now public land in front of it and the shoreline itself would be better protected in perpetuity. However, on the flip side, not having onsite parking contributes to a general parking deficit.

Most town parcel boundaries went to the center of the road, and besides the road surface, property owners were not required to give additional right of way for curbs, gutters, sidewalks and parking spaces. Storm water management was non-existent, flooding happened in Eastsound all the time, people parked in the street or across ditches. When locals created the Eastsound Subarea Plan, they codified a plan to reduce the amount of required parking necessary on any parcel whose owner was willing to cede more right of way for public street parking. It worked and still works to this day, but it contributed even more to a growing parking deficit.

When there was a vision to re-pave, add curbs, gutters, storm drains and marked parking to Main Street and North Beach, there were some who didn’t want those changes and said the occasional flooding was not that bad. But, when completed, that project did reduce flooding, kept everything cleaner, and made walking in Eastsound safer and easier especially in rainy weather. It created lovely treed spaces. Although some new diagonal parking spaces were created, you could no longer park alongside some of the buildings that stuck out into the street. Not all, but most islanders were comfortable with these compromises and grew to love the streetscape.

When the Village Green became a park which attracts and concentrates huge numbers of people for concerts and festivals, it was a huge benefit to the community, but no corresponding parking was created which contributed further to our parking deficit.

When the Prune Alley project being labored over, storm water management and aging utility upgrades were some of the major drivers. The treatment of stormwater that flows in and through that part of the system now contributes significantly to the health of our near shore waters. The extended crosswalks made walking and disabled access wheeling much safer. No new rights of way were purchased, many new driveways were constructed and casual parking spaces were lost, which contributed to the parking deficit.

At one point a Payment in Lieu of Parking program was proposed, but never formally created, where someone who couldn’t build required parking could pay into a fund to build spaces. But, the amounts suggested didn’t come close to covering the cost to create and maintain those spaces, and it was scrapped.

Many choices with lots of benefits to us all have been made, but lack of parking is felt more and more acutely as a result. For more than half a century the Outlook Inn, Templin Center, Our House Mall, Island Market and Orcas Island Hardware have taken up the slack for this deficit, a generous attitude that has reduced parking pain considerably. More and more, however, these businesses have had to assert their right to enforce limits on that generosity because the public is occupying so many spots that their own patrons can’t find a place to park. We can only expect more limits will become necessary in those parking areas. We can’t rely on a few dedicated private parking areas to take up the slack for all parking needs forever.

This proposed parking study has been funded by LTAC, not by local taxpayers, but from funds collected from visitors to the San Juans. LTAC grants are limited in scope and are not general County funds. We are lucky to have some attention paid to this looming parking problem which has been decades in the making.

Other communities have come up with creative approaches to their problems. We can too. This meeting is not going to be constructive if people come to complain or stray from the subject. We’re not going to place blame on past decision makers who had the courage to act in what they felt was best for Eastsound. If you want to participate, please be positive and come ready identify Eastsound parking problems and propose your ideas for tangible solutions.

Well said, Clyde!