— by Susan Malins —
Dear Neighbors;
Many of us feel especially protective these days of Orcas Island’s nature and culture, as we should. Critical Areas Best Management Practices state that protection is foremost; second is restoration. “Mitigation” is suggested as a last resort.
We are now dealing with rapid and startling UGA Eastsound development. A lot of pressure is being placed on our narrow land mass. Airport neighbors are increasingly suffering from the effects of noise pollution and the dangers of close proximity to flying planes.The Port’s recent wetland changes contained incomplete data in the Environmental Impact Statement, and I personally grieve the loss of wildlife & habitat due to Port actions.
A lack of transparency in planning to expand the Orcas Airport caught us by surprise, especially when pursuing basic facts we couldn’t find on the Port website. Of primary concern is the safety of all our people and the survival of our wildlife and natural buffers.
Some questions for the Port:
(1) Who is on your advisory committee concerning airport expansion & what is their role?
(2) Now that the Port has updated its website to include the names of current commissioners, meeting minutes & some images of proposed changes, when will the Port post and update all Public Comments in a Public database?
(3) Will maps of alternative proposals WITH OVERLAYS clearly showing potential impacts to wetlands & densities be brought to the July 26 public meeting so that we can make informed comment on what we see? Please facilitate this.
(4) Elected commissioners, will you represent the Public’s preference when choosing the “Preferred Alternative?”
(5) Are any Alternatives besides ‘No Build’ compatible with Eastsound Visioning work and SubArea Plan land uses?
(6) Where can we find existing and past Master Plans?
(7) Should the airport be relocated?
I ask the Port to prove to us at this week’s meeting that any proposed expansion or changes do not negatively affect Orcas Island/ers. Thank you islanders for your incredible outpouring of concern and actions on this matter, and for protecting our beloved island from unnecessary harm.
Editor’s note: in order to address these and other questions you may have about the Port Master Plan, please send your concerns to Project Manager Leah Henderson at orcasmasterplan@dowl.com or (425) 869-2670.
I just did a copy and paste of this letter and sent it to Leah Henderson at orcasmasterplan@dowl.com. If you care – take a moment to be informed!
Good questions! I share them, and the concerns outlined. I hope we get answers that will satisfactorily answer all of our questions and concerns.
“(2) Now that the Port has updated its website to include the names of current commissioners….”
Could you provide a hyperlink to the Orcas Port website?
Perhaps it makes the most sense to start with a clean sheet of paper and ask the residents 1) Does Orcas need an airport, and if so, 2) what flying services does it need, why, how much, etc. Kenmore has seaplanes and Friday Harbor has an airport so people can fly to the SJI’s easily and boats/ferries are readily available, so I’d start from scratch. Just think of all the things that could be done with that tract of land?
The County Council recently updated the roadmap to our future – Comprehensive Plan Vision Statement, which includes a Transportation component. It says:
“We have water, land, and air transportation systems commensurate with our island culture. Transportation plans carefully consider multimodal transportation and RURAL CHARACTER. Expansion or construction of transportation systems, infrastructure, and facilities occurs only based on DEMONSTRATED LOCAL PUBLIC NEED.”
What will the impact on our RURAL CHARACTER be?
With already excellent air ambulance and helicopter access, is there a DEMONSTRATED LOCAL PUBLIC NEED that is not being met by the current airport?
https://www.sanjuanco.com/DocumentCenter/View/15824/2018-06-19_VIS_CC_Adopted_Vision_Clean
Jay,
Your comments are spot on and your final question cuts through all the noise in reminding us of the context. Too much attention is being paid to growth, bigger is better, and money almost in the abstract and divorced from reality.
The context Informs the need.
The context: Orcas Island is small bucolic, rustic and rural Island with limited capacity for population growth and development.
The need: The existing airport maintained and cared for meets the island’s needs.
Neal—you repeatedly present the false choice of no airport or expanded airport. No one I know wants the airport gone. The airport was there first, and most people moved near it knowing it was there. Most people appreciate the airport and the services it provides.
What I don’t support is an expansion of the airport for no solid reason. As Jay pointed, our Comprehensive Plan has long required that such expansion be required by LOCAL NEED. Our local needs have been well-served by the airport as it is for decades.
Peg, to me it’s not a false choice. If everything is on the table, why not really find out what people want? I have heard from a few people who want it exactly as it is with no changes at all, but there are a few people who want it gone and a few who want it made safer, a few want it quieter, etc. It seems to me that this is a chance to reassess completely. And it may well be that never changing it from what it is now will be the option the people want. As for “solid reasons” it seems to me that time marches on-a pretty solid reason. When it was built, FedEx didn’t fly in packages every day and so that need was not “built in” and perhaps not everyone who bought land near the airport would have if they knew cargo flights would be coming in. More people are using it (or so some data shows) and again, would people have bought land if they knew this growth would occur? How does the noise of current aircraft compare to what it was like when only biplanes were coming in episodically? Why is it wrong to ask these questions?
In a place famous for openness and transparency, shouldn’t everything always be open for reconsideration? This might be a great opportunity to make Orcas much more rural, which seems to be one of the few unanimous desires I see expressed here.
FedEx flies in one plane a day. Honestly! The fearsome “cargo plane” is the same size as the Kenmore planes. All four or five of them a day. And “ time marches on” is not a reason to do anything in particular. Who bought land or homes not knowing growth could occur?
Talking about moving or eliminating the airport strikes me as about as useful as the recent “visioning” exercise’s proposals for a Grand Promenade or bridge to Indian Island. Where and when are these discussions going to happen? I think we should all vote on the question.
P.S. I’d love to see utilization data. I was under the impression that it does not exist beyond commercial flights.
Attention Editors; why, when we have real dialogue and idea sharing going on about issues that are important to us and to our community, do you allow a certain sarcastic person to continually make nasty comments and assumptions about our community and what we want, in their opinion – and be so far off the mark?
Please read the comments; it will be obvious, and I am flagging with this comment. There is a name for what they are doing: Trolling. At least give them a warning, please.
The Port of Orcas could shed some sunshine on the major issues being vigorously discussed on OI for the last month by posting the key documents on its website, like other public entities do. Web sites are pretty easy to maintain and update these days, especially ones created using Word Press, which the Port uses.
I have a concern about airport noise no matter what the solution. These Airports are much larger but there may be so ideas here that may help.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/83072830
Just one other. I view Airport noise like 2nd hand smoke from tobacco products in that we may not be utilizing Airport function for the day but get to experience the noise all day nonetheless. Since we the people of Orcas are putting together a 20 year Airport plan, a noise abatement component is very much needed to be a comprehensive component of that plan. Here’s a little more info to get the conversation started.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_noise
I’m saw this in a press release (from DOWL) that was forwarded me. In it, Tony Simpson says to email him with “detailed questions” and that the Port will invite the Public to listen to the Port’s presentation on near-term, medium-, and long-term changes required, then they’ll take specific questions after the presentation.
QUESTION: Does this mean that unless we email questions directly to Tony beforehand, our questions and concerns won’t be addressed at this special Port meeting? Will the questions accepted pertain only to the presentation given, or will concerns also be addressed that are not pre-emailed or discussed in the Port’s presentation? On behalf of the Public, please let us know what to expect.
someone asked for the link to the Port. here it is: http://www.portoforcas.com
Re: airport noise: it would be very helpful to know how many planes actually use the airport per day. I’m aware of about six commercial flights a day: Kenmore x 3-4, FedEx, and San Juan Air.
Re: Airport Noise: KORS plane daily activity is a mystery to me as well…Maybe DOWL or the Port can shed some light. We experience mainly departure noise on a daily basis from commercial planes heading to FH.
Sadie, thanks for the links!
I hope somebody attended today’s “Listening Session” and will report to us here.
Donna Riordan – What documents do you want posted?
What do we want to incentivize?
A diverse and well-balanced level of development consistent with the islands physical limitations?
Bucolic, rural and rustic are seemingly subjective adjectives. Yet honest people know what these words mean when with all five senses they experience the objective physical attributes of Orcas Island. Yes, they “feel” the meaning of rustic and rural.
On a drive down Crow Valley Road to Westsound, perhaps you turn left on Nordstrom lane and marvel at its undulated quality crafted by time almost standing still with just the right amount of wise and benign neglect, with just the right amount of space, improved land (development) like a rustic turn of the century barn (now equipped with intelligent solar panels that demonstrate intelligent non-intervention), a country home with mist rising from the sprawl of a verdant valley in the background that again has enough space to create this natural ecological-environmental effect; or perhaps a drive towards the West Beach resort via Enchanted Forest with groves on both sides creating yet another example of Orcas’ natural-scape diversity as it “feels” almost like you’re in a temperate rain forest; or perhaps a drive out to Olga and then from Olga to Doe Bay, again, enough space between homes, farms, and barns— all physical objective attributes that further define and inform sincere people about the meaning of bucolic, rustic and rural.
There are so many other places on Orcas that would describe this same and similar feeling—too numerous to mention here.
So, again, when speaking in context about need, what do you want to incentivize? What do you want to reaffirm?
The existing airport maintained and well cared for “fits“ with the feel, our need and the very describable charm that is the real Orcas Island today and tomorrow.
P. S. I would add one additional thought:
False choices abound due to a lack of clear thinking, logic and discipline.
Being clear means honestly and accurately assessing “cause” while we resist shooting ourselves in the foot as we realize most of our failures as a people BEGIN AND END with ourselves—not our living eco-system.
Someone needs to speak up for the planet (and “physical” Orcas Island) itself. It is alive; its bounty is why we exist and what sustains us into the future— provided we’re intelligent stewards.
Therefore, whatever shortcomings we may have as a people, it’s not only illogical to take it out on the island’s (or the planet’s) fragile ecosystem, it’s suicidal and demonstrates the height of irresponsibility and personal unaccountability—this level of insanity, the “pre-human” primordial ground rules for survival will not countenance for long.
In other words, it’s not the environment or the planet’s fault if we can’t control our rates of reproduction- leading to “growth” trumping all else; but it will be the planet and its environment that will have the final answer for our arrogance, stupidity and intransigence. There’s no mistaking that.
So, let’s be smarter than the average Joe, as we certainly are, and set an example in how we approach development and growth and not surrender to a sense of inevitability…it may be that elsewhere … but your day-to-day lives can be the exception if you simply ACT instead of CAVE.
Be fearless and stand up to irrational thought and behavior and demand better. For the life of me I can’t understand how a father or mother can surrender to such social “suicidal” behavior. If not for yourselves, do it for your children. I will continue to resist the notion that self-interest is so thoroughly pervasive in human nature such that what we call “love for our children” is little more than a future projection of our own egos when we’re 6 feet under. (Though, I’m still groping for good reasons. I’d like to chaulk it up to impoverished thinking.)
We need communicators and leaders with vision who with deeper understanding promote free and open debate without “taboos”—all so that we can remain constantly mindful of the forest when talking about the trees.