— by Margie Doyle —

That parking is “the” Eastsound issue was demonstrated by the fact that the bulk of the monthly Eastsound Planning Review Committee (EPRC) meeting on August 4 was taken up in discussing the parking situation in Eastsound’s Urban Growth Area.

EPRC’s Bob Maynard spoke of opening up the beach access to the public for the portion of the East Sound waterfront between the Windermere building and Emmanuel Episcopal Church. Currently, although the public has legal access to the beach, entries from Main Street  is blocked between Darvill’s Bookstore and White Horse Pub, and between Crow Valley Gallery and Porter’s Substation (the Jillery, Madrona Restaurant building). In the past an agreement was made that that traded adequate parking for businesses along Main Street in exchange for the public access to the beachfront. Maynard said, “We need code enforcement to open up beach access. Now the public is deterred to get to the beach but we’re still carrying the parking burden; it’s unfair.”

County Community Development Director Erika Shook advised the EPRC to submit specific complaints in writing to the County Code Enforcement Officer in order to address the problem of public access, and other signage needs and code violations.

The EPRC also spent considerable time discussing a new housing project along Prune Alley, the Sunflower development, between the Liquor Store and Body Boat and Blade (the old Sears Building).

Project developer Sean DeMeritt came before the EPRC in July and was cautioned that parking in the county right of way may be compliant with the regulations for angled parking, but the nine spaces couldn’t be “reserved” for the occupants of the six planned units. On Aug. 4, the revised project came before the EPRC; DeMeritt’s plans now call for only four units with all parking to be located off-street and on the developer’s property.

The EPRC had maintained that homeowners could not “secure” parking spaces in front of their buildings if those spaces are on the county right-of-way, on public roads. That brought up the issue of enforcement, as many businesses “claim” the spots in front of their buildings as reserved — such as the Liquor Store, The Village Stop, the Twin Towers and other establishments.

With that discussion taking up much of the two-hour meeting, the planned agenda was shortened, and Paul Kamin’s presentation on Eastsound parking valuation was shoe-horned into the remaining time. This study is the third in-depth research conducted by Kamin into Eastsound parking in response to past assertions by County officials that there is adequate parking in the village.

  1. A code comparison done in 2014: how many parking spaces does the code require property owners to have compared with parking that is actually provided. Kamin’s study indicates properties that have “adequate,” “inadequate” and “marginal” parking. Kamin cautions, “We should avoid the assumption that the code is correct [in its requirements].”
  2. A “picture” of actual parking occupancy during the summer, conducted last summer (2015). Kamin took photos and mapped parking, and generated a photo using the county GIS system that shows that on weekends there was available, vacant, parking spaces at less than 15 percent. He quotes parking best practices standards which holds that  it is not good if a community has parking occupancy of more than 85 percent of available spaces. The result is increased traffic congestion as people drive around looking for an open parking spot. This led to Kamin’s third research project:
  3. to provide documentation that would support a county code change to parking credit fee s:” If we build more parking, buy property to make a parking lot, what would it cost per space, using a propetry’s assessed value as a conservative figure?” Kamin arrived at $11,500 as the approximate cost of a parking space.

To view his power point presentation prepared for the meeting, click HERE.

“The amount of on-street parking is fixed and finite” says Kamin. “All new development requires off-street parking.” Templin’s Square (Ray’s Pharmacy) and Island Market provide about 25 percent of the parking for Eastsound, he says. “We owe them: they are doing Eastsound a huge favor.”

Kamin told the EPRC that he would present his work to the County Public Works and Community Development Departments, and that he would like the opinions of professionals.

EPRC member Fred Klein said, “I’d not advocate for parking lots in the center of town. I’d like to see public spaces and commercial vitality, rather than parking places for our cars. If employee parking is the issue, than perimeter lots need to be thought about.”

EPRC member Martha Fuller said that Kamin’s work is “the part of the parking that we need to have included in [the County] comp plan,” [scheduled for update this year].

EPRC 2016-17 Work Plan
EPRC Chair Greg Ayers pushed to identify the items on the EPRC’s 2016-17 work plan: “Last year we picked completing the UDC (Uniform Development Code], and pushing for Prune Alley [street improvements.]”

The group decided to zero in on increasing community awareness and holding meetings to continue the visioning process articulated in Vision For Eastsound (created by an island study group coordinated by Ayers, Bob Maynard and Jim Jonassen) with recommendations for inclusion in the Comprehensive Plan. Parking was seen as the most important part of that process.

ERPC member Bob Maynard said, “We need to work with the county and somebody has to make it happen, it can’t just be conversation.” He added, “I’d like to visualize work sessions of several hours a day with the Planning Department to come to some kind of conclusion. There has to be a time limit.”

Ayers said, “The visioning statement would ‘live’ in the goals and policies of the Comp Plan as the overarching structure. It  needs to be reduced to goals and policies.”

He added that a plan to deliver the work plan will have to be developed, before “sitting down with  [County Councilman Rick] Hughes to go through and see what resources may be applied.”

Election of EPRC officers

Following nominations for Chair for Ayers and newer member Jeff Otis — who declined to be nominated because he was “too new and too busy” —  the board re-elected Ayers to the position for another year. Martha Fuller was unanimously voted in as Vice-Chair, and the advisory committee agreed to rotate the duties of minute-taker. CDC Manager Erika Shook offered to help by providing administrative support.

In discussing the vacant EPRC position, Ayers said that selecting a developer would be a good idea; Charles Toxey suggested that a member be recruited from the stakeholders who helped formulate the Vision for Eastsound document, available online here and at the Orcas Island Public Library.

Eastsound Planning Review Committee members are Greg Ayers, Martha Fuller, Fred Klein, Bob Maynard, Jeff Otis, and Dan Vekved. The county advisory group meets the first Thursday of each month from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Eastsound Fire Hall..

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