— from Peg Manning —
On Tuesday, May 20, at 10 a.m., County Council will be meeting at the
Eastsound Fire Station and taking public comment. There will also be
presentations from Public Works about their plans for Orcas.
This is an important opportunity for the citizens of Orcas to express
their opinions concerning what seems to me to be an aggressive program of
suburbanization of our island.
This program was presented at the public meeting in Orcas a few months
back but, as usual, the meeting was held in the middle of the workday and
lightly attended.
What became clear at that meeting is that certain County decision makers
choose to ignore the fact that we are a rural island, and that many of our
residents (and most of our tourists) are here because of that rural
setting. As a result, and because ³there is grant money available,² we
have been subjected to an assault on our rural character under the guise
of overzealous engineering ³improvements.²
One example is the plan to replace the simple wooden bridge to Spring
Point with a $2.5 million concrete span more appropriate for I-5 than it
is over this tiny inlet. The bridge is reportedly being designed to
federal standards (it has to be because it¹s grant money) to accommodate
two large trucks crossing at the same time. Have two large trucks ever
even been at the bridge at the same time? If so, were their drivers
incapable of taking turns crossing? I have seen no evidence that the
Public Works planners even considered replacing the bridge with a similar
small, wooden bridge. Someone saw that federal money was available, so it
seems that we agreed to build a federal highway bridge in the tiny hamlet
of Deer Harbor.
Another is the Orcas Road plan‹another Mount Baker Road type project that
will forever change this scenic country road in the direction of something
wider, straighter, and faster, at the costs of millions of dollars of tax
money. This plan will also likely bring into play the “roadside hazard
mitigation” plan, which includes removing just about anything that a
driver could run into if the driver is speeding and/or drinking (those
drivers represent the overwhelming majority of the cited accidents that
have occurred on the road). In other words, large numbers of beautiful
old trees, rocks and other existing natural features are in jeopardy in a
misguided and doomed-to-fail effort to make our roads ³safe” for drivers,
no matter how fast or badly they are driving. (The large old trees by the
Nigretto property are on the list of hazards, as are others on Crow Valley
Road.) https://sanjuanco.com/PW/docs/
We will undoubtedly see more ugly guardrails, which visiting bikers have
reported are not just unsightly but also are dangerous for them on our
rural roads‹the bikers report that they “have no place to go² if
threatened by a vehicle. Has the County considered using some the WPA-era
guardrail designs rather than the steel? I suspect we¹ll hear that we
have to use the ³modern² ugly ones because it¹s paid by ³grant money.”
Finally, despite the long public participation process for the Prune Alley
plan in Eastsound, the County Engineer has presented a plan that rejects
many of the concerns and preferences expressed by volunteers and citizens
in that process. In particular, the County apparently sees no parking
problem in Eastsound, and has refused to implement the EPC¹s suggestion
for parallel parking along Prune Alley to alleviate it. Instead, we are
told that we can post two-hour parking signs! That is some strange idea
of rural character! What¹s next? Parking decal machines?
It¹s not too late to let County Council know that we are a rural island
and want to stay that way. That we should be looking at rural solutions
to rural problems, not the latest engineering ideas from King County. If
you have concerns about any of these issues, please come out and speak tot
he Council on Tuesday.
Peg Manning
Peg, you got my permission to put me behind whatever you will voice at said meeting. But once again, the meeting is still at 10:00 a.m. when most of us are working and not able to attend. You would think this might be an intentional scheduling to keep us misfits away!
Peg, ditto on Kate’s comments. Thank you so much for your on-going vigilance, and for your very informative letter. What a waste of our hard-earned tax payer dollars, but even worse, the permanent damage to this rare and beautiful island.
Peg, I hope you do whatever it takes to get these people to come to their senses. What you describe as possible is outrageous and infuriating to me.
Peg, You have stated the problem very succinctly. Over the least several years I have seen major trimming of trees and branches beside and over the road. When Public Works ‘trimmed’ alongside my property in Deer Harbor I saw an immediate increase in speed. The cars and trucks came around a corner and saw the wide open space and unconsciously sped up.
The close growing and overhanging branches are what make our roads more enjoyable to drive on. Public Works tells us that average speeds are faster in the winter. When the tourists are here in the summer they drive slower to enjoy the scenery. They have sped down the wide open efficient freeways to get to the country where they can slow down and relax and take in the views. We need to realize that we are already here. If you want to be in Mercer Island or Bainbridge Island where you can drive 50 mph then move there. Tell the County Council not to make our country roads look like another freeway to a planned housing development.
Regarding the bridge in Deer Harbor, Peg is right. The bridge will be a massive structure. Eighty or ninety feet long, 3 to 4 feet thick with sloping concrete wing walls extending another 10 to 15 feet outward, with guard rails extending another 15 to 20 feet all round. They will have to raise the roadbed 3 to 4 feet to accommodate the massive concrete beams. I am told that at my driveway about 100′ east of the bridge the roadbed will be raise 3 feet. How will that affect me? I don’t know. Public Works has not worked that out yet. Public works has told me that they are actually lowering the speed limit over the bridge as the posted speed in Deer Harbor is 25 mph. What double speak. Their own traffic counters record over 80% of the traffic has speeds of 15mph at the West end of the bridge. The new bridge will have “softer curves” for a designed speed of 20 mph which means that cars will be going 5 to 10 mph faster than that. This too has been documented by Public Works as at another traffic counter placed east of the bridge where the speed is posted at 25 mph over 90% of the traffic was going 32 mph. 15 mph to 32mph in less that a 200 feet. And they are still accelerating!
Orcas is a unique island. We are a rural community and do not need wide open roads. I see the chippers working east of the ferry landing and wonder if the next massacre will be the Nationally recognized Scenic Road from Horseshoe Highway to Deer Harbor. The old trees alongside the road are what makes our Island unique from even San Juan. I drive Horseshoe Highway occasionally just to drive under the canopy of tree limbs which is now in danger of being destroyed by the new Orcas Road Plan. Speak up and let your Council member know that you want to keep our roads scenic. If you build a wider road with a higher ceiling the only thing that we can be sure of is that speeds will increase.
Is it worth saving one or two minutes of driving time to get to where you are going compared to the loss of our scenic roads?
Dear Peg: You have our permission to include us in seconding your presentation to the Council Tuesday, May 20, at the Fire Hall. Frank has the car and a dental appointment in the morning which prevents either of us from attending. We would greatly appreciate your using our endorsement of your perspective. We totally agree with it! And many thanks for writing such an insightful article about this problem! KEEP OUR ISLAND RURAL AND SCENIC!!
While I have to say that I don’t often agree with Ms. Manning — we are mostly on opposite sides of the political chasm — in regard to the bridge in Deer Harbor and the proliferation of guard rails we are 100% in agreement. It seems that Public Works would happily pave over, straighten, or otherwise urbanize every square inch of the County if the money were available to do so.
I realize there have been public meetings concerning the bridge (in particular) but very rarely are such meetings held in a place and at a time which are feasible for those of us who work to attend.
The whole process, whether bridge, guard rail, making our roads safer for those who seem unable to drive safely, seems to have taken on a titanic inevitability. Public Works needs to take a breather!
– Ken Gibbs
I too absolutely agree with Ms. Manning. Keep the big trees by the roads: they scare people into slowing down. Cancel the ridiculously expensive, totally out-of-character bridge project. Don’t listen to the kind of idiocy that claims that there is already plenty of parking in Eastsound, while simultaneously planning a “transit hub” where a shuttle bus will take people to a remote parking lot. And don’t let our island’s character be engineered to death by County engineers pursuing federal grant money.
Related to this discussion, the sudden sprouting of over-sized and garish orange signs all over the island is yet another example of the Public Works Department having no sensitivity about the aesthetics of the island, only an insatiable drive to make it more like the “mainland” every year. Somehow the island has gotten along just fine without such signs until now. Doesn’t anyone in local government with oversight of Public Works understand that the great majority of us came to Orcas Island for its beauty and rural character? That we want to see that character preserved, not steadily eroded by misguided projects?
The idea of seeking grant money “just because it’s there” is inappropriate if the net result is to damage the beauty and culture of the island. There are better uses of those funds, whether they come from Washington or Olympia.
And who thought it was a great idea to post those “scenic drive” signs? As if tourists can’t figure out for themselves on this relatively small island that virtually every major road is a “scenic drive”.
The Public Works Department not only needs to take a breather, it and our County Council and County Engineer need to show more respect for the wishes of Orcas residents, and the reasons we choose to live here, and stop trying to urbanize our island just because “the grant money is available”.
Several years ago the County Engineer designed a fix to the storm damaged bulkhead in front of the West Sound Community Club that eliminated 40% of the public parking for the County Dock, again ignoring community input . Because Federal funds were used, the design, which supposedly treats road runoff, doesn’t allow for parking. Ironically, as I’ve noticed several times when driving by in the rain, the road runoff doesn’t go through the filter which cost us our parking spaces, it runs down the road and puddles in front of the dock.
Ditto. What she said, and he said, and she said. Why is my neighborhood now littered with big, ugly, yellow “DEAD END” street signs every few feet? I used to enjoy the scenery on that last stretch of North Beach Road, but now I’m faced with a string of bright, yellow eyesores against the greenery. The bridge “improvement” in Deer Harbor sounds ridiculous. LEAVE awkward trees that slow people down, and LEAVE the roads crooked. This is a remote ISLAND – and it should resemble one. Why are these meetings held in the middle of the work day, instead of when most people can attend?
And absolutely quash that idea of putting “2 hour parking” signs in Eastsound!!!
YES, Thea!! Another ridiculous idea!!
I’m a newbie homeowner on Orcas and will only have the pleasure of being there about 1/3 of the time, at least for now. But I’ve been visiting for 35 years, and have seen way too much “progress” in terms of guard rails, dead end signs, street widening, etc. When I read the term “transit hub” in a recent article about Eastsound, I about choked. I live in Newark, Delaware. We just had a “transit hub” put in a couple of years ago, in a town of 25,000-40,000 residents, depending on if University of Delaware is in full session. It seems to me that certain folks in the San Juans want to have all that the “big cities” have, when believe me, you really don’t need all the bells and whistles that the big cities have, at all.
I would think that a “Transit Hub” in Eastsound would be a couple bike racks and a picnic table. That model seems to be in place all over eastsound currently with astute business owners taking the initiative. Seems we are entering an era of “Money looking for a Cause”. I know plenty of causes in need of money. Lets support what we have, not spread our valuable resources out more than they already are.
The roads on Orcas are extremely dangerous for bicycles. Most residents of Orcas are aware of that, including those who want to keep the “quaint” condition of the roads (i.e. winding, narrow, shoulder-less, and with many hazards). The trouble is, of course, the increasingly high volume of car and bike traffic that these roads weren’t built for.
Most people see the Mt. Baker road as a definite improvement. I remember driving this road to work daily, with joggers, cyclists, sightseers, and baby strollers on the narrow roadway, with nowhere to go when car and truck traffic passed!
The giant trees within inches of the traffic lanes will only get bigger; meaning, of course, that the traffic lane will get narrower (and more dangerous)!
People need to get realistic. Ask friends and family of Nate Tyler (2009 Channel Road casualty) or Gitte Sofaers (2008 Cascade Lake casualty) if they would like guardrails in these two locations.
Dan Christopherson
I do not know where to begin. The transit hub is an idiot idea. That county owned lot should be a one way street with diagonal parking on both sides. If we can have a one lane bridge at the south end of the park we can have a one lane bridge in Deer Harbor.
The problem here is with the Commissioners.These mad bureaucrats all work for the Commissioners.The Commissioners have a final say over almost everyone in FH and can kill almost anything if they have the backbone.
Naomi and I moved to Lopez in the fall of 1992. A few days later I had an epiphany and came right home and told Naomi. “This is just a rich suburb that you get to by boat.” It is well off people who are pulling the strings just as on the National Level. That is why you have Rick Hughes and not Lisa Byers.
I in no way am disparaging the well off. The well off on Orcas are extremely generous making a seat at Orcas Center or The Chamber Music Festival affordable but if the well off do not pressure the Commissioners you will see no action.
Unfortunately, my epiphany in 1992 is more true than ever. The flavor of Orcas being a working class place with “Some well off people” has become Mostly well off people with the working class shrinking away. Being well off tends to be insular and the biggest losers here are the well off because their ability to mingle with the working classes is disappearing. This all may seem off topic but it strikes to the heart of the problem: “The Bellevue-isation of Orcas.
The fact that if you can’t make a show at the Orcas Center you get no refund even though they will sell your ticket again is a prime example.
I will close here with my final comment said in commoners language. If you really want action and not just handwringing call Rick Hughes and tell him to “GROW A PAIR AND SHUT THIS MADNESS DOWN”.
In the private sector people get fired. No one ever gets fired in San Juan County Government.
I agree that Orcas roads are dangerous for bicyclists, and for some reason people think it’s a wonderful place to ride, and many organized tours and tourists come here to do so. I tell people the opposite – don’t come here and ride, it’s extremely dangerous. Perhaps Shaw is safer? Are we going to modify all of the roads on Orcas in order to make the entire island safer for bicyclists? That seems like a massive project that would change the look of the whole island. In my experience, wider, smoother, more open roads = cars driving faster. And yet, I understand that part of the charm of living here is alternative transportation, and many people enjoy riding their bikes to get around instead of a car. Is there a way to make the island safer for bicyclists without making the island look like suburbia?
Take a look at Mt. Baker Road right now. Th grass has grown back, walkers and joggers using the pathway, cyclists safely riding on the shoulder. Does it really look that different? It sure is safer! It had to be regraded and repaved anyway because of the roadbed condition. I don’t think it looks like suburbia. It really doesn’t take “massive projects” to make the roads safer. Just a few reasonable and necessary improvements.
Dan–
I agree that the roads on Orcas are less than ideal for bicyclists–though visiting bicyclists don’t seem to agree, I would be hesitant to ride on some of them. I observe the practice of giving bicyclists the right of way, waiting until there is a safe place to pass them, but that seems to be ignored by many of late, including tourists new to narrow roads. The Planning Commission has sought in the past to work on plans that would separate bike and pedestrian traffic from the roads, which in some places cannot be widened to the urban model of road lane+ bike lane+ pedestrian lane–like the Eastsound bike bypass but with bike and ped. trails over rights of way on old roads and utility easements, etc. This approach would provide an optimal experience for all travelers. For some reason, the Council and Planning Department have not given that assignment to the Planning Commission. I don’t see how this conflicts with keeping our “quaint” conditions of the roads. Tourist bikers I have spoken with have expressed disappointment that the roads are being changed–widened and guard-railed. They too like the country roads.
I can see that part of Mount Baker Road is an improvement–the separate traffic lanes for peds and bikes, for examples, are features well worth having. And the road needed repaving. Why that translated into a $3 million project with repeated cost overruns is a puzzle. The road itself however resembles nothing so much as a major airport runway, with all the charm stripped away AND a curious lane shift added.
I disagree that the giant trees on the roadside will make the road more dangerous. People have driven those roads for 50 years with a remarkably small number of accidents, and the accidents that have occurred are overwhelmingly the result of alcohol, drugs, and/or speeding. The fact is that the speed limits and common sense dictate that people drive rural roads with a lot more caution than in the city. The problem is when people ignore these limits and common sense. I suggest that no matter how “safe” we seek to make our roads (wider! straighter! faster!) at the expense of our basic rural lifestyle, there will always be people who speed or drive drunk or drive too fast for conditions.
The two unfortunate instances that you cited involved–if I recall the reports correctly–a late night speeding car that hit ice, possibly with alcohol involved, and an older woman who was anxiously driving home in a full-on snowstorm. These were unfortunate but not common occurrences. Thousands of people drive those roads weekly without incident. And have done so for 50+ years.
Guardrails cut both ways; they narrow and remove escape points for non-motorized road users. And the question was why we couldn’t use alternative guardrail systems such as the very local and historic model used in Moran State Park.
I’m looking for some older pictures of Mount Baker Road to answer your question, does it look that different, because I think it does.
As someone say earlier, much of this is money looking for a project. Not good policy.
Janis–I think there is a way to protect bicyclists and pedestrians better, and this involves off road trails utilizing rights-of-way owned by the county or utilities rather than superhighways. The Planning Commission asked Council to be allowed to reconcile the various plans that have floating around, each by a group with different interests, but this has not occurred.
While I do not want super highways on Orcas, the fact is that people want to enjoy the beauty that Orcas is and bicyclists are a low pollution tourist invasion. The bicyclists support our local businesses which make it possible for them to exist through the winter for our benefit. Remember, on Orcas summer for a retailer is like Christmas for the main stream retailers on the mainland. Many of our roads are extremely dangerous. A completely independent bike and hiking trail is unlikely to ever happen.