||| FROM BARBARA, TED, AND PETER HUSTED |||
Dear County Council, County Mgr, and Community Planner:
Public works is planning a future for Shaw Island that it neither asked for nor wants. This future would include heavy industrial activity inconsistent with the spirit and intent of the Shaw Subarea Plan.
30 Years ago, 80% of the Shaw community voted ‘to protect the quiet, rural environment that results from limited commercial activity and a limited transportation network’. Contrary to this Statement of Purpose in the Shaw Subarea Plan, Public Works has filed an application for an A to Z industrial zone on Neck Point Rd.
In their application, they say that their proposal “allows for more uses beyond the industrial needs of Public Works. In the event the County sells the property in the future and another entity choses to develop it, it could e subject to a wide range of uses.”
This ‘wide range of uses’ could include a concrete batch plant, like the one at Beavertown Valley on SJ Island, a wrecking yard, a recycling center, or any kind of heavy industrial use. Instead of developing an 11-acre parcel at considerable further expense that Public Works admits exceeds its needs, the county should meet the infrequent need for maintenance and repair of Shaw’s few roads by continuing to use the existing site with a little ingenuity and a dose of public good will.
The Public Works Department would save the county and taxpayers well over a million dollars that could be used elsewhere while preserving Shaw’s residential character. As Public Works also admitted, it can manage with the site it now has for at least the next twenty years.
For these reasons we oppose this application and ask that the Public Works request for an Essential Public Facility at 1427 Neck Point Road be denied. We want to keep Shaw Shaw!
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
