||| FROM JASON HENSELL |||
Hello San Juan County Council,
I noticed two things last September at the Orcas ferry landing, but waited to mention this in the hope that maybe there was some mistake that had yet to be corrected… Unfortunately, nothing has happened, and I feel obligated to bring this to your attention.
Last summer/fall (2023) San Juan County installed a float at the Orcas Ferry landing and finished the Accessible parking area for the landing above. It was touted as a major public works project, so I did a public records request to see if perhaps I was missing something, but no luck. After seven months of delay from the records request, I believe that San Juan county installed the float without a permit. AND installed the ADA parking incorrectly.
I noticed there are several items here that are incompatible with state, federal and local regulations, and conflicts with the entire idea of accountability for our county government. Let me just list a few:
- Permits are required for float replacement, and SJC knows this because they enforce the regulations, yet as of the PRR on September 6th of 2023, no permit application had been submitted to Army Corps of Engineers, WDFW, DNR or even SJC itself. In fact, the PRR exposed a code enforcement letter from WDFW dated the same day as the PRR. The hypocrisy is astounding.
- The Hearing examiner conclusion and conditions for the approval of the Shoreline substantial development permit for the ADA parking and other work required that SJC get permits, for and approval from local, state and federal agencies with jurisdiction of the work. Including a building permit, and have inspections for ADA final compliance. This has yet to happen…
- WSF entered into contract with SJC for the upgrades at the ferry landing:
- Not only did SJC fail to get the required permits for the above work, BUT the final ADA inspection ALSO hasn’t been completed, and if it had, you would know that the parking spots do not comply with the Accessibility requirements set forth in ANSI 117.1.
- ADA/ANSI 117.1 Section 502.5 covers parking spaces and they shall not have a cross slope greater than 1:48 or 2% The elevations have been examined with GPS equipment and shown below with the slope. The lowest slope is 8.28% and the worst slope is almost 12%.
- In addition, the preliminary documents for Phase I and II clearly show that SJC Public works knew the elevations at the ADA parking spaces PRIOR TO design and construction. This could have been addressed in the construction phase and leveled properly to comply with the slope requirements of the ADA/ANSI 117.1 standards.
I still do not see a building permit for the work the county did here. Do you know that it does not comply with the ADA/ANSI standards required for handicap parking? Do you realize that this opens the county up for a lawsuit because this error violates the Civil Rights of Disabled citizens?
Among other things I’d like to know how was it allowed to happen, how the county intends to fix this? And how do you intend to prevent it from happening again? I am so disappointed I’m beside myself with frustration. I expected better than this.
Grading marks at ADA parking Orcas ferry landing
001 Orcas Island Ferry Terminal ADA Parking Improvements GCB 3441 – Executed
Hearing examiner ruling NOV 22 2017 PSJ000-17-00012
Orcas Ferry landing elevation diagram ADA parking
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Thank you for spotting the issues and bringing them to the attention of the public. It does seem the County should have gotten a JARPA for repair or replacement of the floats.
A bit of context for those who are unaware: Jason Hensell is a former County Planning Dept employee who was fired for good reason several years ago. Ever since he has been waging a one-man war of retribution against the County, primarily through voluminous public records requests. He may very well have a point about lack of permitting or complications with these projects- but it is important that we all keep in mind the direction and intensity of his agenda as well.
WOW Bill, totally off the mark here:
Firstly, I was fired without cause because the director didn’t like being told what he was doing was illegal.
Secondly, I have no personal war against the county, and you have no idea what you are talking about.
Thirdly, I have only done 5 public records requests at the county looking for records related to docks or building permits for clients, so again you have no idea what you are talking about.
Fourth, I take great pride in my time at the county helping the citizens of SJC, and continue to so now as a private citizen helping customers navigate the bureaucracy of our local planning regulations. It saddens me greatly to see the level of ineptitude displayed here.
Ask anyone that knows me and you’ll see that your comments are not even close to reality…
This post is about the county and what they seem to have failed to do properly, it’s not about me.
Respectfully,
Jason Hensel
I don’t know Jason Hensell or anything about him.
I can confirm that the valuable parking spaces reserved for disabled persons in this project are not being used.
As a disabled person (3 hip replacements) I can see why. The spaces are tipped crosswise at an angle that makes it awkward to exit a vehicle with a cane and nearly impossible for a wheelchair. To reach Orcas Village Store from those spaces requires navigating a fairly steep sidewalk before crossing the ferry ramp at an angle that is perpendicular to the sidewalk and frequently subject to ferry traffic. That can be a challenge for even those of us with moderate disability.
I drive by this project nearly every day on my way to the post office. I have never seen anyone parked there. Something like 30-minute short-term parking for non-disabled persons would seem to make more sense than then the current situation.
Speaking from my experience in CA which may not be correct in WA:
There is a requirement for an 18″ or 24″ egress lane between each set of two parking spaces.
Also, from the picture I don’t see how the sidewalk comes close to ADA compliant….slope, landing etc.
Is it illegal to post something as ADA, inviting someone to use it as ADA when it doesn’t come close to meeting the ADA requirements? Wide open for lawsuit?
I have no comment regarding the ADA parking, but I DO want to register a complaint about the lighting installed at the same location. IT”S TOO BRIGHT. Like many older people, I have developed a sensitivity to bright lights, especially the intense blue headlights of the last few years. I wear blue-blocker glasses to protect my eyes but the the streetlights at those parking spaces shine directly into the eyes of everyone coming up the ramp from the ferry. One of my favorite parts of island life is the minimum of wasteful, ecologically disruptive lighting. We evolved in a world that was DARK AT NIGHT. 100 years of electric lights extending the daytime into the night is insufficient time for us to adapt. Many cities never, ever get dark. What does that do to the circadian rhythms of those city dwellers? What does 24/7 light do to the insects and birds? I am under no illusion that America will ever turn off their lights voluntarily but when the lights do go off anyway, there will be many beings that breathe a sigh of relief. We did just fine with the ferry landing the way it was prior to this foolishly conceived and (perhaps) illegally constructed boondoggle. Tear it out and do it right. And can we please have discreet lighting that is only on when people are actually using it? There could be directed lights on 3′ tall bollards that would be entirely adequate for illumination of ADA parking without blinding everyone getting off the ferry or driving past. Who was responsible for this project?