||| FROM FRED KLEIN |||
Among the first consequences of the implementation of Phase One of the present plan for the improvements on Prune Alley will be the cutting down of the five trees which are located between the two entry ways to Island Market.
For a broader understanding of the Prune Alley project go to: https://theorcasonian.com/
The perceived benefit from removal of these trees will be the retention of three of the four existing on-street parking spaces and the ability to have a sidewalk straight as an arrow from Main Street all the way to High School Road.
Replacement of these trees on the private property of Island Market is unlikely due to the adjacent location of the bio-filtration / rain garden which pre-treats the parking lot runoff before it drains into East Sound. Unfortunately when Island Market was built, there was a surveying error which mis-located the existing curb and sidewalk. The present improvement plan will correct that error.
Elimination of 3 parking spaces will allow a jog in the sidewalk and these 5 trees can be preserved.
Although our Eastsound Street Standards include provisions for “no parallel parking”, since those Standards have been ignored in the present plan, this option, which would allow these now more than 30 year old trees to remain, was not utilized. Apparently the value of three vehicle parking spaces exceeds the value of the five street trees in the eyes of the planners…?…or perhaps the planners were unwilling to deviate from that seductive, straight line sidewalk. Q: Do these value judgements reflect community priorities?
In the Grand Scheme of Prune Alley, this aspect of the project is just a minor component, but it’s indicative of the priorities which are driving this project. I have no idea to what extent consideration was given to altering the proposed location for the new sidewalk. But what I do know is that back in 2012-13 when EPRC prepared the overall sketch plan, these trees were preserved. Just how much of a change would be necessary to accomplish that?
Unfortunately, due to the impatience and frustration of Councilmen Stephens and Watson, Council has approved the project contingent upon NO changes being made from what is described in the KGB Engineering drawings, documents deemed to be 60% complete. While Council notes that significant sums have been spent for consultants, I suggest that most of this money has gone towards the basic, essential engineering and survey fieldwork for the project, and is unrelated to the aesthetic considerations which many in the community are finding to be so objectionable.
Our Orcas Councilman and the current members of EPRC, all of whom, with the best of intentions, fully support the project in its present form. On the other side of the coin…minus the glitz at the intersections and the addition of street trees on the east side, it seems clear to me that virtually everyone would support a project for safe, ADA-compliant sidewalks and curbs, under-grounding of overhead wiring, upgraded storm water management system, elimination of 90 degree parking which backs into the travel lanes, and additional landscaping.
Apparently there’s no “Pause” button in the machinery of SJC government. What will it take to achieve a sensible outcome without totally derailing the project since the other two Councilmen are now threatening to press the “Delete” key? I truly believe that our Orcas Councilman, one who has fought hard for County funding of Orcas projects and deserves our congratulations for his efforts, would love to see a project move forward which has the full support of the whole Orcas community.
Ironically those very trees mitigate the charmless view of parked cars to be seen from the new Island Market seating area.Seasonal harbingers ,pink clouds that surprise , canopies of green and bronze ,wind bent branches. Only when they are gone will you realize how much you noticed them and miss them.
“They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.”
Could there be a better time to apply the brakes here? Fix the infrastructure and put in sidewalks, while keeping/adding trees, and walk away. Frankly, I don’t much care whether two people who don’t live here have had a hissy fit.
The priorities for this project are misplaced. It seems a simple trade off to save the trees.
Yes, we could lose a few parking spaces and save the trees.
It is sad to see the Prune Alley project favoring pavement and concrete over the calming presence of beautiful street trees. Trees provide many benefits to streetscapes studies have shown.
Thanks to Fred for his clear reasoning and calm analysis. As a longtime resident and local shopper, I would sorely miss those trees–and confess that I’ve never parked in the area in question. I fully favor preserving the look and feel of North Beach Road, beloved to locals and visitors, when Prune Alley is finally upgraded, as well as not having to walk in the street near The Kitchen due to the manner in which vehicles park along that bit of street.
Disgusted with the lack of care or thought for these trees that were so carefully planted and tended and provide shade, shelter, fruit in some cases, and habitat. (Incidentally, many trees can be moved successfully and PW should pay for this to be done, and for the trees to be cared for. until they are fully rooted – usually one year will do it. The best time to move them is Fall.)
What are we becoming? Here’s the truth straight no chaser: Public Works took the money from the state and feds because all of their projects are “grant driven.” Once you take the money, you have to dance… and now we HAVE TO widen road easements to 70 feet and put in curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and bike lanes on all streets in the UGA.
Our government officials had a hand in it, as did our planners, by gutting all protections, no matter the story they tell you. Eastsound is the sacrificial lamb. Our town will soon be a treeless wasteland with no shade or shelter or wildlife.
Call this an emotional rant or call it what it is – a plea to stop the carnage and consider Quality of Life and what trees do for us and our environment. Profit over people and the planet has got to end! Time for a shakedown in government here in the San Juans – we need people who won’t be bought or cowed by threats of lawsuitsby the moneyed used to getting their own way. This means we need to overhaul our regulations and put some teeth back into them! How many ways and how many times do we need to say NO, we don’t want this – before someone finally listens? Eastsound will soon win the booby prize for the ugliest town in the west if we keep going on this trajectory. I suppose we can always put up cell towers shaped like trees….
BTW, thank you, Fred Klein. Good article, well reasoned and I agree with you.
With regard to these FIVE trees, I’ve just learned from a local expert on Eastsound regulations that the planting of those trees may have been “required as a Condition of Approval of the Island Market parking lot. Those trees should not be removed. Doing so violates the Eastsound Plan for screening of parking areas.”
Why aren’t they considering MOVING the trees. I’ve seen the big trucks which scoop an entire tree out of the ground, to replant elsewhere. Is this option not even being discussed?
It’s mind numbing to think about the fact that the County is destroying five mature trees in town to save three parking spaces.
Jason: Yes, I have discussed that with island market…problem is that doing so would enchroach on the bio filtration area which is already undersized
No “pause” button available to County Council? All they have to do is say it’s paused. It’s not like we’ve had any major crises over the past year that would justify a pause and taking a fresh look later!
It is time to seriously consider one-way traffic going north on Prune Alley and returning south on North Beach Road. This would allow much more needed angle-in parking, room for bicycle traffic, and wider sidewalks than the skimpy five foot ones we have.
Dan: One way streets still require two travel lanes to accommodate emergency vehicles in the event one lane is blocked; while there may be traffic circulation benefits of having a one-way loop, creating one will not free up roadway to accommodate the elements that you’re suggesting.