Scheduled for early Thursday morning, August 11
On Thursday, August 11 between about 5 a.m. and 9 a.m., Nickel Bros. House Movers is scheduled to transport a one-story house from Deer Harbor to Eastsound. Bob and Phyllis Henigson have donated the building to OPAL Community Land Trust.
The structure will travel a route beginning on Windward Lane in Deer Harbor, along Deer Harbor Road, Crow Valley Road, Nordstrom’s Lane, Orcas Road, Mt. Baker Road and North Beach Road to Commercial Park Road (near the storage units) in Eastsound.
The house is 25 feet wide and may cause temporary traffic slow downs. Nickel Bros. will have front and rear pilot cars and flaggers to alert drivers to the house move. Vehicles will be allowed to pass in places where there is enough room for them to do so, the Nickel Bros. staff notes, and they are very sensitive to people who are “stuck behind a moving house” and will do whatever is possible to minimize delays. Nickel Bros. has been working closely with San Juan County Public Works to coordinate this move. A safety officer will be on hand. In cases of emergency, vehicles will be able to pass more quickly.
“We are hoping to get the word out to as many as possible that this move is scheduled to happen next Thursday morning,” states Lisa Byers, OPAL executive director. “People who are planning to take the early ferry or coming to Eastsound for work may want to consider alternate routes, if possible. Once the house is on Crow Valley Road, cars will be able to detour around the house,” she notes.
She adds, “It will greatly improve and speed up the process if there are no vehicles parked in front of the Deer Harbor Marina area. We’d like to make this point to the general public, but especially to the neighbors who’ll need to go through that area.”
OPAL had been planning on moving the dwelling later in the year, but the unexpected availability of the house moving crew triggered a more aggressive August schedule for bringing the house along the busy commuter route.
The residence is being stored in Eastsound for a few months prior to being located on Oberon Lane where it will be renovated to provide another permanently affordable home for the island community.
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