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02/02/2005: "San Juan Business Park Hearing to be Re-Scheduled"

A commercial development has been proposed on five acres of land near the south end of the Friday Harbor airport. Terry Lush and Inter Island Enterprises have applied for a Commercial Use permit to construct four commercial and industrial buildings, with a total of 40,000 square feet of floor space, plus some additional covered storage buildings. The projected number of potential workers has listed as 24. The proposed use of the structures includes automotive and repair, with associated equipment space, and retail sales. Up to 71 parking spaces will be provided.

The projection of possible use also included a stationary lumber mill, but that has now been removed as an item, The remaining proposal includes uncovered outdoor storage for construction and landscaping materials, including raw materials for concrete production.

The County Uniform Development Code provides for an application submission for such a development as a condition use. A conditional use simply means that if the application is approved, it may have conditions put on it to control any negative Impacts that the County may feel needs to be addressed. Such conditions will often result from expressed concerns, not only by the permitting agency, but also from citizens; most frequently from the local neighbors. There has been -as one might expect- some organized opposition to the proposal by some in the neighborhood, and the law firm of Gordon-Thomas has been retained to present their collective views on the development application. The opponents believe (as outlined in a widely distributed email) that the proposal is out of balance with what most of the island (and County) population wants. The applicants believe that with proper screening and controls the impacts will not be negative. On January 27 the SJC Community Development & Planning staff report to the Hearing Examiner was released. The final recommendation of the report was for a denial of the conditional use permit, and to return the application for a re-consideration by the applicants of the issues that have been raised by the Staff Report. The matter was to be heard by the Hearing Examiner on February 4th , however due to a request from the applicant, the hearing is expected to be rescheduled, possibly as late as March

Stay tuned for future reporting on this application.