03/06/2006: "Not Much To Agree On"

(Ri Warren and Kevin Ranker before the SJ Board of Realtors)

The San Juan Board of Realtor had asked Planning Commissioner Ri Warren of Orcas Island to come and be their guest speaker at a recent business luncheon, and then also invited Councilman Kevin Ranker to speak as well. Commissioner Warren and her family had originally been one of the unfortunates that had found themselves caught in-between the SJ County appeal by the Friends of the provision in the regulations that allowed free-standing guest houses to be constructed, and the appeal by the Friends when Ranker was the Executive Officer of the group. Because of her successful fight to maintain the ability to have a guest house, she has become both an expert, and an advisor to others, on the history of the legal battles that have ensued, and she is also a spokesperson for the importance of allowing them.

Ri was first at the podium, and went over the history, starting with how and why guest houses have always been allowed in SJ County, and then gave the history of the Friends Appeals, the County's law suits to retain the right, and the current state of affairs of the County Council having presented to the Planning Commission a proposed ordinance to settle the matter out of Court; a proposal that had been drafted in executive session with the Friends (background story) , and that would severely restrict and reduce the construction of accessory dwelling units.

When Councilman Ranker spoke, he stated that at the time of the first appeal by the Friends in January of 1999, he had, as the Executive Officer of the Friends, written the appeal, and as a current Councilman also taken part in preparing the current proposed ordinance now before the Planning Commission, An ordinance which he called a "win-win" situation for the County; but Ri considered a "loss-loss" for the county, and a win-win for the Friends. Ranker's other comments showed there was little else they agreed on, including some of the bench-mark dates. Ranker told the group that he needed to correct the record about some of Ri's comments, such as that the proposed ordinance did not count ADUs as density, (a close reading shows it does count them as density, unless they are permitted by an ADU permit) and while Ri noted the Council had been advised by their attorney, Randy Gaylord, to not enter into an agreement with the Friends, but to wait for the Court of Appeals to come back with a decision, Ranker criticized Gaylord as one who has "zero authority" over the departments and is wasting tax money by "outsourcing the appeal to a Seattle law firm.

Ranker told the assembled group that he believed that San Juan County should be allowed to have free-standing guest houses. Given his past work with the Friends, this came as a surprise to some, but on this point, at least, Warren and Ranker agreed. Ranker also told the group that the Friends is deeply divided on the guest house subject, and the Friends organization may suffer as a result of their activism on the subject.