02/02/2007: "Objections, But FH Accepts WSF "Plan""

It has taken 18 months and nearly a quarter of a million of State dollars (related story), but after two meetings on Thursday the Friday Harbor Town Council decided to, not approve, but "accept" the Washington State Ferries (WSF) Draft Friday Harbor Master Plan for the Friday Harbor Ferry Terminal, even though the Council member's had pages of questions, suggestions and objections to the Plan, including a number of times labeled as "wrong".

Not to worry the Council was told by Port Commissioner Greg Hertel, representing both the Port and the Intermodal Transportation Committee, and Bob Distler, a member of the State Transportation Commission, for while the Plan is based on some projections that they believe are "subject to great debate" at the State level, the Plan is not a design, but simply a gathering of possible plans to address the problem of how to speed up the unloading and loading of cars and people, to come closer to the 20 minutes it takes in Seattle, instead of the 50 minutes it takes in Friday Harbor.

Not all of the Council members were convinced the Plan was a very good one, and questioned why it takes so much money to come up with a draft plan they are now told is not what may happen, and only the future will dictate what part of it, if any, will be appropriate, and there are no estimates of cost for any of the options.

Council member Carrie Brooks wondered why the Town could not solve the problem without the help of the State, and pointed to a proposal they had been presented with from local citizens that she felt was worth considering, and said the Town could simply do it now, and not sometime in the distant future This brought Bob Distler out of chair as he told the Council "I am astounded that at this point other elements are being now discussed" and dismissed the local proposal as not being the work of an engineer.

Council member Debbi Emery was the most vocal and concerned, expressing both in writing and verbally her fear that the town was in danger of become one large parking lot for the ferry system, and joined Brooks in concern the Plan had cost too much and did not identify a funding source for construction. Like Brooks, Emery felt the money spent on the Plan would have been better spent in solving the problem at the local level. In her submitted comments, Emery wrote "I encourage the resurrection of the Inter-Modal study group, coming to home-grown solutions for limiting the dwell time for ferries in Friday Harbor".

With Emery casting the lone vote against, stating that "accepting the Plan" was doing just that: accepting it", and there were things in the Plan that go beyond what is needed. The Council decide to go forward with accepting the plan, but would include a list of the items in the plan they agreed with. Which only turned out to be a small number of items.

They came to consensus that they wanted to continue to work with the State as a partner; that cars and people should be separated, and this should be done by walkways or ramps; there should be some review of how bicycles are loaded and unloaded; there should be continued use of the extension of rounded sidewalk corners that protrude out for benches; there should be two lanes for loading and unloading; an additional upper lot holding area should be obtained by purchase or lease for "park & ride" use; and there should be no net-loss of parking in town; and they agreed that Sunken Park should be left alone.

A letter will be drafted for Council review, and then presented to WSF as their formal response to the Plan.