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03/07/2007: "Land Bank Has Lots For Sale in FH"

(Land Bank lots outlined in orange are for sale)

The Land Bank has offered to sell a group of four commercial/residential lots in Friday Harbor it purchased in 2003. The asking price is $1,070,000.00. All purchase proposals will be evaluated by the land Bank Commission, and the sale of the property will also be subject to approval by the County Council. There is a requirement that in designing structures on the property the developer must follow Friday Harbor's Historic Preservation Guidelines(Large File!).

The original purpose of the Land Bank's acquisition of the Argyle lots was to "protect the historic integrity of the oldest residential neighborhood in the Town of Friday Harbor" by placing preservation and conservation easements on the properties that would " restrict future uses and development that could compromise the historic and cultural integrity of the neighborhood".

Sometime between the time the property was purchased, and now offered for sale, the goal of protection easements became defined as simply following "historic guidelines" as the property is developed. How, exactly, that will be done, and/or enforced, is not stated in the intent to sell statement.


When asked why the commercial use of the property had not been restricted, since the Argyle area was historically residential -and still contains a large number of historical houses- Nancy Harvey Jones, the Vice-Chair of the Land Bank told The Island Guardian that "the Town wanted the Land Bank to retain the commercial use of the property".

The Land Bank purpose as stated in the Land Bank ordinance is to "preserve in perpetuity….environmental, agricultural, aesthetic, cultural, scientific, historic, scenic or low-intensity recreational value, and …potable water"; the word "commercial" does not appear in any part of the voter approved ordinance that created the Land Bank.

This is not the first time the Land Bank has flirted with commercial forces. When the County purchased the La Farge Beach (next to Jackson Beach) on San Juan Island, the Land Bank initially was identified as a part of the possible funding source for the County, but the Land Bank later backed away from involvement when it became apparent the County wanted to use the beach for possible use as a commercial barge landing and material storage area for Public Works (which PW is now using for gravel storage). .

The Land Bank under past leadership was slow to divest acquired properties, but shortly after Lincoln Bormann took over as Director, he informed the former County Commissioners that it was his intention to be more active in following one of the "purposes" of the Land Bank, which is to "first consider conservation easements or other nonfee interests as the method to achieve the purpose(s) of the proposed acquisition.".

True to his word, Bormann and the Land Bank Commission (LBC) have set about to do just that with the Argyle Lots. If they also, when all is said and done, end up limiting the use of the property to only residential housing, still remains to be seen; but so far the LBC's view of their stated "purpose" may not include the original vision of a Land Bank as it still exists today in the ordinance that was passed. after Sam Buck senior presented the idea of a small tax to be used to preserve property in SJ County, the idea was pushed by then County Commissioner Tom Cowan (a current LBC member), and in 1990 the voters approved the proposal for a new tax to fund the Land Bank.