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04/28/2009: "Official: Council To Move Forward With Sutton Road Transfer Station"

The vote is in, but where a new transfer station for San Juan Island ends up will likey be dependent on an agreement with the Town of Friday Harbor to allow the County to lease, and then buy, the Sutton Road site from the Town.

It took three hours and failed motions, but by 3:30pm on Tuesday, the County Council ended the day with a four to one vote to make Sutton Road the number one choice as a site for a new transfer station. Councilman Gene Knapp abstained on the vote, citing a need for more information, but appeared to otherwise be in favor of the motion.

The Council will now contact the Town of Friday Harbor to determine if a deal for a lease-option-to buy can be negotiated with the Town. If so, this will allow the County to move forward with making improvements to the Sutton Road site; improvements that will bring the site into compliance with the state DOE demands, and will be used in the final construction of a new transfer facility on the site.

But if the Town and the County cannot come to an agreement, then it is likely that Beaverton Valley will move up to the number one choice.

If so, there may be financial impacts. County Administrator Pete Rose responded to questions from the public and the Council on recouping some of the 1.8 million PW paid for Beaverton Valley. Rose said “A pathway can be devised to recover the Solid Waste investment” by “selling the Beaverton Valley site to the [Public Works] road fund, which would allow a “recovery of $800 thousand dollars.”

After the completion of a short staff report from Rose to the Council, Chair Rich Peterson started council discussion by stating "I think we are close to the moment of truth."


Lovel Pratt was the first to get the ball rolling by suggesting the council come to a consensus on a ranking of the sites, and said the Sutton Road was her first choice, followed by the Beaverton Valley site.

She then itemized a very long list of future reports for the staff to compile and present to the council, prior to a final selection of the ranked sites.

Councilman Howard Rosenfeld suggested that it was important to move quickly, and to do so an agreement will have to be made with the Town, or else the council will have to look at their second choice.

Councilmember Richard Fralick said that while consensus is a desirable thing, "there is a time to make a decision", and said "the time for a decision is now;" He then listed all of the reasons why Sutton Road was not his first choice.

Fralick read from prepared notes that listed “criteria that were important in my decision process.” His first concern was to have all of the offered services at one location, and to have collocation was also important. Cost was next on his list, and he finished up with the need for a facility that would be adequate for “growth into the futures.”

One notable criterion from his list was the ethical concept of fairness to property owners if a new facility is moved to a new location; a move that would likely reduce the property values of surrounding properties, while potentially increasing the value of the properties around the existing site.

Both Pratt and Peterson said one very important issue for them was the simple fact that the neighbors who purchased property near, or even shared a property line with the Sutton Road site, knew at the time of purchase that there was a landfill and a transfer station next door where people dumped their trash for transport by truck off of the island. Will they "go along with the process?"

Fralick later emphasized whatever the final decision ends up being, he would work hard to make it come to be, and then asked that the members of the public do the same, asking them "to go along with the process."