10/01/2009: "Erickson Property Purchase By Ag Guild Still In The Works"

( Erickson property in Friday Harbor)

(10-01-09) At 1:05 PM today the Town Council will receive an update regarding funding for a permanent year around Farmer’s Market in Friday Harbor.

The update is expected to include discussion on the legal limits for the use of $400,000.00 of Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) funds to help purchase the Erickson property in downtown Friday Harbor.

This is an ongoing discussion between the SJI Agriculture Guild and the Town, which has until recently received only a lukewarm reception from the Town and County Councils, and from the Washington State Auditor's Office.

While Lovel Pratt is best known as one of the two members of the County Council representing San Juan Island, she is also employed on an hourly basis as the Project Director of the San Juan Islands Agriculture Guild.

Director Pratt showed up at the September 17 Town Council meeting to make a new pitch for Town LTAC funds. One of the problems -and there are more than one- with awarding any of the funds for a land purchase, is a written opinion from the Washington State Auditor’s Office stating “the Town needs to do a more convincing job of supporting why this is a Tourism related facility.”

The Land Bank also is willing to play a role in the purchase, to the tune of $600,000.00; with the understanding they may “at some point” receive back $200,000.00 from the Ag Guild.

Lincoln Bormann is the Director of the Land Bank, and he followed Pratt in addressing the Council, stating that “this may seem like a strange thing for the Land Bank to do, but in fact we have a very broad mission.”

The potential problem for the Land Bank is the question of just how “broad a mission” do they have, and for Pratt it is the question of her involvement when, as a County Commissioner she votes to approve the Land Bank budget, or steps back from voting when the Land Bank budget comes before the Council.

At the County level -and this where it may get a little dicey for Pratt to be involved- there have been questions raised about the role of the SJC Land Bank contributing $600,000.00 to the project in the 2008 budget; even if the Agricultural Guild is “to reimburse at some point, under contract, the Land Bank $200,000.00 dollars.” (Related Story ). However, Bormann points out "Although the 2008 budget which included this item was structured as you stated, after considerable review the Land Bank Commission decided to reduce our participation to $400k for the purchase of a historic preservation and conservation easement on the property."

In any case, the Town Council voted to move forward in awarding $400,000.00 toward the purchase, however the State will have to sign off on it as an appropriate use of tax money. Sadie Armijo of the State Auditors Office wrote in an email to the Town Administrator King Fitch that “having the Tourism Bureau in the building (the Erickson building)…would help to support the property being a tourism related facility.”