by JENNIFER BRENNOCK

Sounder Correspondent

The dog park will keep its current home on Port of Orcas land for at least three years.

The Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, has asked the Port of Orcas to assign a specific end date to the temporary use of airport land by the Eastsound Off-Leash Dog Park.

“Our concern is the lease. Short-term, interim, temporary use is okay. But when we see a lease that is renewable, we’re gonna have a concern with that,” Timothy Shaw with the FAA said.

Shaw said the FAA would like to see the dog park’s lease ended by the next FAA inspection of the Port three years from now.

“The concern at the FAA is any ongoing recreation use on any aviation land would eventually become recreation land and we would then lose the power to proceed with an aviation project,” Shaw said.

“We’re here at the Port’s pleasure, and we understand that. It has worked out well,” Jeff Hanson of the Eastsound Off-leash Dog Park said.

Hanson said he would like to see the lease secured for the next five years instead, to give their nonprofit organization time to fundraise and seek another location.

Shaw also cited airport revenue and port self-sufficiency as part of the reason the dog park may not stay indefinitely. The land, which currently has no offers, is an airport asset and could be sold for non-aviation use at fair market value.

The port commissioners have tabled a motion to extend the dog park lease for five years pending approval of that timeline by the FAA.

“My understanding is the dog park knows it is temporary and they are continuing to look for another place,” Commissioner Ulanah McCoy said.

“This is property we don’t need for anything right now and it’s serving a very useful purpose. It’s a good use for the land we don’t need,” Commissioner Steve Hopkins said. “It seems like there are a lot more important things the FAA could be involved with right now, rather than worrying about a little dog park at a little airport.”

Shaw commented, “The downside we see is when it comes time to develop it for aviation, whether or not the Port will be able to do that. That was what the investment was for. It isn’t a huge issue as long as it ends sometime in the near future.”

“Obviously we’d like to have the opportunity to be here as long as [the land] is not for airport use,” Hanson said.

FAA asks port to terminate easement agreements

The FAA has asked the Port of Orcas to terminate agreements with landowners who have easement access to the port.

Shaw wants to see the current residents with easements supporting the airport as an airport tenant as well as prevent new through the fence residences.

“It has always been the policy of the FAA to oppose, but not necessarily dig in our heels on, through the fence residential for a number of reasons. This discussion has been going on since 1996. It’s not that this is out of the blue. We’re just now coming down hard on this,” Shaw said.

“I think the fuss is whether or not they’re paying what they should pay. It’s going to be an interesting battle,” Audrey Wells of Eastsound said.

Wells also noted that many properties were sold with deeded rights of access to the airport. “If they were owned by the airport, they could erase those rights and resell the properties without it,” Wells said.

The Port of Orcas owns the Orcas Island Airport. The port has improved and expanded since 1975 with the help of FAA funding. Currently, there are over 26 properties with deeded easements to the airport.

“What we need is some sort of an action plan to in some way resolve it. If there is not a plan they will be written noncompliant and they will not get the current grant,” Shaw said.

The most recent FAA grant the port has applied for provides funding for engineering and planning.

Chair Garth Eimers suggested the commissioners formulate a list of all the alternatives possible.

“As part of that process, I think we ought to enlist our neighbors,” Eimers said.

“We’re leaving this up to the airports to determine what they can and cannot do,” Shaw said.

“Every two years or so this issue comes up and the room gets packed,” added McCoy. “We have a huge pow-wow and it needs to be settled one way or the other so we don’t have to keep going through this.”

“This is not a policy that can be implemented without people getting hurt. We’re talking about people who have made investment in their property and our policy will take away from that,” Shaw said.

According to the Port of Orcas website, the port has thought of the residents of the port district as owners of the port since a tax levy was passed to support the airport in 1958.

“We would want to know that you have some control over who is coming on airport property,” Shaw said.

“We have discussed charging a fee before but we have no way to enforce it,” McCoy said.

The commission will be meeting in the port conference room on May 28 at 7 p.m. for a working session to gather input from the public.