The County Council will continue deliberations on the Orcas Village Plan, nearly 10 years in the making, next week, following a public hearing of the plan at the County Council meeting Aug. 12 at the Orcas Center in Eastsound.

Colin Maycock, Senior Planner on the Orcas Village project, presented the three proposed land use districts in the plan as: 1) a transportation area of 4.3 acres; 2) a commercial area of 12 acres; and 3) a residential area.

Maycock said the development standards were a compromise to remain consistent with existing small buildings and potential development.

The Transportation district would allow a 4,000 square-foot retail building with a 2,000 square foot “footprint” on the acreage.

Residences, which now average about 2,000 square feet, will be limited to 4,000 square feet.

Maycock described traffic as the central issue of the Village plan – the number of vehicles, parking, and overflow holding and traffic patterns related to the Washington State Ferries (WSF).

He cited a 2001 Transportation and Circulation Plan and said that in the past 17 years, 23 accidents had occurred in the first mile of the road from the ferry landing to Eastsound.

Maycock said that parking and holding lane overflows were primarily a problem in the summer, that the existing parking lot has 36 spaces, and that the Transportation district (on property owned by WSF) is “large enough for a building developed to provide entertainment with attendant parking.”

Transportation Consultant Bill Eager, retained by Orcas Village residents, said that the 2001 study mentioned was “not adequate for development and planning, and that on an average day between Memorial Day in May and Labor Day in September, vehicles exceeded the capacity of the ferry holding lot 34 times.”

Eager criticized the commercial development of the transportation district, saying there was no consideration of access to the site, and that serious site distance problems existed.

During the public comment period, residents of the village and nearby areas spoke of the traffic congestion and safety concerns at Orcas Village, and the spillover affect into Victorian Valley Road, which is a private road.

Catherine Ellis expressed concerns for emergency services for island residents east of the ferry landing, especially during periods of high congestion due to ferry loading and off-loading.

Ed Sutton voiced his concerns from four different perspectives: as a statistical marketing analyst, as Chair of the San Juan’s Ferry Advisory Council (FAC) as a commercial truck driver, and as a commissioner for the Eastsound Sewer and Water District, which is in the process of formalizing the annexation of Orcas Village sewer area into its district.

“For six to eight times a day for 20 to 30 minutes, your community is heavily impacted by ferry traffic,” Sutton said, urging the Council to tackle the parking and traffic problems of the village.

He said that the plan to off-load traffic up the hill adjacent to the ferry holding lanes would not be feasible. “If you drive a 80-foot semi up the hill, running the risk of pitching the load, we’ll ignore that,” he said. “The plan needs a lot more work.”

Later Sutton clarified that he was speaking specifically of the transportation element of the plan, and that he was in full support of the Council approving the Land Use aspect of the plan.

Orcas resident and WSF employee Bob Gamble told the council, “I beg you to get [the Village Plan] into place. Let the road people and the ferries work out the travel problems.” Gamble said the current plan was a land use plan, which had been scheduled for completion by the county in 1995. “We’ve waited for 18 years – far too long.” Gamble, current Chair of the county Planning Commission, said that he spoke as an individual and not as a representative of the Commission.

The Council decided to hold off on deliberations until the Aug. 19 meeting at 3 p.m. so that staff could research the public comments brought up during the public comment period.

At the Aug. 19 meeting, public comment as well as written testimony was accepted. The Council may continue deliberations past that date.