The fire hall was crowded last week as islanders gathered to comment on the future of Eastsound via amendments being made on the subarea plan for the town.
“This is one of the most important documents we have,” said San Juan County Council Chairman Rick Hughes. “We need to weigh in on how we want to see things in our community.”
Hughes and Community and Development and Planning Senior Planner Colin Maycock hosted the open house at the Eastsound Fire Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 29 to discuss the proposed changes to the Eastsound Subarea Plan that will shortly come before the planning commission.
Maycock said one of the main reasons that the changes are happening now is because the document has not been updated in a long time and there are many items that are not consistent with county regulations.
Also, the Eastsound Planning Review Committee has been requesting the update for six years. The EPRC has met monthly for two years to collect information and discuss possibilities for the updated plan.
“We want to simplify and clear up confusion,” said Hughes about his main agenda for updating the plan.
Some of the major changes addressed at the meeting include land use lists versus land use tables for clear standards of what can and can’t be done, retail allowances in the Service Light Industrial District and possibilities for a-frame sign locations.
There is also added language referring to artisan products, which will make it possible for small businesses to manufacture items in their stores. For instance, if the bike shop in town wants to build a bike they can do so under the artisan products section in the plan.
An item of interest at the meeting was the changes to rules regarding retail in the Service Light Industrial District located near Mt. Baker road where businesses like NAPA and Island Hoppin’ Brewery are located.
For example, Maycock said, Home Depot and its need for storage would not be appropriate in town whereas a small book-selling operation would work better in the downtown core.
One community member asked if there was a Home Depot in Eastsound. Hughes answered there was not. The comment was followed by a discussion between Eastsound business owner Errol Speed and Maycock over the regulations of that defined appropriate storage.
The existing plan currently states that retail is allowed in the district with “substantial storage space or incidental to another allowable use.” Maycock said it’s unclear as to what incidental means.
“The issue is what does this mean?” Maycock said, referring to the subarea plan’s lack of clear definition.
With the help of the EPRC, Maycock said there are three new criteria added to the plan to answer the question: is retail allowed in the district?
The three criteria are:
1. Only if related to other allowed uses.
2. If the business requires substantial storage .
3. If products are manufactured in the facility.
Speed also asserted that the rules for amending the plan required that community members give a survey before the updating of the Subarea Plan. Maycock said that was not the rule, unless the county was starting a plan from scratch. It was decided that they would discuss the issue at another time.
Speed then made the claim that other business members were afraid to come to the meeting and discuss their needs.
Another woman expressed concern that service light industrial land is limited in the county and that people have to be careful about regulations.
“Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” she said.
For more information about the subarea plan, go to http://goo.gl/oAMsHV.
