The Port’s “Through the Fence” issue may be complicated, but we have an answer: ask the FAA to be patient. The only sensible option is to wait for properties to become available, buy them, take out the access rights, and then resell them.

If the FAA is not willing to be flexible on this issue, it may be time for the Port of Orcas to fly solo. But that’s not the best scenario.

As it is now, more than 26 private properties next to the airport have special access. The owners can keep their airplanes on their property, and don’t have to pay tie down or hangar rent fees. The original landowner, who deeded the land to the port in 1959, granted unrestricted rights in the deeds. The owners do pay additional tax dollars for their special access but it’s a minimal amount. Other people lease tie down spaces on the ramp or own hangars and pay lease rates and leasehold taxes.

Port commissioners say the FAA wants the property owners’ agreements terminated or bought out, and no new easements granted.

The port commissioners could do that by exercising eminent domain and taking easement access rights from the homeowner’s deeds.

Or they could become self-sustaining and not associate with the FAA, which provides the Port with money for land purchase and capital improvements. That could mean higher taxes for Orcas residents, or charging more to the landowners who have special access. If the Orcas community is willing to foot the bill, that could be an option.

The Port could also buy out the properties as they come on the market, remove the access rights, and then put the land up for sale. This could take years to implement.

But it would be better for everyone – the port, the Orcas community, and the homeowners – if the FAA recognized that eminent domain is an unfair solution. It would cost the FAA and the Port money, and outrage homeowners.

But considering that the FAA says it doesn’t expect resolution immediately, it seems the most logical to buy properties as they become available and then resell them without access rights. As the commissioners pointed out, the Port of Orcas has the best neighbors anyone could ask for. It behooves the Port to keep them around.

The Port is looking at all of its options on this issue – eminent domain, disconnecting itself from the FAA, or buying the houses as they become available. We’d pick option number three.