The San County Council will deliberate the fate of the proposed franchise agreement that will help set the stage for developing a 108-acre parcel with 14 water connections near Dolphin Bay Road on Orcas Island. The agreement would allow water to be pumped from a well on land in Crow Valley to the Dolphin Bay parcel. The Council continued the hearing from Sept. 29.
The San Juan County Land Bank Commission will hold its regular monthly meeting on Friday, Oct. 10 in the Hotel Dining Room, Orcas Hotel, 8 Orcas Hill Road, Orcas Island (next to the ferry landing). The meeting begins at 10 a.m.
At their regular meeting last Thursday, the Orcas Island School District (OISD) Board discussed the use of the skateboard park and approved an increased fee schedule for use by the public of OISD facilities.
An appeal in the Rech case to build on Fisherman Bay shoreline on Lopez Island has been filed in King County Superior Court. No dates have been set to hear the case yet. John Cain of the San Juan County Prosecutor’s office will represent the county as it defends the Shoreline Hearings’ Board position, denying permission to build on the shoreline.
At the Port of Orcas Commissioners meeting on Sept. 25, the commissioners agreed with Chair Garth Eimers’ recommendation that the Eastsound Off-Leash Dog Park organizers be asked to delay a proposed shelter project for the park, which is located on port land.
A Lopez Island man who acted as his own attorney while facing a drug-related felony will serve 10 days in jail, or on work crew, after pleading guilty to a lesser offense.
A Lopez couple is hoping to make strides in Thailand’s energy policies through dialogue among government officials and journalists with U.S. experts in renewable energy. Chris and Chom Greacen are helping lead a group of 30 Thai lawmakers, energy regulators, staff from the Ministry of Energy, Thai utilities, activists, and media representatives on a study tour of Oregon and Washington solar, wind power, hydropower, and nuclear projects.
Benjamin Nuñez-Marques, a resident of Orcas Island for the last nine years, was taking a neighbor to the emergency room at Island Hospital in Anacortes on March 3, 2008, when he was detained by the Border Patrol at a checkpoint at the Anacortes Ferry Terminal. Following a hearing on Sept. 15 in a deportation proceeding, Nuñez has been granted “voluntary departure,” compelling him to leave the United States. His attorneys, Robert Gibbs, Mari Matsumoto and Devin Theriot-Orr, say that the initial stop violated their client’s rights under the United States constitution and that they will appeal the decision.
In light of the matter before the County Council on Sept. 29 to grant easements along Dolphin Bay Road to pipe water, Commissioner Ed Sutton asked if the district wanted “to make a statement of position from the context of long-term development of a comprehensive utility system” at the Eastsound Sewer and Water District (ESWD) meeting on Sept. 25.
The U.S. presidential election is just around the corner, and the deadline to register to vote is 30 days before Nov. 4, 2008.
WSDOT Ferries Division Assistant Secretary David Moseley announced last week that the four Steel Electric Class ferries, which were retired last November (including the Illahee, which served the San Juan Islands route) will be purchased by Environmental Recycling Systems (ERS). ERS’ purchase offer is $500,000 for the ferries, plus ten percent of the recycling revenue. The vessels will be removed by ERS within 45 days of the closing sale.
In a report to the Council on Tuesday, Sept. 23, County Auditor Milene Henley delivered revenue projections for 2009 and revised projections for 2008 that showed difficult times ahead for the county budget. Henley said that decreases in sales tax revenue, a reduction in new construction, and an anticipated lower collection rate for property taxes will probably cause year-end total revenues for 2008 to fall short of revenues projected in the 2008 budget.
Next Monday, Oct. 6, representatives of Washington State Ferries (WSF) will meet with the San Juan County Ferry Advisory Committee and county residents aboard the interisland ferry leaving Friday Harbor at 11:40 a.m., Orcas at 12:30 p.m., Shaw at 12:45 p.m. and Lopez at 1:05 p.m. During the seagoing voyage, those aboard will have the chance to review information concerning “funding challenges, operational strategies, and route-specific packages,” according to Joy Goldenberg, WSF Communications Manager.
