(Dakota Creek shipbuilding)
Proposals to add new restrictions along the Guemes Channel waterfront and in Old Town drew a large crowd to City Hall Wednesday night. As many as 100 people showed up for the Planning Commission’s pubic hearing on changes to the city’s Comp Plan and Development Regulations.
At last half the audience was there to oppose proposals by City Councilwoman Cynthia Richardson to impose new regulations on the 39-acre port operations and to rezone an area just east of it. Her proposal would regulate noise, dust, lights and smells in the area. The proposal would also lower the height limit from 50 feet to 35 feet.
Port of Anacortes director Bob Hyde said the port operations, including the Dakota Creek shipbuilding business, employes around 500 people. He called the new restrictions “death by a thousand cuts” and “to rezone is draconian.”
Richardson, who lives on Cap Sante, is opposed to the Port’s plan to haul soil from a planned cleanup site south of Cap Sante marina to the Guemes waterfront to clean the soil, then haul the clean soil back to the site. The ecological cleanup is set to start this summer and last for a year or more.
Dave Malseed, representing the Anacortes Marine Trades Association, told the Planning Commission that the Dakota operations are the “shining star” for Anacortes.
Dulcie Bowman, the owner of a home that would be rezoned and the owner of Cap Sante Storage, said the rezone area has historically been for industrial uses and housing for earlier industries in the area, uses she said “make our community viable and healthy.”
Other members of the audience came to support a proposal to ban commercial parking lots in the Old Town area. Arlene French, representing the Old Town Friends and Neighbors and 65 residents, said “Ours is a unique neighborhood with a unique ambience and it cannot be regained once lost” by allowing commercial parking lots.
The proposal is in response to a need for more parking in downtown Anacortes, a need city officials are wrestling with now. Currently, the city requires new businesses to maintain a certain number of parking spaces, based on the type of business. But, downtown space is tight and some businesses have proposed parking lots west of O Ave., in Old Town.