City Council member Cynthia Richardson considers the homes on Fourth St., between T and U avenues part of the Cap Sante neighborhood and has requested a zoning change from manufacturing to residential. In technical terms, from MS to R3.
But, the Port of Anacortes, with property just to the west of this half-block, suggests that a zoning change could cost the city 500 jobs of people working at Dakota Creek Industries, a shipyard on the Guemes Channel.
The issue has even caused some rumors to circulate, including one that Richardson wants to kill off Dakota Creek, something she denies. In fact, to rebut the rumors, she wrote a long blog post for Anacortes Now. Read it here.
The issue surfaced at a Planning Commission public hearing on proposed changes to the city’s Comprehensive Plan and Development Regulations.
Marc Estvold, testifying he said as a citizen not as a Port contractor, said he was concerned the zoning change would ‘hinder’ the Port’s business at pier 2.
Richardson, who has authored the zoning change as well as 3 other plan changes, said 2 of the houses in the area of the proposed zoning change are over 100 years old and eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. She said the homes were built before the city had zoning ordinances and they should be placed into the same residential zoning as homes to the east and south.
Richardson said the half-block of houses makes a great transition from industrial uses at pier 2 to the Cap Sante neighborhood.
Port of Anacortes Executive Director Bob Hyde agreed that the homes make a good transition, but he said keeping them in the manufacturing zone creates a “different expectation” than if the homes were in a residential zone. As it is, he said, they are non-conforming uses.
Richardson concluded by saying the Cap Sante neighborhood has a good relationship with the Port. “We may not have a mutual admiration society, but we do have a mutual tolerance society.”
The Planning Commission is taking the summer off and is set to consider the Comp Plan changes in the fall before sending them on to the City Council for consideration.
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