Ferry Terminal Plan
Eliminates 44+ Parking Spaces

By Thomas Lindsey

Alerted by the "No Parking Notice" that the county intended to do some construction work in the parking area between Anchor Cove Marina and the residences on 6th street (the railroad easement), I decided to contact Jennifer Swanson at Skagit County Public Works to see what they were up to. She provided me with a plan for the parking layout that indicates the proposed access path to the new "far Eastern" parking lot. The schematic plan indicates how the county eventually intends to utilize the space in the easement parking area as well as the general configuration of parking around the waiting lanes.

First of all, by my rough count there are currently about 73 parking spaces around the ferry terminal. Before the Kiwanis park was built a conservative estimate would give us 20 more spaces up on top. So we had at one time about 93 total parking spaces.

Gravel Lot Parking Area

Now, as we are all well aware, the gravel lot existed without a particular parking plan. It is just a gravel lot where I estimate we can squeeze around about 40 cars. According to the new plan ALL BUT 12 of those spaces evaporate. The new layout indicates an 8 foot wide pedestrian walkway along the fence adjacent to the Anchor Cove parking lot, allowing eventual access to our new "far Eastern" lot. The plan indicates just a mere 12 spaces located on the other side of the lot adjacent to the residences. So, a net loss here of 28 spaces (+/-)...poof!

The county is not finished trimming by any means. There are currently 11 existing spaces along the fence and adjacent to the waiting lane that are primarily designated as 'handicap'. These are all gone because, as indicated on this plan, we will have two waiting lanes instead of one. In addition, the 8 ft. wide pedestrian pathway along the fence will have a designated crosswalk across the two waiting lanes which will take out one more parking spot in the existing parking area on the West or left side as you sit in line. There is no indication of any parking spaces on the hill coming up out of the lower parking area. The width of the two waiting lane system will prohibit parking there because the access road will require that space. I see four more parking spaces evaporating here.

Good-bye

Add them up and we lose between 44-48 spaces if this plan is fully implemented.

No need to explain to most of you what impact this will have. If you choose to park your vehicle and walk on, those few remaining 28 spaces (with 12 designated as 'compact' and 4 as 'handicap') will be at a premium. The unlucky majority will have to walk an estimated 620 feet or two football fields to the new 'far Eastern' lot. And what will you find there? The lot will be full and you will need to find a space somewhere in the neighborhood.

Regarding the two lane waiting line proposal that would displace 11 vehicles, Glen Veal (Chairman of the Guemes Island Ferry Committee) told me that he felt that this was left over from the consideration of a 20 minute turnaround ferry schedule and that in all likelihood the two lane system would not be implemented. However, the two lanes are still indicated on the latest schematic plan dated 10/06. That indicates to me that someone in Public Works is still thinking about it.

Another observation abut this plan is that they are not showing any parking for the ferry crew so they are probably thinking that they will assign them designated spaces in the far Eastern lot. There are currently 70 standard spaces in that lot and 2 'handicap' spaces. So, if they do assign four spaces for the crew that will leave 68 spaces. A second observation is that they are not showing any space for the ferry maintenance shack. Where are they going to locate that and Bob's trucks? Will they eventually take up a few spaces in the new lot?

Now, if we look at the simple arithmetic and if we consider that the county is really going to fully implement the parking proposal as drawn, here is the result. We currently have a total of 73 spaces around the ferry terminal plus 72 in the far Eastern lot for a total of 145.

In the future we will have 68 spaces in the far Eastern lot plus the remaining 28 in the lot at the ferry terminal for a grand total of 96 spaces. If you will recall, I estimated that before the Kiwanis park we may have had 93 total spaces all within easy walking distance of the ferry. So, under the stellar leadership of Steve Cox we have a net gain of about three parking spaces. If the cost of the new parking lot was $1.5 million, as I have heard, that works out to $500,000 per space.

I talked to Steve Cox on 12/6. Steve said that he was well aware of the loss of spaces and told me that at the present time the lot would not have painted parking stripes or any other striping done. He also said that for the time being after the asphalt improvement we could resume parking as before. But, he indicated that when the access pathway was completed sometime this Spring or Summer, they would be obligated to bring the lot into conformity with parking standards that provided the 8 foot 'handicap' access and a turnaround for cars at the end of the lot. Also, he said that they had no immediate plans to move Bob's maintenance building or to implement the two lane system.

However, this entire scheme is still being considered by the county and it may become one of those slowly unfolding plans that takes a little here and a little there until we've lost those 44+ spaces.

I am wondering if they were to remove the two 'handicap' spaces from the far Eastern lot and place them into the lot adjacent to the ferry (which makes sense) if they would need to provide the pedestrian walkway? The vast majority of the time anyone who is using a wheelchair and going over as a passenger will be dropped off at the ferry. And, I don't believe that the ferry passenger cabin is in compliance with ADA standards in any event.

In Seattle, if an individual, developer or the city were to propose a major change that would increase parking demands within a community, they would be required to post a 4 ft. X 8 ft. Master Use Proposal or an Environmental Impact Statement where the proposed project was described so the neighborhood would be alerted about the proposal. Along with the information is a notice announcing who they could contact for additional information and a scheduled comment period. Now, I've recently noticed a posting at the crossroads near the playground to vacate an easement right of way on North Beach. Why hasn't the county seen fit to inform the community about the displacement of 45+ parking spaces? I guess it is a moot point because the Department of Public Works and Steve Cox really don't care to engage the people who pay their salaries. Public comment is difficult for them to digest.

- Thomas Lindsey

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