When I heard that we were slated to get a new ferry terminal , I was immediately curious about how the building would impact the site and how the parking configuration would lay out. I visited the Anacortes Planning Department and obtained a 'schematic' site plan. This is not the final site plan it but gives me enough information that I can make some initial assessment of the County's plan for the new parking arrangements.

There are, at the present count along that west side of the property a total of 20 parking spaces. A mix of ADA spaces, assigned crew spaces and spaces for passengers. On the hill there are an additional 4 spaces. East side parks 9 cars into the fence for a total of 33 spaces.

New parking count will go something like this. The proposed terminal is 20 ft. wide by 64 ft. long. Since the terminal structure is set back from the existing terminal we will loose 8 spaces right off the bat because of the building footprint. The terminal plans show a garage door access to the new work room so you will probably have 10 ft. adjacent to the building where no cars will park. There is a note on the schematic to have 5 ADA spaces which are 12 ft. wide (60 more feet) and, if you will recall, along that west side there is an area where no parking is allowed that is about 3 car spaces or 24 ft. wide. So, along that west side my estimate is there will probably be 4 regular spaces along with 5 ADA spaces for a total of 9 spaces.

The 4 spaces on the hill will be eliminated as well as the 9 spaces along the east side of the lot because the county is determined to have two lanes for tickets and the road width required will not permit these spaces.

So, I am going to predict that along with this new terminal which does very little for the Guemes passenger we will see the loss of about 24 spaces. And, I am going to predict that the 4 or so spaces that remain on the west side of the lot will be assigned to the crew.

- Thomas Lindsey [4.30.8]

 

Anacortes American on the terminal project