Submitted by the League of Women Voters Observer Corps
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization encourages informed participation in government. The Observer Corps attends and takes notes at government meetings to expand public understanding of public policy and decisions. The notes do not necessarily reflect the views of the League or its members.
Friday Harbor Town Council regular meeting of April 4
The council announced that they took no decision during an executive session held before the regular meeting. Before the regular meeting was called to order, council member Turnage apologized for failing to uphold professional conduct at the March 24 meeting. After opening the meeting, the mayor announced that due to the administrative appeal scheduled for the county all public comment would be at the end of the meeting only.
County Deputy PA John Cain said the town had issued the county a notice of violation of its permitted water uses during the fair and for fire suppression at the fairgrounds. The violation cited a 1998 town code ordinance that parties cannot change use or customer classification. The county claims the code sets the existing use point in 1998, while the town claims 1979 as the existing use point. The county presented evidence from 1992, when the county changed the fairgrounds conditional land use. Both the county and the town planner documented most of today’s existing uses were occurring at that time. During the 1992 process the county requested a connection to the town sewer and to increase the water connection pipeline from 2 inches to three inches. The town denied both requests, but there is no record that the town objected to existing uses. The county showed average water use in recent years is much lower than in the period 1990-1992, with fewer toilets, showers, and sinks, but one additional fountain at the fairgrounds. The county acknowledged that year-round RV camping at the fairgrounds is a new use in the last ten years. The county had not changed its customer class or the size of its connection. The county proposed negotiating a memorandum of understanding on permitted use limits and communications about water at the fairgrounds.
The town administrator Denice Kulseth responded that the town has long been frustrated by a lack of consultation and information from the county about water use at the fairgrounds citing e-exchanges going back more than a decade. The town often was stonewalled when seeking information from the county which issued itself construction permits at the fairground without reference to the town or water use impact. Water resource management is one of the biggest challenges the town faces. While for now water rights are sufficient and the water reservoir is okay, both face growing challenges. The town’s capacity to provide water is strained with its treatment plant now at full capacity or beyond, especially in summer months, and they need to add a fourth water filter to meet demand, which will cost $3 million. The town does not agree that because no notice of violation was issued earlier that current use is grandfathered. The town is not legally obligated to provide water outside the town limits and does only by joint agreement. The town offered three options to the county 1) to request annexation to the town 2) limit its use of town water to during the fair and for fire suppression or 3) drill a well and supply their own water. The town had not received any response to the options proposed. The town council continued the appeal to the April 18 meeting for its deliberations.
