Concerns over Shaw Public Works rezoning plan | Letter
Published 1:30 am Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Shaw residents have indeed been divided by a Public Works facility plan, as the headline in the March 4 Journal article stated. This conflict began in December of 2024, when Public Works informed the community that it would fence off its customary parking area and its primary access to the community building unless Public Works was allowed to convert a residential parcel it bought on Neck Point Road to an industrial zone.
The threat of removing parking from the Shaw Community Building was serious because the community depends on that building for worship services, community meetings, social gatherings, and as the only emergency shelter on the island. Most importantly, the parking is essential for responders to Fire and EMS calls. Losing it will impact the ability to move emergency vehicles to respond to calls.
Following through on its warning, Public Works has now built a large concrete enclosure to store ditch materials that blocks off parking and access to the community building. It is unclear why this structure had to be erected in March of 2026 when a small amount of road work is scheduled for the summer of 2027. Since Shaw residents have reused this material for decades, there has been no need to store it. Indeed, several residents have offered to take the ditch material this year.
The basic issue is rezoning the Neck Point parcel, using the rubric of ‘Essential Public Facility’ to plant a ‘Rural Industrial’ site in the center of a quiet residential neighborhood. And doing this while paying only cursory attention to protections offered under SEPA (State Environmental Protection Act). For example, plans include running up to 200 trucks per day, and a quarter-acre slash burn pile that would burn daily for up to a month at a time.
The property in question is presently zoned Rural Farm Forest, which is a very broad designation, so that with modest planning, Public Works can make full use of this Neck Point Property.
So we encourage Public Works to follow the same restraints we all follow. Just accept the present Rural Farm Forest zoning and obey SEPA. This is what being a good neighbor is all about.
Lynn Bahrych, J.D., Ph.D.
Shaw Island resident since 1982
