The Journal sat down with the Friday Harbor Port Commission candidates Greg Hertel and Rich Goodhart to ask them why they wanted to run, and some perspectives on the direction of the Port. Note: the comments have been edited for length and clarity. The general election will take place Nov. 7.
What made you decide to run?
Hertel:
I believe in the community, and I believe in public service and I’ve always done that. I moved here in 1974. I was a school teacher and coach for 29 years. I’ve served in numerous other positions in the community. I was the port Commissioner for 30 years, and I enjoyed that. I believe ports are an important part of the community. It has twice the budget of the town. A lot of people don’t realize that. Ports are an important part of our economy.
I was instrumental in getting the college up at the airport and getting the Fire Station by Argyle. I helped a lot with the rebuilding of Downriggers. But those are things in the past and we’ve got different challenges facing us in the future.
The challenge for the future is balancing what the community needs and the economics versus overpromoting and overdoing. It’s going to be a tough line to walk, but I think I can do it. If I’m elected, I don’t have any learning curve. I did it for 30 years. I know how the port works. I know how the community interacts with the Port. I have a lot of contacts in port communities around the state. I know if there’s a question, we can reach out to one of those other agencies and say, “Hey, do you guys ever have this issue?” We’ve done that back and forth a lot of times with the other boards, so I am looking forward to that kind of cooperative effort; working with the other ports, the people in the town, in the community and with my fellow Commissioners.
Goodhart:
Friends who knew Victoria and knew my background with boating and flying told me I would be a good person to do this, and felt I had the experience.
I have a tendency to research things a lot and take a middle path. I think they thought that was a good attribute. I thought I could really be a benefit, and I wanted to be of help. I believe I have some skills that may be missing at the Port, and has been for a number of years. I think it’s been about 20 years since they’ve had anyone with any aviation background (not that I would think I’m capable of speaking for all pilots). I’ve also lived on a boat for 18 years, and I don’t pretend to think I can speak for all boaters. But, I have the background to know what their concerns are and what they’re talking about.
What do you see as the top challenges for the Port?
Hertel:
There are a couple that are just nuts and bolts. One is the ramp down at Jensen’s. That ramp brings 100% of our fuel, diesel, gas and propane, and it’s crumbling. The Port knows about this and they’re starting to get the permits and stuff together.
Also, finalizing what’s going on at Jensen’s Shipyard. There have been a lot of plans, a lot of proposals and a lot of ideas, but it needs to get finalized. We bought it in 2019 and the old building is still falling down.
Jensen’s needs to become finalized and policies put in place so businesses working down there know what to expect, so they can operate clearly. Jensens is one of the economic pieces; there are sailing industries there. I believe one has six or seven full-time, highly-paid employees. In this community, it’s a good thing to have family-wage jobs like that for people who live here.
The board also needs to look at the airport and make sure that it’s operating correctly. Airport policy is dictated by the FAA. We don’t have a lot of control over some things. The FAA has given us money to make sure that it’s maintained. We need to keep up the runway and make sure the buildings aren’t falling apart.
The longer community conversation about where we want to go is probably the hardest to define; how are we going to promote business here? If we do promote businesses, which businesses? How do we define businesses that can best fulfill the needs of the community? The Port was put into place with a vote of the people in 1950. One of the first commissioners told me the Port was built to give boaters a place to stop so they would spend money in town. It wasn’t built for fishermen or local people; it was built so boaters would stop and support our businesses. And it’s done that in spades. Now that it’s succeeded, where do we go from here? We don’t have a lot of room to grow. We don’t have a lot of area to grow for additional slips and I’m not sure that people want us to. These are conversations that need to be had at meetings, inviting the public to discuss what direction we want to go.
Goodhart:
The top issue would have to be Jensen’s. My understanding is that it was purchased by the Port due to some environmental issues that needed to be dealt with. The Port has access to grant money whereas most private property purchasers don’t. There is potentially a lot of cleanup that needs to get done. The Port needs to be sure cleanup is done efficiently and adequately so the property may remain a good part of our community, to do what it was initially designed for: employing people, giving people jobs in the marine industry and providing additional mooring space. It’s going to be a challenge for the whole county, not just the Port, but what can the airport and marina do to address increasing visitors while maintaining residents’ quality of life?
What is your vision for the Cattle Point lots?
Hertel:
There’s been some talk about making those lots available for local businesses like contractors and construction companies to either set up shop or store their equipment. The old animal shelter building is currently being used by a contractor to store equipment.
The FAA is strict about what you can do with airport property. No residential, no long-term residential [are allowed]. They want to keep large groups of people away from the airport runways and surrounding areas, so we’re limited in what we can do. Storage of equipment, businesses, offices or repair shops are certainly a possibility. Some have floated the idea of agriculture. If agriculture was making money and able to lease some land, then we could certainly do that there.
Goohart:
I’ve been to every Port meeting since I decided to get involved. There have been many discussions about uses for the different pieces of land. The non-directional beacon, or navigation aid, is going to be removed because it’s antiquated. Once that occurs, there’s going to be fewer infringements from the FAA.
I’ve heard people say, “We need to have some wonderful businesses that are going to come in there and not have a very high rooftop and employ lots of people and yet not be a nuisance for the neighborhood.” All of that sounds wonderful, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen. Who leases, to a large extent, is driven by who wants to do what. If the commission were to say, “Yes, we want to have people put up storage buildings that can up every single parcel for non-aviation use of the airport,” it would be doable, but that’s not something that promotes economic development in the area, which is what the Port was created to do. It wouldn’t meet our mandate to create real economic development.
All the Port can do is advertise they are open to a certain type of facility or business. Depending upon what economic benefits it gives the community, they bend over backward to make them happy. That’s it, that’s all the Port can do.
What are some ways the Port can prepare for climate change?
Hertel:
We have tried to contribute less to climate change by going with electric vehicles and I have supported that since the very beginning. We bought one of the first Toyota Priuses and it’s still working down there. I pushed for electric vehicles and now they have pure electric ones. I’ve always been in favor of doing proactive things.
Goodhart
There are predictions all over the board. It’s said that sea level will rise in 100 years, but that may be somewhere around 30 feet and 100 feet in 100 years. That’s a pretty wide range.
But understanding that climate change will happen, sea levels will rise and we need to plan for that. There are some low bank properties like the Port, Jackson’s beach, Shipyard Cove and Jensen’s area, everything else has a little higher bank. I think they are putting in fill material called “a lift” and just bringing up the level of the ground slowly over time in some of those areas.
With greenhouse gases, automobiles obviously are now transitioning over to electric power. I’ve read that Porsche is releasing a little electric boat in 2024. If that is the direction that boats begin to transition into, since the vast majority of our revenue at the Port comes from small boat traffic, it would behoove us to prepare for that.
The technology of both boats and planes are developing to address climate change, are there ways the Port needs to adapt?
Hertel:
There are changes the Port is going to have to make to address new planes, new types of planes and boats.
Soon there’s a coming technology of electric and electric-hybrid airplanes. I get a magazine that tracks all the aviation stuff because I’m a science nerd. There are experimental planes out there now that would replace our commuter planes that have a range of about 150 miles, so they would be absolutely perfect and they’re pure electric. It turns out that an airplane does really well with a battery-powered motor. It allows them to operate pretty efficiently without having to use gasoline or turbine fuel. That’s something that’s going to take some infrastructure. I could see commuter planes coming in here and needing to recharge quickly. If that happens, we’re going to have to put in some serious backbone for recharging at the terminal.
I would love to see us be on the cutting edge of that. The electric airplanes are quieter and a lot cleaner. There might even be economist planes that would just come and go like, like Uber taxis that you call up and they don’t have a pilot. They look just like a drone.
Goodhart:
Over the last 10 years or so, FAA has had a goal to establish a no-lead fuel. Currently, planes, for the most part, runoff 100-octane fuel or low lead, but a company is developing a no-lead fuel that does not damage the engine.
How long that’ll take exactly, I’m not sure. The Port needs to plan for the day that will happen and be able to accommodate that without changing tanks.
It’s going to be a long time before there are charging stations installed for electric aircraft. There really aren’t any electric planes yet. There are a couple of them that are in testing in Eastern Washington. Going any distance like flying to Washington DC or Atlanta, Georgia – the industry is in no way ready to handle that kind of range electrically right now.
Affordable housing is a huge issue in the county, can the port help?
Hertel:
The port cannot put housing in the airport areas. What we can do, and what I would like to see us do, is help our businesses invest in workforce housing. One of the challenges for businesses is having employees live here due to the cost of living, especially for seasonal employees like the kayak guides. There’s over 110 kayak guides every summer that come here to do work. That’s just that one industry. They all need to live someplace. If we let companies put in dormitories or workforce housing, it takes the pressure off some of the rentals in town. We’re indirectly helping the rentals and the housing here by taking some of the pressure off. Beyond that, housing really is a town and county issue.
Goodhart:
The FAA does not allow long-term housing near airports, however, the Port does have a mandate to support the economy, and there could be some creative thinking to see if the Port could come up with some solutions on other properties.
Anything else you would like people to know?
Hertel:
My idea about turning the building at the Spring Street dock building where the aquarium is into a Salish coastal center. I’d love to see that happen. This is one of those things where yes, it’s my idea, but that doesn’t mean I can make it happen on my own. It’s an idea. We have to decide at the Port. Whether or not we all agree, we would have to go to the tribes and say “What do you guys think?”
If I got on the Port Commission, I would definitely try to do that. That building has sat empty for decades. The town will not let us have any kind of business activity, so, let’s turn it into a Coast Salish Cultural Center and let the tribes each have some space to tell their stories, in their own words, in their own way.
Goodhart:
I think you hit most of the main points.
