PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend hearing examiner will preside over a continued public hearing Friday on a conditional use permit for a parking lot requested by the Port Townsend School District for its new Salish Coast Elementary School.
The hearing will be at 2 p.m. at the City Council chambers at historic City Hall, 540 Water St. Public comment will be accepted.
Since the initial hearing July 7, the district has contacted property owners next to and near to the district’s Grant Street property, which was slotted as the proposed area for a staff parking lot for the $28.1 million school under construction behind the Grant Street school at 1637 Grant St.
District officials have contacted members of the Quaker Church and the San Juan Baptist Church, which neighbor the Salish Coast School site, to create some parking agreements with them, according to senior planner John McDonagh.
The district has submitted a revised design that will be presented at the meeting this Friday, according to McDonagh.
“We’ve addressed numerous concerns of at least two property owners,” said John Polm, Port Townsend School Superintendent. “We’ve been working with them on the new design to address their concerns.”
The new design of the parking lot adds a 20-foot buffer between the lot and the properties to the south, as well as a solid wall for light and noise mitigation, which Polm said were the two main concerns of neighboring property owners.
The design also includes a proposed bike lane along Discovery Road, a short-term parking area on Grant Street for parents to pick up and drop off their kids and variances which would allow parking in neighboring church parking lots if they work out agreements with the school district.
“We really don’t want to put parking on the school site,” Polm said.
According to McDonagh, district officials hope to keep traffic in the Grant Street neighborhood to a minimum by asking parents to drop off younger children along Grant Street and older children along Sheridan Street, where the city put in a new crosswalk and sidewalks.
“They are also encouraging kids and staff to walk or bike as much as possible,” McDonagh said.
The parking lot in question would be for staff parking, so traffic in the parking lot would be minimal because cars would be parked for the duration of the school day.
The district filed its initial plan July 4, just days before the first hearing, according to McDonagh.
After the initial hearing July 7 the public record was held open to allow staff and the public more time to review specifically the district’s plan for an off-site parking lot in what is currently zoned as a residential area, according to McDonagh.
The district’s plan is to convert a lot located at 1637 Grant St., at the corner of Grant and 16th streets, into a 20- to 29-stall parking lot for Salish Coast staff parking.
The property is owned by the district and has been for more than 20 years, according to McDonagh. The property is across the street from Grant Street Elementary and is being used as the school garden. The building on the property is functioning as an office space during the construction of the new Salish Coast School.
However, because the property is currently zoned residential the district will need the city to grant a conditional use permit for the property in order to use it as a parking lot.
“The extension of the school operations into the residential area requires public comment and a public hearing,” McDonagh said. “If the district had chosen to put the parking on the school site this wouldn’t be needed.”
The district has submitted a third draft of the plan for Friday’s hearing.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
