PORT TOWNSEND — City and port officials plan to address their differences over a port-planned light industrial park at Jefferson County International Airport, and hope to come to an agreement.
“We’re going to work together,” said City Manager David Timmons. “We will sit down with them and work out the issues we see in the plans.”
Timmons said he has looked over a resolution that the Port of Port Townsend commissioners approved Monday night in which the port promises to delay for two years moving forward on the county permit process for a building site plan on 24 acres the port owns at the airport.
“We are trying to address some of the concerns raised mostly by the city,” port Executive Director Larry Crockett said of the port commissioners’ resolution.
“It seemed that there has been some fear that we were just crashing through the woods here.”
Summing up the port’s resolution, Crockett said “We want to work with all governments to resolve these issues.”
A copy of the resolution was forwarded to Jefferson County Administrator Philip Morley as well as Timmons.
Public hearing
The county commissioners are expected to conduct a public hearing Dec. 7 on the proposed rezoning of the now-residential site south of the existing airport runway to light industrial and essential public facility, a fire station.
The county planning commission on Oct. 7 approved the port’s proposal by a 5-2 vote, with two planning commissioners voting against it because they wanted to know more about water availability.
Jefferson County Public Utility District officials have said a PUD well on the site would provide adequate water supply.
The port wants to develop sites of an acre or more on the property, with up to 10 businesses locating there and generating possibly up to 100 jobs, Crockett said.
A new fire station would be built on 3 acres inside the future park, Crockett said, adding that he believes that facility would be built long before any private sector developments.
The site would be developed using environmentally friendly standards such as a drainage system that keeps stormwater on site, or rain gardens.
Crockett said the industrial park was not intended to compete with the existing industrial park at Glen Cove, which is mostly used for office space.
Crockett, who believes that only the East Jefferson Fire-Rescue station would be built first, said he would also encourage real estate agents to find new small industrial operations for a finder’s fee.
The resolution the port commissioners passed Monday night said:
• After county approval of the rezoning, “in the interest of promoting intergovernmental collaboration and coordination regarding water resource planning and economic development, and to promote comity between the county, city, PUD and port, the port wishes to voluntarily defer moving forward with permitting and development of the rezone site” to provide time to discuss and resolve any differences.
• The port will defer applying to the county for a binding site plan for two years from the time the rezoning is approved.
• During that time, the port will “proactively seek to discuss and work with the county, city and PUD to achieve a common understanding regarding how best to promote sustainable economic development and wise water resource allocation.”
• The port will proceed with preplanning for future site development and move forward after two years even if a final resolution is not reached.
Joint meeting urged
Timmons, who has urged the port to slow down on the airport development process to address city concerns about water supply, has recommended a joint meeting of the government bodies to discuss the matter.
Timmons also wants to include the school districts and convene the Joint Growth Management Steering Committee in the discussion.
Port leaders declined to attend a recent joint meeting between city and county leaders, stating they were concerned about the port’s pending status in the airport rezoning with the county.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@ peninsuladailynews.com.
