PORT TOWNSEND — Neighbors living near Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park have made some waves of their own, protesting the proposed Make Waves! aquatic and recreation center location at the park adjacent to Jefferson Transit’s Haines Place Park-and-Ride.
The group of Eisenbeis neighborhood residents this week went before the Jefferson Transit board, comprised of the three Jefferson County commissioners and two Port Townsend City Council members.
“First, let me assure you that this is not a NIMBY [Not In My Back Yard] situation for us.
“We are concerned about the siting of the center at Kah Tai Lagoon,” said Susan Rutkowski, a Jackman Street resident whose hillside neighbors overlook the park and ride and nature park, on Tuesday. “We consider this to be a very poor choice.”
Rutkowski said she and her neighbors were concerned about increased traffic in an area that was “quite congested,” given that the proposed recreation center site would be near Safeway, McDonald’s and Henery’s stores.
“We fear locating the center at Kah Tai would make an already bad situation worse,” Rutkowski said.
She also raised doubts about how the facility would be financed, and about construction in an area of shallow groundwater.
Others raising concerns at the transit meeting Tuesday were Port Townsend residents Todd Wexman and Jim Todd, who wanted the park-and-ride to remain as it is used today and not for the proposed center.
Preserve 18 acres as park
Meanwhile, officials with the Port of Port Townsend, which owns the 20-acre nature park, are planning to meet soon with Jefferson Land Trust to forever preserve about 18 acres of the park.
That would leave less than 2 acres for the proposed Make Waves! pool recreation center. Some of the park-and-ride spaces would be used for parking for the center.
Owen Fairbank, Jefferson Land Trust board president, confirmed Wednesday that the nine-member board was interested in the port’s proposal to preserve most of Kah Tai Park.
Port Executive Director Larry Crockett said he and other port officials hoped to meet with Jefferson Land Trust officials within the next two weeks.
Crockett said the port also was talking to Rosemary Sikes, Admiralty Audubon president, about her desire to see the park preserved.
Make Waves! representatives have said they have about 2,300 supporters behind the aquatic recreation center proposal.
Plans for facility
Initial facility plans include a 40,000-square-foot recreational center housing both a pool and a workout facility.
Under discussion are an eight-lane, 25-meter pool that conforms to international standards; an indoor track for walker, joggers and baby strollers; a therapy pool; multipurpose room; basketball court; aerobics/yoga room; Jacuzzi; sauna; climbing wall and rooms for cardio-training and muscle-resistance equipment.
The Port of Port Townsend has already backed the aquatic recreation center project, which would replace the aging city of Port Townsend-operated pool at the former Mountain View Elementary School site, which Port Townsend School District now leases to the city for the police department, meeting space, the food bank and other community uses.
Make Waves” released a study Tuesday that said that the average parking demand would rarely exceed 50 spaces a day, leaving most of the 251 parking spaces at the park-and-ride open most of the time.
Sam Shoen, representing Make Waves!, said there was “a lot of confusion and misinformation” surrounding the proposal.
Park-and-ride
He asked the transit board to press forward with an agreement allowing the facility to use spaces at the park-and-ride.
Shoen, a retired medical doctor and president of U-Haul International, worked with Earll M. Murman, a retired Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ford professor of engineering, in conducting and preparing the park-and-ride parking study.
They reported that peak usage is 162 spaces on Monday mornings in January, and average use on summer weekends is less than 30 spaces.
Shoen called the park-and-ride “an under-utilized asset,” and center supporter David Hero explained that most center users would be youths and seniors who do not drive.
Shoen said the city would require, at most, 105 parking spaces for the facility.
The site was chosen because it is in a central location, close to the transit center, which would enable users to ride buses into Port Townsend.
City Councilwoman Catharine Robinson, who chairs the transit board, said the board would meet again with Make Waves! next month.
The city’s lease of the port’s Kah Tai park property ends in 2012.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
