By Paul Cocke
News Editor
The issue of heron nests alighted onto a Port of
Anacortes effort to lease its March Point property for expansion of a local
company.
The commission unanimously approved leasing the
property to manufacturer T Bailey Inc., after several speakers at a public
hearing Thursday lauded the economic benefits of helping the company that
builds wind towers to expand.
But environmentalists and others expressed concern
about the effects of noise from T Bailey's planned operations near what was
described as one of the largest great blue heron nesting sites in Puget Sound.
In a series of votes, the Port commission
unanimously approved surplusing the property and allowing the Port executive
director to negotiate and finalize a lease agreement with T Bailey on the
22-acre, undeveloped March Point property. The site of a former gravel pit is
located between South March Point Road and state Highway 20.
The lease is for 30 years, with two 10-year
options, and includes an option for T Bailey to purchase after one year at a
price of $600,000. T Bailey plans to construct a building on the property to
house its expanding operations. The lease rate is $2,826 per month, with
periodic adjustments built in. The actual lease payments don't begin until
Sept. 1, when infrastructure improvements are anticipated to be mostly
completed.
"We are under obligation and contract to
produce a substantial quantity of towers on a long-term agreement with one of
the turbine manufacturers. And that requires our operation to be
expanded," said T Bailey President Gene Tanaka, who with partner Darrell
Lehmann addressed the Port commission.
The company manufactures the 200-foot-high wind
towers, which are fitted with turbines and transformed into power-generating
windmills along the Columbia River basin.
In addition to its main facility on Bartholomew
Road, the company also leases space at the MJB building off T Avenue in town.
Skagit County recently approved a joint
application from the Port and city for a $165,000 grant to provide water, sewer
and other upgrades to the Port's March Point site.
The expansion will add 100 additional workers,
while retaining the company's current work force of 75 and represents a
potential $3 million capital investment, according to an analysis prepared by
the Economic Development Association of Skagit County.
Don Wick of EDASC noted that the county's recent
unemployment figure was 9.1 percent and that retaining an expanding company was
an important boost to the local economy.
"Time is an issue for this company. Contracts
are pending. We fear that if this project doesn't move forward here we'll also
lose T Bailey to this community. They have looked outside this community for
this project," Wick told the commission.
"It's tough to replace jobs like this,
especially in today's world," said resident Richard Wilson.
But several speakers expressed concern and urged
all possible consideration for the herons near the property. In addition to the
heron nests, there also is a bald eagle nest nearby as well. While bald eagles
are a federal-listed threatened species, regulations are less stringent on
herons. Under federal law, it is illegal to shoot herons or destroy active nests.
Heron rookeries, however, are considered by the state to be a priority for
conservation.
In 1994, the Skagit Land Trust received a donation
of a 3.5-acre property adjacent to the Port's March Point property to protect a
"portion of one of the largest great blue heron nesting colonies in Puget
Sound. Last year, more than 400 active nests were counted," according to a
letter from the trust read to the commission by Brenda Cunningham of the
private, non-profit organization.
"Our concerns tonight are just to not let
things go too far without addressing some issues and working with future
property owners," said Cunningham, adding that some of the heron colony
may be on the Port's March Point property.
Her organization urged an evaluation of potential
impacts to the herons. She noted that when the city of Anacortes last year
replaced a water line along March Point Road, a biological assessment of the
project failed to note that a bald eagle nest was in the project area, causing
that work to be rescheduled so as not to disturb the nest.
"We would like to help the Port and future
landowners to avoid these costly mistakes in the future by encouraging
appropriate evaluations in advance," she said.
The Port has offered to meet with Skagit Land
Trust on the issue, which Cunningham said they were glad to accept. A
preliminary study by Pacific Technical Engineering of the effect of the project
on the eagle nest did not show adverse effects, and that information also
should apply to the herons as well, Port officials said.
Cunningham also questioned "the choice of
this site for an industry that has generated noise complaints at its present
location."
Angelo Spadavecchia, who lives about five blocks
from T Bailey's operation off T Avenue, said he has been awakened by "loud
banging noises" at night.
"I know that jobs are very important and I
guess that's why I tolerated that noise," he said. "I'm not a heron,
obviously, but I know if I was raising kids or if I was raising little herons,
I wouldn't want that noise."
Ian Munce, city planning director, said T Bailey's
operations at the MJB facility have triggered noise complaints to the city, but
that the city asked the company to curtail its night operations at that
location and "they have done that and acted as a good neighbor."
Tanaka said the strong demand for the company's
products encourages them to work seven days a week, 24 hours a day, but that
they voluntarily agreed with the city's request and curtailed their hours.
Tom Glade, vice president of Evergreen Islands,
said his group feels that an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, will be
required. The State Environmental Policy Act has a checklist that includes
wildlife and calls for an EIS if significant impacts to wildlife occur from a
proposed project.
"Herons in the Puget Sound are in
decline," said Ivar Dolph, president of the Skagit Audubon Society, adding
that the herons now are enduring considerable noise and its not wise "to
assume they have no tolerance threshold."
He noted that the Bellingham City Council recently
passed tough restrictions on a development near a "a relatively small
heron colony."
However, both company owners sought to reassure
those present that they were willing to cooperate within reason to protect the
herons. They said there is a sawmill across South March Point Road from the
heron nests, the noise of which apparently hasn't driven the herons away. Also,
the heron nests are high up a steep hill, in tall trees, considerably above and
away from the flat 10-acre space where their building will be constructed.
Lehmann said their facility at T Avenue is open on
one end, allowing noise to spill out.
"Where we're at now is like working in a
megaphone," he said, adding their building at the March Point site will be
enclosed, which will reduce noise.
Tanaka noted they have not received complaints
from neighbors at their Bartholomew Road facility on March Point, where most of
the noisiest work takes place inside metal buildings.
Lehmann said they chose to locate their business
in Anacortes because of the quality of life here.
"We're willing to work with everyone on this.
We don't want to be perceived as someone just rolling into town, with money
flying out of our pockets, to run roughshod over anyone concerned. We like it
here," he said. "That's why we choose to live here and that's why
we'd like to work here, raise families here and we have a number of young
people working with us."
The partners said they felt a workable solution
could be reached on the herons although Tanaka said they are under time constraints
to get the project going.
"I feel that something can be built on that
property that's relevant to our business, relevant to the Port's business and
will have a minimal impact on the heron rookery," Lehmann said.
Justin Rawls, who has worked for T Bailey for
seven years, said the company, which also does industrial construction projects
in addition to large-scale steel fabrication, is accustomed to dealing
"with land development and sensitive areas on a regular basis."
Donald Norman, a wildlife biologist from Seattle,
said that design of the building to control noise and timing are important
factors.
"There are some very good measures that are
out there to reduce noise levels in buildings," Norman said. "What
type of noise is also the critical component."
Also, herons typically nest from around April
through July, so construction should be timed so as not to disturb them at that
time. And Norman said consideration should be given to increased truck traffic
from the T Bailey site onto South March Point Road, which now is relatively
untraveled.
Norman and other speakers said they were
encouraged by the spirit of cooperation voiced during the meeting. And
Cunningham suggested that if T Bailey was only going to use 10 of the 22 acres
at the site that once they exercise their option to purchase that they might
consider donating a conservation easement of the steep forested land near the
heron nests.
And Munce said that it is still early in the
information-gathering process, with the SEPA process to be completed, design
work on the building done and approved and other regulatory hurdles to clear.
"I really would encourage everyone involved to take a deep breath and see if we can design a site that works for both the rookery and our local economic development objectives. I don't think they're incompatible," Munce said.