T Bailey agrees to more monitoring to determine plant’s impact on herons

By Paul Cocke

News Editor

Anacortes American, August 28, 2002

Manufacturer T Bailey has agreed to implement a monitoring plan to gauge the effect of its facility off South March Point Road on a nearby heron colony.

Several environmental and conservation groups have called for more environmental review, as well as monitoring, because of concerns about the planned manufacturing facility there. The Port determined that the project probably won’t have a significant adverse effect on the environment, after certain measures were added to protect the herons.

In a letter to those who responded to that determination, Port Executive Director Dan Stahl said that T Bailey has agreed to a “monitoring plan to confirm that construction and operation of the facility do not disturb the herons.”

Staff from consultants Grette Associates will research and design a monitoring plan, to be implemented by T Bailey during selected periods of construction and fabrication at the March Point site and to detect any behavioral changes in great blue herons that result from specific human activities,” Stahl’s letter said.

Earlier this year, the Port commission approved a long-term lease, with option to purchase, for the Port’s March Point property to T Bailey, a local steel fabrications and construction company.

T Bailey plans to build a 320-foot by 350-foot fabrication building, attached maintenance shop, office and parking areas. The new facility will have 80 on-site, full-time employees, according to Port documents.

Consultants studied existing conditions for the Port and potential impacts for T Bailey. The Port then approved a number of conditions to protect the herons, including situating the main fabrication building as far as possible from the nests; limiting construction work to certain times; use of covered and “down-shield” lights, and a forested buffer at least 200 feet between the facility yards and the heron colony.

But the environmental groups voiced concerns about how the herons would be affected by the noise, lights, and increased traffic. They called for, among other things, larger buffers and monitoring of the construction activities and long-term effects on the heronry, described by several of the groups as one of the largest in the West.

They are particularly worried about noise generated at the facility disturbing the nearby heron colony, which has more than 400 nests.

They also criticized several studies conducted by the Port and T Bailey. In its response, the Port provided more explanations about some of those studies – such as the fact the nests are on a much higher elevation than the planned facility in arriving at site-specific buffer distances.

If the monitoring reveals significant disturbance of the herons, T Bailey will implement “appropriate contingency actions," including extended construction restrictions, additional noise barriers or insulation around certain operations or equipment, Stahl’s letter said. If no significant heron disturbance is detected, monitoring will cease.

Tom Glade, vice president of Evergreen Islands, one of the groups that responded to the Port’s determination, said that T Bailey “will not be required to take corrective action if the monitoring indicates that their noise does disturb the herons.” He also said they will not be required to keep their doors closed during operation or required to redesign the building to provide more sound deadening. And he said that the group prefers Ann Eissinger of Nahkeeta Northwest Wildlife Services, who he said lives in Skagit County and has observed the March Point heronry for a long time, to conduct the monitoring.

Evergreen Islands still plans to appeal the determination, Glade said.