T Bailey settlement talks hit a snag

Anacortes American 12/04/02

BY PAUL COCKE

News Editor

Talks with manufacturer T Bailey, the Port of Anacortes and the Skagit Land Trust hit a snag as T Bailey withdrew from a meeting of the three parties scheduled in Seattle on Monday.

The talks stem from environmental groups’ concerns about T Bailey’s plans to build a new facility on South March Point Road. The Skagit Land Trust owns adjoining property where more than 400 heron nests are located.

"We have pulled out of the meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. today (Monday) in Seattle with the Skagit Land Trust and with the Port to go over the three-party agreement,” said a statement released Monday by T Bailey owners Gene Tanaka and Darrell Lehmann.

“Needless to say, we are very disappointed that an agreement could not be hammered out after the weeks of work between us."

On Monday, Tanaka said the Port made “unacceptable financial concessions.”

Last Wednesday, the Port commission, following a closed executive meeting, authorized Port Executive Director Dan Stahl to negotiate subdividing the Port’s March Point property; amend the existing lease with T Bailey; execute a restrictive covenant and option to purchase with the Skagit Land Trust to create a buffer area, and fund “appropriate and necessary monitoring plans from the Port’s property sales proceeds fund.

The Skagit Land Trust and other environmental groups recently sought unsuccessfully to appeal the city’s authorization allowing T Bailey to clear and grade the March Point site. But while the site has been cleared and graded, T Bailey will need a building permit from the city to erect its manufacturing facility there.

If an agreement is not reached, the project could be facing more appeals once the city issues the building permit, which could then lead to a resolution in Superior Court

To head off further appeals, T Bailey, the Port and Skagit Land Trust sought to reach an agreement.

"The Port is trying to facilitate the settlement agreement between Skagit Land Trust and T Bailey,” Stahl said.

Two components of that settlement would be a 5.5-acre buffer from the Port’s March Point land and a monitoring plan. And some changes needed to made to the long-term lease with option to purchase the Port has with T Bailey for the land.

Stahl said Monday afternoon that the Port offered to fund the monitoring and “ also offered to create a buffer between the heronry and the T Bailey development…”

The total of the Port concessions, including the monitoring and changes to allow for the buffer amounts to more than $100,000.

But Tanaka and Lehmann said that on the evening of Nov. 27 “T Bailey and the Port disagreed on the real estate agreement. We considered the Port’s terms and conditions to be far less than acceptable.”

Tanaka noted that the project, facing additional restrictions, has changed since the Port and T Bailey originally agreed to the long-term lease with option to purchase for $600,000 after one year.

Several months ago, the Port determined that the project probably won’t have a significant adverse effect on the herons, though conditions were added to help ensure that at the 22-acre March Point property after studies by the Port and T Bailey.

But the environmental groups deemed the measures inadequate, leading to the current dispute.

Molly Doran, executive director of Skagit Land Trust, said on Monday they still are in discussions with both the Port and T Bailey.

“We continue to look for a solution that’s good for the herons and T Bailey,” Doran said.