Will Brownsville Commissioners Ever Agree?
March 11th, 2010 by brynn grimleyBrynn Grimley writes:
Well the “For Lease” sign is back up on the vacant firehall building owned by the Port of Brownsville. And if Wednesday’s meeting is any indication, no one is chomping at the bit to move in.
Port of Brownsville commissioners discussed the building yet again this week, after learning last month the two people who proposed building a restaurant/brewery there had backed out. Karen Pierce, the restaurateur in the partnership, blamed port commissioner Jack Bailey as a primary reason for not wanting to move in. (Bailey opposed the restaurant, but said he would have left the pair alone once they were up and running).
The past is the past and some port taxpayers are ready to stop pointing fingers and move forward. But with all the history is that possible?
At least one commissioner questions whether the board will ever be able to reach a consensus on the building.
“It’s pretty apparent to me that we’re right back where we were two years ago,” Commissioner Bob Kalmbach said. “We’re in a stalemate on what we’re going to do with that building.”
Commissioner Allen Miller reiterated his desire to “get a tenant in there that gets some return on the port’s money,” while Bailey said he wasn’t sure a restaurant was the best business to be moving in. (Miller and Kalmbach voted to support the restaurant, Bailey opposed.)
Resident Frank Reed, who has followed the discussion over the last year, suggested maybe it’s time for the board to look to outside help to get them on common ground.
“They are at an impasse and they need to break it,” he said. “I don’t think they’re going to do it on their own.”
Reed believes the commissioners should be commended for the good they’ve done in the district. He doesn’t think it’s fair for people to beat the commissioners up for their disagreements over the firehall.
Kalmbach called me Thursday to explain why it’s so important to him that a tenant is found for the firehouse (it comes down to finances folks). He plans to ask Port Manager Jerry Rowland to call Miller and Bailey about the possibility of hiring a third party to help move things along like Reed suggested. One option is to contract with someone who would assess the building and identify appropriate uses for the neighborhood. Kalmbach wants this discussed in a special meeting before the next regular board meeting in April.
“It’s to the point where I’m tired of wasting time,” he said. “I’d agree to anything if it means we can move forward and start building something.”
But he added if the board can agree to bring in a third party, then it also needs to agree to support whatever that party suggests, even if it’s something individual commissioners previously opposed.
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March 15th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
This is an email sent to me by Mark Morton, a Brownsville resident, in response to this blog post:
From One Brownsville Neighbor To Another
It’s just a non-descript, boxy, cinder-block building. Yet for most of its life it has been a source of community security, doing the job it was built for by serving the community as the Volunteer Fire Station. Sitting there over 50 years, close to a poorly laid out Y in the road just off the highway, the little building had been supported by neighborhood volunteers, men and women willing to give their time for the good of both themselves and their neighbors. Staged with equipment to help them get that job done, the building provided a good and needed service to the community.
When the Fire District decided the Fire Station no longer met their needs and they would be moving out, the waterfront property became very much in danger of being sold to commercial interests. The Brownsville Port Commissioners agreed to purchase the property, arguably at a price higher than they should have had to pay, but with a valid and justifiable reason: to protect and continue to improve public access to the waterfront and recreational actives at the Port.
Since that time, the little building, which once protected us from fire disaster, has itself become the center of a firestorm. Some of the issues involved in this saga have been reported and commented in the newspaper. However most of the actual thoughts, actions, and reasons that have gotten us to this point of stalemate have not, and perhaps that is as it should be. However, there does seem to be a major point that has been ignored by almost everyone.
This is not about a single building or a specific tenant. It is about the bigger purpose of the Port of Brownsville and how it should best utilized its resources.
Once the building was purchased, Brownsville’s highly respected Port Manger presented a plan to utilize all of the Port property in a way he felt would be much more efficient and economically sound than is currently being done. Instead of serious consideration, that idea has been quickly brushed aside numerous times, in favor of wanting to bring in outside business interests, and to “get to building something”, as one commissioner has recently been reported to have said.
One side will argue that the core purpose of a Port District is economic growth, with cash income being the measures of a successful Port and its Port Commissioners. Our large neighbor to the south, the Port of Bremerton, has been working on that for many years, and its trials and tribulations are well known.
Another side will point out the Port of Brownsville is not a large, complex industrial based port such as Seattle or Bremerton. It is a rural recreational area, and the main objective of a Port such as this one should be the use of smart economic practices in providing the public with beach and water-related recreational actives while preserving its strength as a beautiful alcove of nature and wildlife. The Port has had a long history in being very good with its financial side, even during these tough economic times. And the number of citizens using and enjoying the Ports natural resources is higher than ever and continuing to grow.
Manette, Keyport, Illahee, Seabeck, and many small communities in Kitsap are facing this same type of issue regarding growth and vision for the future. Many of them have active neighborhood groups working with elected officials in helping plan for a future that can preserve some of what makes each of these small communities special and the place we all choose to live. Brownsville does not have an organized group of citizens as some of these other communities do. Instead we depend on a Port Manager and three Port Commissioners, elected from three different areas of our district, to make sound decisions that affect us all.
Are we a Public Recreational Port or are we an Industrial Business Related Port? Until this underlying issue is addressed and answered, stalemates may become the norm in managing what was once a very well functioning little jewel of public property and recreational access.