HomeMy WebLinkAbout031325 email - Zoom meeting March 18 5_30pmALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
KB; I want the Port of Port Townsend and the City of Port Townsend to give me an application for shoreline use (which would explain for any exemption/variance of use that may or may
not be needed) to get the lease for Port of Port Townsend land that sits under the Port Townsend Yacht Club on Washington Street in Port Townsend.
The reason is the Port Townsend Yacht Club is for sale and it is ADA accessible. There is ADA parking,ADA entrance,ADA bathroom stalls,ADA showers. Four or five years ago Washington
State expanded the zoning for homeless day centers. Washington St sits in a commercial area with hotels. Zoning now legal for a homeless/low-income day center to serve people who
are living with disability while also experiencing homelessness.
When I went to look at the building with the harm reduction unit with the health department to see if it was suitable to the purposes of a day center Bob Leland the listing agent wrote
me an e-mail saying " they" meaning the city shoreline master plan, the the Port Townsend Port Authority would deny me an application by saying that homeless people are a threat to
the shoreline ecology. This is indeed what happened. The Port Townsend Port Authority block my online e-mail from requesting an application for shoreline use. In other words homeless
people are garbage. An interesting comment given the biggest polluter in the state is the pulp mill right nearby.
There are two cement docks on the shoreline that are part of the lease. We want these docks to be used and funded in accordance with the Heal Act to engage low income marginalized and
indigenous groups to use for shoreline restoration, mitigation, climate change research, and hand seasonal harvest by Non- motorized vessel, connected to the local tribes in the Port
Townsend area. Another use could be volunteer maritime rescue. This would support the Port of Port Townsend Mission of supporting the maritime environment as part of the lease requirement
for shoreline master plan use, while providing access to marginalized communities and individuals who otherwise would not have opportunity to interact/ interface with the marine environment
due to barriers put up by local governments.
The Washington State Port Authority has the legal authority to override/overrule the city of Port Townsend and it's Port authority in regards to applying for shoreline use as does the
state court also the can be overruled by the feds which may say the Port of Port Townsend and the city are not fulfilling the mandate of making the shoreline accessible to marginalized
groups. Especially if the public is in favor and even though you don't have to take my word for it, there is an incredible amount of public support for this idea. They especially love
the idea of interfacing environmental an social justice together.
The Port Townsend Yacht Club is a unique unicorn of an opportunity in this respect. The lease on the land would be 4200 dollars a year, a 50 yr lease would be 200,000dollars the building
is 375,000 dollars which we would like the county to buy ( a one time cost) and insurance on the building ( we don't know how much that would be.) for a total of 575,000, more or less.
It's like a fire sale, the county and the state should be running towards this as if it's black Friday before Christmas.
The building was built in 1985, it's in good condition, there is a commercial kitchen that can be certified for making meals for eat in the multi purpose room or deliver to low income.
Across the street is Mom's Laundry where everyone can do their laundry. There is space for social services it has an office.
Currently at the ,209a Monroe st shelter the kitchen isn't ever able to be certified because the county also uses it to launder bedding and towels. So no meals from scratch, the food
is brought in prepared from outside.
At the Port Townsend Yacht Club we could build day storage so people could store stuff while they look for jobs and housing.
This would be interfacing an Urban Rest Stop idea social justice with environmental justice.
We think this is an idea whose time has come and an extremely popular one.