A HYBRID RIDE New Metro buses to serve Vashon soon. Page 3
COMMUNITY | One man is on a mission to provide rides. [4] COMMENTARY | Vaccines were a miracle to a generation. [6] ARTS | Event will highlight [11] Hawaiian traditions.
PIRATES AT STATE One grappler takes second championship. Page 14
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015
Vol. 60, No. 8
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Dock at risk amidst a lease dilemma With few houses on the market, buyers find options limited
Tramp Harbor dock could close soon due to safety concerns By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
Vashon’s only public fishing pier may soon close, as the Vashon Park District considers a new report that the aging dock is unsafe and vets a state demand to replace it with a more environmentally friendly structure. The issue was to be discussed at a meeting of the park district’s board last night after The Beachcomber’s press deadline, when Director Elaine Ott planned to ask the board to consider closing the Tramp Harbor dock to the public. The request comes on the heels of a report that parts of the 80-year-old pier are in poor condition and at risk of falling. “My feeling is safety is something that you ... have to go to the extreme and protect the public no matter what,” Ott said. “I don’t know if the board wants to weigh in.” As the park district reacts to news about the dock’s safety, it is also faced with taking on a new state lease that
By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
for renewal and the county’s creosote dock there must also be replaced. Brown said that with no money in their budgets for the expensive rebuilds, the Vashon Park District and King County are both faced
Missing life in the countryside, Seattle artist Emily Browne has been looking to relocate to Vashon since last fall, but like many others hoping to buy a home on the island, her progress has been slow because the number of homes on the market is near a record low. Browne looked at some homes last fall, she said, but none had quite what she is looking for — studio space for her and room for her dog and chickens. She has looked at only three homes since then and is eager to look at others, but there simply haven’t been any to consider. “There’s just been nothing this winter,” she said. Indeed, while several real estate agents say they know of homes slated to come on the market this spring, they agree that there have been strikingly few options available for some time now. “There are a lot of buyers, and there is nothing for them to buy,” said Beth de Groen, who owns the local Windermere office. At Amiad & Associates in the heart of town, a small note at the top of a window display of houses for sale tells the story: “This is all there is, folks. Only 22 active listings on the island!”
SEE DOCK, 18
SEE HOUSES, 20
Ray Pfortner Photo
While the Tramp Harbor dock can be quiet this time of year, during other seasons it is a popular place for fishing, crabbing and even nighttime squid fishing. would require it to eventually spend over $1 million to upgrade the dock and could include other terms Ott called problematic for the small district. Ott is now working with King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) to approach the state
about loosening its demands. “We’re hoping there is some flexibility with the conditions there,” said Kevin Brown, who heads the parks division of DNRP. The county is up against the same situation at the Dockton Park marina, where the state lease is up
Farmers market remodel is explored VIGA plans to use designs to garner funding By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
Natalie Martin/Staff Photo
Jim Nicholls, who heads the University of Washington’s Storefront Studio program, presents ideas he and his architecture students designed for the Village Green.
The Vashon Island Growers Association (VIGA) is on the road to revamping the farmers market, starting with help from local architecture students in redesigning the Village Green. Last weekend a group of University of Washington graduate students and their professor gave islanders a first look at their ideas for a redesigned Village Green, early plans that VIGA co-chair Dan Carlson said show much promise for improving the Vashon Farmers
Market. “I was very pleased and very impressed. … They clearly had been listening to people and had done their homework,” he said. At a Saturday afternoon meeting at the Vashon Library, Jim Nicholls, who heads UW’s Storefront Studio program, and three architecture students showed two different basic designs for the Village Green. One included a large covered structure at the south end of the park with a swath of lawn on the northern portion, while the other featured two long covered areas flanking either side of the park, with the lawn in the middle. Based on feedback from VIGA and attendees at the meeting, the group will further develop SEE MARKET, 19