CAMANO ISLAND – Some folks like this sleepy rural island the way it is, while others say it could use more places for visitors to sleep.
A Best Western hotel with 40 rooms could be built on north Camano Island, despite vocal objections.
Local environmentalists and Island County planners bitterly oppose it, but their hopes to thwart developer David Platter hinge on overturning a Skagit County Superior Court ruling this summer in Platter’s favor.
The opponents say Platter is trying to build a hotel in a county zone called “rural village,” where hotels were never intended.
“What Mr. Platter is proposing is a sham,” said Phil Bakke, Island County’s planning director. “He’s just trying to go through the routine to try to get back-door approval of a hotel.”
Platter counters that Island County made an exception in 1998 to allow hotels in a rural village zone at Coronet Bay, on Whidbey Island. The state and U.S. constitutions require Island County to treat all projects in the same land-use zones equally, Platter said.
The Superior Court agreed that the county needs to address the constitutional issues.
Platter said the judge busted Island County for playing favorites.
“Basically some people get favoritism and some people don’t,” Platter said. “This is the most hostile environment I’ve ever been connected to.”
While both sides await the outcome of the county’s appeal, Platter is hedging his bets by moving forward with a backup plan.
Although he said he is confident the state Court of Appeals will rule in his favor, Platter’s alternate plan attempts to address Island County’s concerns, in case the appeal turns against him.
That backup plan will be considered by Island County Hearing Examiner Michael Bobbink at 11 today at Terry’s Corner Fire Station, 525 E. North Camano Drive, in a public hearing.
That alternative includes two 6,000-square-foot “cultural centers” and two 10,000-square-foot, 20-room hotel buildings.
It also calls for two more approximately 10,000-square-foot buildings for office and retail space, plus a 1,500-square-foot restaurant.
The hotel buildings are planned as a Best Western franchise, Platter said. The project would be built on a 5-acre parcel at Land’s Hill on Highway 532, east of Terry’s Corner.
The key to the conflict is the cultural center.
When the county was developing its comprehensive land-use plan in 1998, it set up the rural village zone as a place for modest commercial development in outlying areas, said Bakke, the planning director.
One of the permitted uses is a cultural center, defined as art galleries, libraries, museums or live performance centers.
Recognizing that sometimes artists or conference attendees might need to spend the night for multi-day events, overnight lodging was included for cultural centers, Bakke said.
“It was almost an afterthought by the planning commission to add overnight lodging,” Bakke said.
Bakke said nobody would have dreamed that allowing cultural centers to give their users a place to sleep would someday be construed as permitting hotels.
Allison Warner, president of Camano Action for a Rural Environment, agreed.
“It’s supposed to be associated overnight lodging and (Platter) is trying to separate it and have the hotel on one parcel and the cultural center on a different parcel. That isn’t the spirit of what’s in” the code, Warner said. “He’s totally insincere about it.”
She questioned the need for a hotel when the island’s bed and breakfast inns are struggling.
Platter said others have told him the island needs a hotel.
“Who wants to stay at a bed and breakfast and feed Muffy?” Platter said. “I want to check in and check out.”
In the meantime, Platter has already begun initial work installing sewer lines along Highway 532.
The state Department of Health approved a sewer plan for the project with lines to an approved site several miles away, Bakke said.
The state Department of Ecology approved new water rights for the project, Bakke said.
Today’s hearing will deal with Platter’s alternate plan. The state Court of Appeals could rule sometime in the spring.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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