EDMONDS – In the Port of Edmonds Commission race between incumbent Dean Nichols and challenger Jim Orvis, the differences boil down to one word.
It’s the “B-word.” Brightwater.
The port “is a significant political entity within the community,” said Orvis. The decision to stay neutral on the possibility of the proposed sewage treatment plant coming to the Edmonds waterfront “left a hole in the united opposition” that had been put up by the city and citizens, Orvis said.
Nichols said it’s not a question of supporting or opposing Brightwater – “we’re individually against Brightwater being in Edmonds,” he said of himself and his four fellow commissioners.
“The real question was approach – how could we be the most effective in the process,” Nichols said. “It all boiled down to strategy.”
Nichols, 55, retired from a career in management and technology consulting and accounting, is finishing his first two-year term on the Commission, expanded from three to five members in 2001. His wife, Carla Nichols, is Woodway’s mayor.
Orvis, 62, retired six years ago as a captain after more than 30 years in the Navy. His son Dave is finishing his first term on the Edmonds City Council and is running for re-election against Rich Demeroutis.
The two candidates agree that they disagree on little else regarding the port. Each even goes so far as to say the port would be well served by the other. But the difference on Brightwater remains.
Orvis contends the port’s strategy of working through the environmental impact process was flawed because Brightwater was “a political decision. It wasn’t based on information gathered for the environmental impact statement,” he said.
The port, because it did not have land-use authority over Brightwater, was under no obligation to maintain quasi-judicial objectivity in the situation, Orvis says.
Though it appears the decision has already been made and Brightwater is going to Highway 9 rather than to Edmonds, the port “has to work with the city very closely and has to be an active partner,” Orvis said. The Brightwater situation could “impact the ability to make decisions on big projects in the future.”
Nichols said commissioners believed the port could gain more leverage working from the position of an “impacted neighbor” rather than “jumping on the bandwagon” and appearing as a “NIMBY” (not in my backyard).
“I felt it could make a difference,” Nichols said of the port’s approach.
“I personally believe very strongly that the best use of that property is the Edmonds Crossing (transit center) project.”
The only other area of some disagreement between the two is the property tax levy. Nichols says it’s important for the port to maintain some level of tax levy — it currently stands at 9.13 cents per $1,000 of assessed value — for bonding capacity, to cover Commission and public process costs, and for other public amenities at the waterfront.
Nichols says the current amount is appropriate. It’s “the lowest of any port that has a tax, by a significant margin,” he said.
He supports the current port policy of using it only for such things “that directly benefit the public,” he said. A new example this year is the port’s picking up the tab for the Beach Ranger environmental education and stewardship program that was cut by the city in its 2003 budget crunch.
“It’s important for the port to be able to do those kinds of things,” Nichols said.
Said Orvis, “I think the port needs to be self-sustaining financially, and that it can do it without levying taxes.”
Citing the port’s role in economic development, he said it would be appropriate for it to maintain “a minimal level of levy.” But he added that “the port does not need taxes to pay its bills.”
Both candidates agree that the port is a well-run organization. Orvis said the port, in raising moorage rates recently, has run the risk of making it a “rich man’s marina,” but acknowledged that it is doing so to make sure its bonds are paid and to have enough for repairs, rebuilding and emergencies.
Nichols said the port’s moorage rates are somewhere in the middle of Puget Sound ports, “higher than Everett, lower than Shilshole,” and said it’s reasonable to maintain rates at a market level.
But he says it’s important that the port not rely on raising rates alone as a financial management strategy.
“We’ve really got to pay attention to operating costs,” he said. Nichols says he’s been pushing for the port to reduce its staffing in the winter when it’s not as busy, and that the port has already started to do so.
Nichols says his financial experience as a CPA with an MBA has been an asset on the Commission, and that he’s the only one on the board with that type of background.
Orvis said he’s attended a lot of port meetings and followed it closely recently, and that his experience in the Navy have given him “a lot of management and decision making experience.”
Each candidate is supportive of the port’s master plan for land use at the marina, which calls for moving parking away from the water and creating more usable public space such as plaza areas and small shops.
“It’s a nice place now, but we can make it even more attractive,” Nichols said.
The public areas can tie in well with the city waterfront parks, Orvis says.
The port “is in a very good position to help the city develop in a way that emphasizes the character of Edmonds,” he said.
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