March 2002
Side Story
Council Votes Against Initiating Park Store Rezone
by Peter J. Nelson
On February 26, 2002, the Whatcom County Council voted four to three against a resolution that would initiate a process to review rezoning the Park Store property from neighborhood commercial to tourist commercial. Councilmembers Dan McShane, Ward Nelson, Laurie Caskey-Schreiber and Sharon Roy voted against the resolution. Councilmembers Seth Fleetwood, Barbara Brenner, and Sam Crawford voted in favor.
The resolution was placed on the council’s agenda by the Whatcom County Prosecuting Attorney’s office.
Several people spoke in support of the Park Store during the open session, a twenty-minute period when audience members may address the council on any issue not scheduled for public hearing that evening. No one spoke against the rezone resolution during the open session.
In discussion prior to the vote, Councilmember Nelson questioned whether or not the council should be initiating rezones simply for the benefit of businesses. “While it (a rezone) may be well and good and I think it is for this business, it would also be well and good for many businesses that I would like to see that we initiate it for.”
In response, Councilmember Crawford said that the council rezones for benefit of the community and that the Park Store is a good example of that.
During the open session several supporters of the store referenced the Park Store’s historic value to the county. During the discussion no councilmember mentioned the Park Store building’s historic roots.
Whatcom County Planning and Division Manager Sylvia Goodwin. told the council at the meeting that the Park Store’s current use would be legal as tourist commercial and that tourist commercial is appropriate under a crossroads comprehensive plan designation.
The vote before the council on Tuesday night was not a ruling on a zoning designation for the Park Store. It was a vote about whether to begin a process to review the zoning designation. The process would involve a public hearing and a county staff report recommendation.
Near the end of the three-hour meeting, councilmember Fleetwood said that he would like to explain why he voted for initiating the review process for all resolutions on the agenda.. “The reason simply being for me personally is not because I necessarily support them all. I don’t want that impression to be left. I personally will benefit from the process, and being able to go out and look at the property and make phone calls and talk to people,” Fleetwood said.
