Friday Harbor hotel project revived

One of the last undeveloped public viewpoints in Friday Harbor is again at risk of disappearing, as a hotel project last proposed in 2018 has come back to life.

Trace & Associates is the developer of the project, located at 196 and 240 First St., across from the San Juan County Courthouse. The company submitted new plans to the Town of Friday Harbor’s Community Development & Planning Department roughly a month ago, on Jan. 25. The revised plans call for a two-story, 23-room hotel with an equal number of below-grade parking spaces.

The hotel’s previous iteration proposed a three-story design with 29 rooms, as well as a restaurant. It was met with criticism from Islanders, who expressed concern that the building would negatively affect public access to views, permanently alter the appearance of the waterfront, increase water and sewer usage, further limit public parking, and force seasonal hotel and restaurant employees into even greater competition for housing. A public hearing was held at a Town Council meeting on March 15, 2018.

The reviews and permits for the original project have since expired. A revised site plan was submitted to the Planning Department in August of 2021.

This time around, residents will not have the chance to voice concerns in front of the Council, according to Ryan Ericson, the Town’s community development director.

The revised design places the building — called the Moby Hotel — far enough from the designated shoreline of the harbor that it no longer requires what’s known as a Shoreline Substantial Development Permit. Such permits may require a public hearing prior to issuance.

Additionally, Ericson notes that where the previous proposal required variances from the Town’s historic preservation building codes due to the building’s height and an insufficient amount of off-street parking, the new design will not. The 27-foot height of the new project stands at the allowable limit, and it provides the required off-street parking — one space for each hotel room. Now that the restaurant has been removed from the design, the additional off-street parking requirements for that part of the project no longer apply.

Without such variances, the Historic Preservation Review Board will also not have an opportunity to review the proposed design.

The developer has “completed the site plan review, which is not a public process,” Ericson says. “Once they complete the building permit review, and we deem it meeting code compliance with all of the building codes and zoning codes, as long as they haven’t changed anything since the site plan review, then once [the permit is] issued they can go ahead and start construction.”

Due to the number of variables involved in the design of a large structure like a hotel, it’s unclear how long the full permitting process might take. In the plans submitted to the Town last month, the developer noted that they have opted to defer providing details about the building’s mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire alarm, and fire sprinkler systems, which means reviews for those systems must take place separately at a later date. Other requirements, such as a geotechnical study, may also arise during the review process.

In the meantime, Trace & Associates is attempting to secure outside investment for the project. A real estate development listing posted on Feb. 3 offers investors 45 percent ownership for $2 million, or full ownership for $4 million. Wellman & Zuck Construction are noted as the project’s general contractor. The company was responsible for the construction of the Island Inn at 123 West in Friday Harbor and the Quarryman Hall Suites at Roche Harbor.

The listing describes the construction timeline as “14 months from start to finish”. It states that the “owners have paid for and hold permits in hand.”

As of this writing, a building permit for the site’s new design has not yet been issued by the Town.

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