Letter About Community Treasures

Community Treasures – Contributed photo

Here’s a letter from Stephanie Prima about Community Treasures in today’s mailbag…

To anyone who cares about the disposal of recyclables on this island, take note: we are in peril of losing our most valuable recycling gem – Community Treasures (CT).

I was at the meeting last Thursday that Frank Penwell put together to let the public know what’s going on with CT. It was an eye-opening, informative hour, that’s for sure. The audience included a CT board member, a supportive county council member, a county building inspector, and a good number of concerned citizens.

There were many issues raised that I think people are unaware of. For example:

• CT employees painstakingly sort and dismantle recyclable materials, extracting as much reusable material as possible. They have balers for fabrics, cardboard, books and paper. The amount of recycle material they haul off this island has increased exponentially since their inception in 2004; this year it’s a staggering 500+ tons!
• The county is required by state law to provide electronic recycling and CT is the ONLY facility in the county that does it – with no help from the county.
• In 2011 the County Planning Commission found there is an insufficient quantity of appropriately designated land to accommodate future essential public facility demand. They recommended to the County Council that the County identify and re-designate land that can be appropriately designated for Rural Industrial and Urban Industrial uses. (Currently only Jensen’s shipyard and the county transfer station have this designation.) In spite of this recommendation, nothing was done by the county.
• The CT facility is currently sequestered on a “non-conforming” site, which means “undesirable, and to be eliminated over time.’ This requires a land use permit to continue operating, but the interpretation of the conditional land use permit has been changed several times over the years as different people move into county positions. Each time it’s changed it has cost CT money to buy a new permit; this last one was a crushing fee of $45,000!
• According to Penwell, in 2012 The County wrote a special resolution for CT, and made promises to change CT’s land use designation and list the CT site as an Essential Public Facility (EPF). That has not happened. A designation of EPF will allow CT to operate without having to pay rising fines for non-conforming land use.
• The Board of CT has until the end of the year to make a decision on how to proceed because Penwell wants out – sell the land or sell the business. But right now the non-profit CT has no money to buy either, and they would still have the same conditional use problems.

Why should anyone care?

Because if CT can no longer operate, all that recycle material will have to be processed by the county and their private service provider (who doesn’t sort and dismantle.) Currently, to drop off a major appliance such as a washing machine costs $15 at CT, and $30-$35 at the County Transfer Station. Imagine how much more money it will cost to recycle all of our household goods including old clothing, plastics, electronics, and books. How much will our recycle fees increase? How many budget-strapped islanders will choose just to ‘toss’ instead of recycle? How will the county facility be able to handle the additional load if CT has to close?

If that isn’t enough, think about all the non-profits that are supported by CT. In 2015 alone, over $19,000 was donated in-kind to many island non-profit organizations, including American Legion, Animal Protection Society, Brickworks, Calvary San Juan Church, DVSAS, Family Resource Center, FH Fire Dept. Thrift Shop, FH 4H, FH Elementary School, FH Film Festival, FH Food Bank, FH Grange, FH High School, FH Middle School, Groovy Stuff, Head Start, Hospice of SJ, Island Stage Left, Junior Grange, Kiwanis Club, Life Care Center, Lopez Take It or Leave It, Mullis Senior Center, Peace Island Hospital, Rotary Club, SJ Chamber of Commerce, SJ Community Theatre, SJ County Mounted Posse, SJ County Park, SJ Historical Society, SJ Island Library, SJ School District, Sculpture Park at RH, Sea Shepherd, Sewing Club, SJ Chamber of Commerce, SJ County Fair, SJI Conservation Corps, SJI Food Coop, SJI Presbyterian Church, Soroptimist, Spring Street Int’l School, The Whale Museum, University of Washington Labs, Village at the Harbour, Wolf Hollow, and many individuals in need received help from CT. To any member or supporter of these organizations, consider the additional budgetary strain if the items CT donated had to be purchased instead.

The impending closure of CT is a train wreck waiting to happen! Whether you shop at CT or not, the possible closure of this service organization will affect us all. As a community, we need to be aware of these issues, and put pressure on the County to change the CT land use permit. A number of us who were at the meeting last week are willing to help, but this will take ‘a village.’

There will be another informational meeting on Thursday, September 29, 6:30 – 7:30 at Mullis Center. If you cannot attend, email me, Stephanie Prima, Outreach [@] MoveIntoMindfulness.com, and I will pass your request along to the group.

San Juan Island NEEDs Community Treasures! Let your support be heard.

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