Guemes Island Planning Advisory Committee

GIPAC Minutes 2026-03-02

Guemes Island Planning Advisory Committee

March 2, 2026

Meeting Called to Order: 6:34

Board Members Present:  Allen Bush, Gabe Murphy, Steve Orsini  Kathy Malley, Jep Burdock, Michael Brown

Members of the Public Present: Frea Gladish, Chief Cole

March Meeting Agenda: Approved

February Meeting Minutes: Approved

Treasurer’s Report:

GIPAC Account Balance: $5104.96

There was a short discussion about changing banks to possibly eliminate fees and/or make it easier to receive donations. Jep will do some research.

Public Comment: None

Updates/New Business:

  • Follow-up on Parking Lot meeting
    • Key points for letter to Michael See and Skagit County Public Works:
      • The board was unanimous that we would like to follow up with SCPW on parking lot meeting to express our appreciation for their engagement, as well as follow up in writing on the discussions about our concerns.
      • We discussed key points to make including: the reduction in parking spaces, the issues caused by the retaining wall, ADA related issues, and several issues related to Emergency Response.
      • It also seemed important to to reiterate that we cannot justify spending $3M or more on a parking lot, when Federal BOAT funding can be spent on ferry operations and maintenance costs now.
      • The board discussed the need for a traffic study to be done while the parking lot design is still underway. This should be articulated in our letter as well.
      • All in all, we appreciated the meeting and are glad that the design is in its early stages.
      • One question that might be asked of Public Works is their reference to the “100 year flood” in their design. What is this requirement and how is it driving design decisions?
    • Anacortes American Article
      • There was a long group discussion about the pros and cons of the various ways GIPAC could and/or should contribute content to the AA in ways that would be productive for our relationship with the County and the greater community.
      • There was a short discussion about the history of the Anacotes American wanting to report on Guemes and for people and organizations to contribute articles to the paper.
      • The board discussed content of the specific articles proposed and drafted by Pat and Allen that were shared with the group. Steve made a motion to vote to approve a combined draft version (Pat and Allen) of the Anacortes American article. Gabe seconded the motion. All voted in favor to submit a combined draft version.

Normal Business:

  • GIPAC Minutes: At the February meeting, there was a discussion to post GIPAC minutes going back to 2020. At the March meeting, Gabe informed the board that he only had direct access to minutes dating back to January 2023 because that is when he took over for Patty and started doing minutes regularly. Minutes from before that, while possibly available with some digging through archives, may not be necessary for now and could be a long term goal when time allows. For now, all minutes are posted from January 2023 until present. 
  • Other Website Improvements: There was a very quick discussion about website upgrades and we decided there was no need to upgrade it immediately.

Meeting adjourned: 8:31 pm

Gabriel Murphy