PORT TOWNSEND — Port commissioners heard an appeal Monday from City Manager David Timmons that they allow the planting of 400 seedlings at Kah Tai Lagoon Park.
Timmons will make a formal presentation to the Port board, perhaps at its Dec. 28 meeting, but several commissioners said they prefer any improvements to the 21-acre parcel to be part of a comprehensive plan, rather than done piecemeal.
“I think it should be part of the Port’s comprehensive scheme,” said Commissioner Herb Beck of Quilcene.
“(But) I would want to hear his proposal before deciding.”
Timmons maintained that the Kah Tai Alliance’s plan to plant 400 seedlings wouldn’t present a long-term problem and would conform to previous landscaping plans.
He also said any development of the land would require setbacks and landscaping under the city’s development regulations in the event the Port wants to improve the land when the lease expires in 10 years.
The city leases the 21-acre parcel from the Port for $1 per year, good through 2012. But the lease stipulates that any development by the municipality must first be approved by the Port.
That didn’t happen recently when Port Executive Director Larry Crockett learned that the Kah Tai Alliance planned to plant a half-dozen species of trees on the property.
Port commissioners consider 400 trees to be a major change to the landscape.
